Screen shines a light on 16 majority UK titles that look set to grab the attention of festival directors in 2023, including new projects from Rose Glass, Steve McQueen and Ken Loach, plus a slew of feature debuts from former Screen Stars of Tomorrow including Janis Pugh, Mahalia Belo, Luna Carmoon, Daniel Kokotajlo, Molly Manning Walker and Moin Hussain.
Birchanger Green (working title)
Dir. Moin Hussain
Writer-director Hussain marks his feature debut with this sci-fi film, about a man living a lonely life working at a motorway service station, whose life takes an extra-terrestrial turn after learning of the death of his estranged father. Cast includes Faraz Ayub and Claire Rushbrook. It is produced by Michelle Stein for Escape Films and was developed and co-financed by Film4, the BFI and Screen Yorkshire.
Contact: Bankside
Blitz
Dir. Steve McQueen
McQueen’s upcoming feature, which has already been acquired by Apple, tells the stories of Londoners during Second World War air raids. It might be a tight turnaround for the 2023 festivals, as filming only started at the end of last year, but could possibly make it for Venice or Toronto. McQueen’s Lammas Park is producing alongside Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner of the UK’s Working Title Films, and Arnon Milchan, Yariv Milchan and Michael Schaefer of the US’ New Regency, with whom McQueen made the best picture Oscar winner 12 Years A Slave and Widows.
Contact: Apple
Bonus Track
Dir. Julia Jackman
Jackman’s debut feature is set in 2006, in a small UK town where a 16-year-old dreams of being a gifted musician. When the son of an iconic musical duo enrols at his school, a powerful bond between the pair of teens begins to grow. It stars Joe Anders, Samuel Small, Josh O’Connor and Susan Wokoma. Producers are Helen Simmons and Stephanie Aspin for Erebus Pictures, in association with Lunapark Pictures and Fortune Films. Campbell Beaton is also producing, with Savannah Power co-producing for Erebus. Sky has pre-bought UK and Germany rights.
Contact: Bankside
Chuck Chuck Baby
Dir. Janis Pugh
Pugh’s musical drama takes off in a chicken factory in industrial north Wales, set to songs from the 1960s and 70s. The debut feature follows a woman stuck in a rut, played by Louise Brealey. Annabel Scholey, Sorcha Cusack, Celyn Jones and Emily Fairn also star. Anne Beresford and Andrew Gillman are producing through Artemisia Films, alongside Adam Partridge of Delta Pictures and Peggy Cafferty of Play House Studios. It is funded by the BFI and Ffilm Cymru Wales, both awarding National Lottery funding, and BBC Film.
Contact: Artemisia Films
The End We Start From
Dir. Mahalia Belo
Belo’s debut feature is a dystopian drama starring Jodie Comer, Joel Fry, Mark Strong, Gina McKee, Katherine Waterston, Nina Sosanya and Benedict Cumberbatch. Comer plays a new mother attempting to return home as environmental disaster ravages London. The producers are Leah Clarke and Adam Ackland for SunnyMarch, Marshall for Hera Pictures, Amy Jackson – who produced Cannes Critics’ Week Jury prize winner Aftersun – and Sophie Hunter. The financiers are Anton, C2 Motion Picture Group, BBC Film and the BFI. Anton represents sales, with UTA Film Group repping the US sale.
Contact: Anton
Hoard
Dir. Luna Carmoon
Saura Lightfoot Leon, Joseph Quinn and Hayley Squires lead the cast of Screen Star of Tomorrow 2022 Luna Carmoon’s debut feature, which is a drama about the close bond between a mother and daughter. Helen Simmons produces for Erebus Pictures, Loran Dunn of Delaval Film and Andy Starke for Anti-Worlds. The feature was funded by funded by the BFI and BBC Film, and was developed with BBC Film.
Contact: Erebus Pictures
How To Have Sex
Dir. Molly Manning Walker
Manning Walker has already caught the attention of the Croisette, so it’s possible that this is where her directorial debut will find its home. Her first short film as director Good Thanks, You? premiered at Cannes, and she subsequently won the Next Step prize at the festival for the script for How To Have Sex. It follows a group of teenage girls as they navigate early sexual encounters on a rite-of-passage clubbing holiday, shot in Greece. Mia McKenna-Bruce, Lara Peake and Shaun Thomas stars. Film4 and the BFI developed and financed the production, alongside mk2 Films, who handles international sales. Wild Swim Films’ Ivana MacKinnon and Emily Leo are producing alongside Heretic’s Konstantinos Kontrovrakis. Executive producers are Farhana Bhula and Ben Coren for Film4, Kristin Irving for the BFI, Giorgos Karnavas for Heretic, Phil Hunt and Compton Ross for Head Gear.
Contact: mk2
Love Lies Bleeding
Dir. Rose Glass
Glass’ Bifa-winning first feature Saint Maud premiered at Toronto. Her much-anticipated follow-up feature is a romantic thriller, headlined by Kristen Stewart, set in the world of competitive body-building, and produced by US outfit A24 alongside Andrea Cornwell for Lobo Films (UK) and Oliver Kassman for Escape Plan Productions (UK), both of whom produced Saint Maud. Film4 developed the project alongside the filmmakers and will co-finance with A24, which handles the global release. It shot in the US last year.
Contact: A24
The Old Oak
Dir. Ken Loach
The latest film from the two-time Palme d’Or winner (The Wind That Shakes The Barley, I, Daniel Blake) seems likely to premiere at Cannes in May. The Old Oak shot in the north-east of England and portrays the struggle of a landlord to hold onto his pub. His predicament becomes even more complicated when the pub becomes contested territory after the arrival of Syrian refugees placed in the village. It stars Dave Turner and newcomer Ebla Mari and is produced by Rebecca O’Brien’s UK outfit Sixteen Films with France’s Why Not Productions. The Old Oak is backed by the BFI, BBC Film and is a co-production with Paris-based Les Films du Fleuve. Studiocanal UK has acquired UK and Ireland rights.
Contact: Wild Bunch International
Shoshana (aka Promised Land)
Dir. Michael Winterbottom
It’s been a while in the works – Screen previously reported on Promised Land going into production in 2010 – but Winterbottom’s thriller, set during the leadup to the 1948 partition of Palestine and starring Douglas Booth and Harry Melling, has now been shot and is in post, and is on course to be completed by the summer. While Winterbottom has been a regular on the Croisette in the past, with Welcome To Sarajevo, Wonderland and 24 Hour Party People all competing for the Palme d’Or, a summer delivery puts it in line for Venice or Toronto. It is a UK-Italy co-production between Winterbottom’s Revolution Films and Italy’s Bartleby Film. Vision Distribution reps sales and will release in Italy.
Contact: Vision Distribution
Starve Acre
Dir. Daniel Kokotajlo
Kokotajlo’s debut feature Apostasy premiered at Toronto. His follow-up is developed and backed by BBC Film, and backed by Access Entertainment and the BFI. Tessa Ross and Juliette Howell are producing for House Productions, alongside Emma Duffy. It is based on Andrew Michael Hurley’s 2019 novel of the same name and unfolds in 1970s rural England, where an archaeologist and his partner accidentally allow dark and sinister forces into their home, and looks ready for a possible Berlin slot. Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark star.
Contact: Cornerstone Films
Stopmotion
Dir. Robert Morgan
God’s Creatures actor Aisling Franciosi leads Morgan’s debut feature. The psychological horror follows a stop-motion animator who is struggling to control her demons after the loss of her overbearing mother. Producers are Alain de la Mata and Christopher Granier-Deferre. Wild Bunch International is handling international sales.
Contact: Wild Bunch International
Strangers
Dir. Andrew Haigh
Haigh’s past credits include Berlin premiere 45 Years and Venice debut Lean On Pete. He returns with this tale of a screenwriter, played by Andrew Scott, who is pulled back to his childhood home where he discovers his long-dead parents looking the same as they did 30 years before. Paul Mescal, Claire Foy and Jamie Bell also star, with Blueprint Pictures producing for Searchlight Pictures and Film4.
Contact: Searchlight Pictures
Swimming Home
Dir. Justin Anderson
Ariane Labed, Christopher Abbott and Mackenzie Davis star in this adaptation of Deborah Levy’s dark comedy about a family whose holiday is transformed by the naked stranger they find floating in the pool of their villa. It is produced by Emily Morgan of the UK’s Quiddity Films, Andy Starke of the UK’s Rook Films, with Paula Linhares and Marcos Tellechea of Brazil’s Reagent Media, Giorgos Karnavas and Konstantinos Kontovrakis of Greece’s Heretic and Leontine Petit and Erik Glijnis of the Netherlands’ Lemming Film, with financing from Head Gear Films. Sales are repped by Bankside Films, with the US co-repped by Uta Independent Film Group and WME Independent.
Contact: Bankside Films
Timestalker
Dir. Alice Lowe
Actor Lowe’s first directorial outing, Prevenge, premiered at Venice in 2016. She’s sticking with a familiar crowd for her follow-up, which stars Prevenge actors Kate Dickie, Dan Skinner and Mike Wozniak, and is again produced by Vaughan Sivell and London-based Western Edge Pictures. It is a co-production with Popcorn Group, and funded by the BFI, Head Gear Films, Popcorn Group and Ffilm Cymru Wales. Nick Frost, Jacob Anderson, Tanya Reynolds and Lowe also star in this romantic time travelling comedy, that takes its hapless heroine trhough 1680s Scotland, 1790s rural England, 1980s Manhattan and an apocalyptic 22nd Century.
Contact: Hanway
White Nanny Black Child
Dir. Andy Mundy-Castle
Mundy-Castle directs and executive produces this feature documentary, that explores an untold part of UK history when over 70,000 children from West African families, principally Nigerian, were unofficially fostered without regulation into white British families between the 1950s and 1990s, to help combat the issue of childcare for economic migrants. Natasha Dack of Tigerlily Productions co-produces with Doc Hearts. Funding came from the BFI Doc Society, in what is the BFI’s first ever feature-length documentary in association with Channel 5.
Contact: Tigerlily Productions
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