EXCLUSIVE: Stephen Dillane, Max Beesley and Philip Glenister are starring alongside newcomer Hisham Marzouki and Adolescence and Giant actor Austin Haynes in Marcus Markou and Abbie Lucas’s Two Kids.
Principal photography has wrapped in North Yorkshire on the film, set during a politically charged summer in 2016. A 16-year-old football fanatic Ali, who is a Syrian refugee, arrives in the UK. A local teenager whose bullying of Ali is captured on a phone goes viral and turns the two boys into opposing symbols of a divided community.
UK producers are Elettra Pizzi for 130 Elektra Films and by Marcus Markou for Double M Films. The producers are bringing the project to TIFF: The Market to discuss with sales agents and distributors.
Markou’s director credits include 2012’s Papadopoulos & Sons and 2022’s The Wife And Her House Husband. Pizzi’s slate includes Tom Stuart’s upcoming feature debut Night Swimming, starring Ben Whishaw and Peter Mullan.
“I wanted to make a film about what happens when two kids stop seeing one another as symbols and start making each other laugh,” said Markou. “At its heart, it is funny, tender and full of life - a story about friendship, forgiveness and one mad summer in Yorkshire. Hisham and Austin are extraordinary together. They have given the film its heart.”
“Set in 2016, the story feels strikingly contemporary, but what gives the film its power is the warmth, humour and hope that the boys bring to it,” added producer Pizzi.
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