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AT THE AMERICAN FILM MARKET www.ScreenDaily.com
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SCREENINGS
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Genre: Genre: Family Family | Status: | Status: Completed Completed Genre: Genre: Family Family | Status: | Status: Completed Completed
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AT THE AMERICAN FILM MARKET App horror Apparition jolts Voltage BY JEREMY KAY
Voltage Pictures is capitalising on the box-office success of elevated horror and has launched worldwide sales here on Apparition starring Mena Suvari, Kevin Pollak and newcomer Annalisa Cochrane. Waymon Boone directs the film, which is in post, about a group of youngsters who follow an app that connects the living to the dead. Mark S Allen, Howard Burd, Boone and Rob Rose co-wrote the screenplay, and the producers are Burd and Allen. “Elevated horrors like Apparition are yielding huge returns at the box office,” said Alexandra Cocean, executive vice president of international sales at Voltage Pictures.
Charming start for Blue Finch Blue Finch Films — the UK distribution outfit set up in August by former Kaleidoscope executive Mike Chapman with sales exec Simon Crowe and financier Matthew Joynes — has picked up its first titles. Family animation Charming will mark the company’s first theatrical release. Directed and written by Ross Venokur, the film features the voices of Demi Lovato, Sia and Avril Lavigne in the story of three fairytale princesses — who are all engaged to the same man, Prince Charming. Produced by Shrek’s John Williams, the film will get a spring 2019 UK cinema release. Simon Crowe’s SC Films, a backer of Blue Finch, is handling sales. The company has picked up 10 titles to date for release in Q1 2019. Those include Chris O’Dowd drama Love After Love, the Ewan McGregorstarring Last Days In The Desert from HanWay Films, and Euphoria starring Alicia Vikander, all of which will receive non-theatrical releases. Tom Grater
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Dakota Fanning sweet for refugee tale Belly BY TOM GRATER
Dakota Fanning has signed up to play the lead in refugee story Sweetness In The Belly for director Zeresenay Berhane Mehari. Principal photography gets underway this week in Dublin and will continue in Ethiopia. Further cast include Wunmi Mosaku and Kunal Nayyar. The film will tell the story of a woman caught between two worlds. Orphaned in Africa as a child, and raised Muslim, Lilly Abdal (Fanning) escapes to England as a refugee, fleeing civil war. Lost in a cold new world, she embraces the immigrant community in London,
attempting to reunite people with their scattered families. Her motive is not just altruistic though, with a lost love affair revealed between Lilly and an idealistic doctor. Laura Phillips’ screenplay was adapted from Camilla Gibb’s novel of the same name. HanWay Films is handling worldwide sales here at AFM. Entertainment One will distribute in Canada. Backers include Telefilm Canada, Screen Ireland, the Ontario Media Development Corporation and Eurimages. Producers are Jennifer Kawaja and Julia Sereny of Sienna Films, who also developed the project,
with Alan Moloney and Susan Mullen of Parallel Films. “The spin of this refugee originally being British and Caucasian, yet raised Muslim in Africa, makes this perspective incredibly fresh and timely. We are all thrilled to have caught Dakota Fanning at a really exciting point in her career,” said HanWay Films managing director Gabrielle Stewart. Saoirse Ronan was previously attached to the project in 2017. Berhane Mehari’s first feature film Difret was executive produced by Angelina Jolie and won an audience award at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival.
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Russell Brand family film Four Kids And It is attracting buyer interest for 13 Films. Andy De Emmony directs, while Julie Baines and Anne Brogan produce. The shoot wrapped in Dublin recently.
Self-help blockbuster’s success is no Secret Covert Media has reported a strong response to The Secret Movie starring Katie Holmes and Josh Lucas based on the global self-help publishing phenomenon, led by deals in Australia, Germany and Spain. Covert has licensed the AFM sales title to territories including Australia
(Village Roadshow), Germany and Spain (Wild Bunch), Scandinavia (Sandrew Metronome), the Middle East (Gulf Films), Latin America (Imagem), Taiwan (Moviecloud), Benelux (Dutch Film Works), CIS (Top Film), Portugal (Lusomundo), India (PVR) and Indonesia (CGV).
Principal photography began this week in New Orleans on The Secret Movie, based on Rhonda Byrne’s selfhelp bestseller The Secret. The film centres on a widow with three children who finds her handyman has a connection to her past. Jeremy Kay
TODAY
Korea buzz, page 12
NEWS Dance card Charles Dance primed for second directorial outing » Page 6
FEATURES Swinging into action Hot for buyers at Cannes, Korean titles buzz again at AFM » Page 12
Stars of Tomorrow Meet Screen International ’s new crop of rising UK and Irish talent » Page 16
SCREENINGS
» Page 28
Roth gets into Recovery position BY TOM GRATER
Tim Roth will lead the cast of thriller Recovery, which is being directed by iBoy and I See You filmmaker Adam Randall. The screenplay, by A Prayer Before Dawn writer Nick Saltrese, is a claustrophobic story of three men in the UK, travelling from London to Birmingham in a truck, one of whom is a terrorist. Producers are Roy Boulter and Sol Papadopoulos for Liverpoolbased Hurricane Films. The film is a UK-Belgium co-production with Umedia. Backers also include Creative England’s West Midlands Fund. Bankside Films has boarded the project for world sales. The company is also representing Randall’s upcoming thriller I See You, in post-production, on its AFM slate and is reporting strong buyer interest here. Recovery is a three-hander and the two other leads are now being cast ahead of a spring 2019 shoot in the UK and Belgium. Acclaimed British actor Roth starred recently in Kudos-produced series Tin Star, and has a role in Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming Once Upon A Time In Hollywood. “Tim Roth is an amazing actor. This part harks back to his early roles — such as Made In Britain and Meantime — in which he played working-class characters on the fringes of society,” said director Randall.
@AFM 2018 Meet us at Loews 448/449 J INVITATION ONLY BUYER SCREENING
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THE GARDEN OF EVENING MISTS *Based on the Man Booker Prize Shortlisted Novel (2012)
POETIC, EVOCATIVE STORY OF A CONFLICTED WOMAN DIRECTOR CAST
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NEWS
Seville International has announced key territory sales here at AFM on its zombie apocalypse horror comedy Zoo. Swedish director Antonio Tublén’s English-language debut received its world premiere at Sitges and has gone to the Middle East (Empire), China (Jushi Films), Japan (At Entertainment), Taiwan (Moviecloud) and Vietnam (Lightning McQueen). Zoë Tapper, Edward Speleers, Antonia Campbell-Hughes and Jan Bijvoet star in the story of a married couple, struggling to conceive, who rekindle their love when they take refuge in their apartment during a pandemic. Alexander Brondsted produced through his PingPong Film and worked with Tublén on his 2009 Tribeca selection Original. Logical Pictures, the financier of elevated genre, co-produced with Film i Skane and Ystad-Osterlen Film Fond. Jeremy Kay
Dance goes right to Edge
EFP, Aaron Perez
Zom-com Zoo bites for Seville
BY TOM GRATER
Charles Dance is set to direct and star in The Inn At The Edge Of The World. The film will tell the story of a group of unrelated people who share a common desire to escape the enforced jollity of Christmas and venture to a remote Scottish island where their lives are changed forever. Joanna Lumley, Mark Williams, Gregor Fisher and Freddie Fox are also in the cast. Dance adapted the screenplay from Alice Thomas Ellis’s novel of the same name. Producers are Christopher Figg of Piccadilly Pictures and Lamia Nayeb of Stella Films. The project was previously announced in 2009 but has been on ice, in part due to scheduling issues over Dance’s shooting commitments including Game Of Thrones. New UK outfit Parkland Pictures — the company led by
The AFM kicked off on Wednesday with the European cocktail reception at Del Frisco’s Grille, organised by European Film Promotion with UniFrance and German Films. Guests included Michael Barker from Sony Pictures Classics and Cannes Marché du Film’s Jerome Paillard. Pictured are BAC Films team David Grumbach, Gilles Sousa, Marie Garrett and Mathieu Robinet.
Arclight hits US deal for Possessor
Charles Dance
former Arrow executive Tom Stewart, which made its first acquisition this week with Trautmann — has pre-bought UK rights. Lightning Entertainment is handling sales. Dance previously directed 2004 feature Ladies In Lavender, starring Judi Dench and Maggie Smith, which was a UK box-office hit. The Inn At The Edge Of The World is his first film as a director since then.
BY JEREMY KAY
Arclight Films has announced a US deal with Well Go USA on Brandon Cronenberg’s sci-fi Possessor, from Andy Starke and Ben Wheatley’s Rook Films and Niv Fichman’s Rhombus Media. Cronenberg, who made his feature debut with 2012 horror sci-fi Antiviral, will direct Andrea Riseborough as a secret operative who uses brain implants to manipulate innocent hosts and carry out
hits on behalf of high-paying clients. When a job turns sour, the protagonist is trapped in the mind of an unwitting suspect whose appetite for violence rivals her own. Christopher Abbott also stars. Production on the Canada-UK co-production is scheduled for the first quarter of 2019. Possessor is being produced with the participation of Telefilm Canada and Ontario Creates. Elevation Pictures will distribute in Canada.
EXECUTIVE FOCUS DAVID GARRETT, CEO, MISTER SMITH ENTERTAINMENT David Garrett launched London-based sales outfit Mister Smith at Cannes 2012. The company’s recent films include Max Minghella’s Toronto premiere Teen Spirit, starring Elle Fanning as a teenager dreaming of pop stardom, and Chiwetel Ejiofor-narrated documentary The Elephant Queen. Key titles on its AFM slate include newly announced sci-fi epic Haven — Above Sky (which has Roland Emmerich onboard as executive producer) with German producer Constantin, dram a The Banker with Samuel L Jackson and Anthony Mackie, Hilary Swank sci-fi thriller I Am Mother, and Jungleland with Jack O’Connell, Charlie Hunnam and Jessica Barden.
wants to see. We probably have a slightly larger overhead than most of our competitors because we do everything in-house: marketing, publicity, legal. It’s very important to be involved in all those aspects of a film. It’s more integrated and you can provide a better service. We also follow up with royalty statements, collections. We’re working on movies years after their release, and it pays off. We are now trying to get more involved in financing films too. It puts us in a better position financially and sometimes it’s a matter of actually getting the project made. To date, we’ve co-financed Teen Spirit and fully funded Low Tide with Automatik, which A24 picked up.
Is it a busy AFM for you?
Is international sales a tricky space to be in right now?
We sent out three scripts for new films before the market began, all in production or going into production [The Banker, Jungleland and Haven — Above Sky]. It’s rare for us to be bringing a film to the market that is actually already in production. It means we also have footage to show, which is something all the buyers love because it mitigates risk when you can see it.
6 Screen International at AFM November 2, 2018
As the business evolves, do you see your role as a sales agent changing? This business is so tough now. You have to nurture a film right from the very beginning all the way through the process, working with all the distributors to make every film into a brand that the public
Buyers are still hungry for product, but they need to minimise their own risk exposure. The conventional revenue streams such as DVD and pay-TV are diminishing. That’s had an impact on the financial model that we’re all working with [in terms of pre-sales]. It means we’re all having to learn to make movies for less.
‘It makes a big difference sitting down with somebody and explaining what a project is about’ David Garrett
How important do markets remain for the film business? We all still need the markets in order for the business to have momentum. They act as a galvanising force. They make us put pressure on producers to make decisions, to get something ready so we can take it to the market, whether it’s Berlin, Cannes or AFM. In theory, we could all function without gathering together but the world doesn’t work like that. We’re social animals and it makes a big difference sitting down with somebody and explaining what a project is about, showing them material, using one’s art of persuasion. A project like Twilight, which didn’t have stars, wouldn’t have happened if we hadn’t been selling it at the market. Tom Grater
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NEWS
MPA misgivings over South Africa production incentive BY MATT MUELLER
The Motion Picture Association (MPA) has expressed concern at South Africa’s revamped incentive for fo re i g n f i l m a n d T V production and postproduction, which came into effect on September 1. While supportive of the country’s objectives to increase the participation of its black population in the screen sectors, the revised cash rebate (up to 30% of qualifying South African expenditure, with a new $3.5m cap) brings an uncertainty that could drive away the higher-budget film and TV productions South Africa’s Department of Trade and Industry
(DTI) is keen to attract, argues the MPA. Details of the reformed programme were presented to AFM delegates y e s t e rd a y. T h e m a i n change for producers is that while applications should be received no earlier than 45 days prior to the start of principal photography, the requirement to procure at least 20% of goods and services from 51%-black-owned entities in order to trigger the rebate will not be determined until after a shoot has finished. A production will not receive the funds if it has not met the threshold. “You could get all the way to the end of a project
8 Screen International at AFM November 2, 2018
and find that you’re at 18.5% or 19% and thus not get any incentive,” said Marianne Grant, speaking on behalf of the MPA. “That is a level of risk that is very difficult for larger producers in particular and bond companies to take on.” The MPA is lobbying for a penalty model in which productions that do not reach 20% still receive some rebate, but speaking at the Loews, the DTI ruled out that option. “We are trying to bring some of the historically disadvantaged members of our communities into the film sector, and we see this as an opportunity to partner with [international producers] to make this
happen,” said Malebo Mabitje-Thompson, deputy director-general of the DTI’s incentives division. “We don’t want to plan for failure by bringing in a penalty.” While a number of productions are currently shooting in South Africa, Grant believes that higherbudget productions above $15m interested in a South Africa shoot will increasingly look to set up in more accommodating tax-incentive territories. “People will still go but it is going to make everybody think twice,” said Grant. “The projects that our members make are the ones that they want so we’re hoping this can change.”
AMERICAN FILM MARKET BRIEFS Rapace will keep AGC’s Secrets
Pure Flix shows its Welcome To Mercy
AGC Studios is launching sales at AFM on revenge thriller The Secrets We Keep to star Noomi Rapace. Yuval Adler (Bethlehem) will direct with production set to begin in early 2019. Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Erik Howsam of Di Bonaventura Pictures produce with AGC chairman and CEO Stuart Ford and head of film Greg Shapiro, and Adam Riback of Echo Lake Entertainment.
Pure Flix/Quality Flix is screening the thriller Welcome To Mercy for AFM buyers, alongside five new films including God’s Not Dead: A Light In Darkness and Little Women. Welcome To Mercy hails from Scream 3 executive producer Cary Granat and opens in the US today via IFC in 15 cities.
Framed gets snapped UK genre specialist Jinga Films has inked deals on Marc Martinez Jordan’s home invasion horror Framed with I-On New Media for Germany and MovieCloud for Taiwan. Produced by Marc Carreté, Framed is a satire about social networking.
Cuaron, Waititi to lecture at Bafta Bafta has unveiled the line-up for its 2018 Screenwriters’ Lecture Series, which will take place at the organisation’s London HQ from November 23-25. This year’s lecturers will be Alfonso Cuaron, Nicole Holofcener, Nadine Labaki, Ol Parker, Paul Schrader and Taika Waititi.
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Join us at the UK Film Centre Topanga (Reception) & Zuma Rooms, 7th Floor Atrium, Loews
Joy Womack: The White Swan Dirs. Dina Burlis, Sergey Gavrilov Int’l Sales: Reason8 Films
Under The Wire Dir. Chris Martin Int’l Sales: Dogwoof
Astral Dir. Chris Mul Int’l Sales: Film Seekers
Strike Dir. Trevor Hardy Int’l Sales: 101 Films International
Spycies Dir. Guillaume Ivernel Int’l Sales: Kaleidoscope Film Distribution
The Boat Dir. Winston Azzopardi Int’l Sales: Carnaby Int’l Sales & Distribution
Visit the UK Film Centre to meet these companies and learn about other UK sales agencies at the AFM: Find out more at weareukfilm.com @weareukfilm
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HOT PROJECTS SOUTH KOREA
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ocal films are holding their own at the South Korea box office this year. They have taken 51.5% of market share, similar to last year’s final 51.8%, while US films have taken 44.7%, Japanese films 1.4%, UK films 1% and French films 0.4%. Local afterlife saga sequel Along With The Gods: The Last 49 Days is at the top of the charts with more than $90m, followed by Hollywood hits Avengers: Infinity War (with $88m) and Mission: Impossible — Fallout ($49m), according to the Korean Film Council (KOFIC). Theatres have seen 502 new local releases this year, as of October 25, already surpassing last year’s total of 495 titles. Total box office so far is at $1.3bn, on par with the same period in 2017 after which the final total reached $1.5bn. Most notably, Korean film sales from Cannes hit a record high of $10.3m, up 47% from the previous record in 2017, according to KOFIC. The Spy Gone North, The Drug King and Monstrum led the charge. Here at AFM, Korean sales companies have slates with plenty of new titles including many from official selection at Busan International Film Festival. They include M-Line’s recent pick-up Maggie and Mirovision’s animation Shaman Sorceress. Works in progress include Bong Joon Ho’s much-anticipated Parasite at CJ, The Chaser star Kim Yoonseok’s directorial debut Another Child handled by Showbox, and newly launched K-Movie Entertainment’s crime action film The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil, starring Don Lee (aka Ma Dong-seok from Train To Busan).
The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil
Swing into action International buyers snapped up Korean titles like never before at Cannes this year. Now another full slate is ready for AFM. Jean Noh reports Maggie Dir Yi Okseop
from Train To Busan) as the gangster, Kim Moo-Yeol (Illang: The Wolf Brigade) as the cop and Kim Seong-gyu (The Outlaws) as the devil of the title. In Cheonan, a cop senses a series of murders have all been carried out by the same killer and starts investigating, making an unlikely deal with a gang boss. The $9m film is in production with a release due in 2019.
This debut feature from director Yi, a graduate of the Korean Academy of Film Arts, is also the 14th humanrights film project supported by South Korea’s National Human Rights Commission. Lee Juyeong picked up the actress of the year award for her performance in the film at the recent Busan International Film Festival, where it made its world premiere. The film also won the CGV Arthouse Award, the Citizen Critics’ Award and the KBS Independent Film Award at the festival. When the discovery of X-ray photographs of sexual intercourse causes trouble at a hospital, one of the nurses goes in to resign but discovers the place nearly abandoned. Meanwhile, strange sinkholes have started to appear in Seoul and her boyfriend is one of the young labourers recruited to fill them up. The cast also includes Moon So-ri, Koo Kyo-hwan, Kwon Haehyo and Kim Kkot-bi.
Contact K-Movie Entertainment sales@kmovieenter.com
Contact M-Line Distribution sales@mline-distribution.com
Another Child Dir Kim Yoon-seok Veteran Korean actor Kim, known for his roles in hits such as The Chaser and 1987: When The Day Comes, is making his feature directing debut with Another Child. The drama follows what happens when a 17-year-old girl discovers her father (played by Kim) is having an affair with the mother of one of her classmates. The two girls try to stop their parents from seeing each other, but only make things worse. To top it off, they discover that the mother, a single parent, is pregnant. Starring Yeom Jung-a (The Mimic), Kim So-jin (The Spy Gone North), Kim Hye-jun and Park Se-jin in their feature debuts, along with
Maggie
Kim Yoon-seok, Another Child is in postproduction. Contact Showbox
sales@showbox.co.kr
The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil Dir Lee Won-tae Lee’s second feature, following period drama Man Of Will, is a crime thriller starring Don Lee (aka Ma Dong-seok
12 Screen International at AFM November 2, 2018
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HOT PROJECTS SOUTH KOREA
Pamir Dir O Muel Written and directed by O, who won the Sundance World Cinema Grand Jury Prize for Jiseul in 2013, Pamir stars Lee Ju-seung in a story about people who lost their friends and family in the infamous Sewol ferry disaster. Suffering from loss and survivors’ guilt, their journeys of love and healing take them to Pengmok Harbor and as far as the Trans-Siberian railway. Veteran filmmaker Tcha Seung-jai, whose credits include Memories Of Murder and Musa The Warrior, is executive producing through his company OBRA Creative. O’s Japari Film is co-producing. The film has been expanded from a short film concept the director made for Korean cable broadcaster JTBC and is now shooting in Korea, Mongolia and Russia until December. Pamir is set to be released in the second half of 2019.
Shaman Sorceress
Prize nominee Kim Dongri (aka Kim Tong-ni) about a mudang who has been living with her mute daughter and practising shamanism for years. When her son returns home a Christian, the conflict between Korean traditions and western culture bring about the downfall of the family. Leading Korean animation director Ahn, whose credits include Green Days, made the film with his studio Pencil Meditation. Presented at Annecy International Animated Film Festival in 2016 as a work in progress, the film made its world premiere in the recent Wide Angle Animation Showcase at Busan International Film Festival.
Contact Jason Chae, Mirovision jason@mirovision.com
Parasite Dir Bong Joon Ho Bong, the director of Okja and Snowpiercer, returns to Korean-language filmmaking with this fourth collaboration between him and top star Song Kang-ho, with whom he worked on Memories Of Murder, The Host and Snowpiercer. Parasite is about an unemployed family led by Ki-taek (played by Song) that takes a peculiar interest in the more affluent Parks, leading to unexpected entanglements. The film also stars Lee Sun-kyun (A Hard Day), Cho Yeo-jeong (Obsessed), Choi Woo Shik (Okja, Train To Busan), Park Sodam (The Priests) and Chang Hyae Jin (Poetry). Produced by Barunson E&A, Parasite wrapped in September and is now in post-production, set for local release in 2019.
Contact Jason Chae, Mirovision jason@mirovision.com
The Wrath
Pamir
Dir Yoo Young-seon
Contact CJ Entertainment filmsales@cj.net
Second Life Dir Park Young-ju One of the buzz films from the recent Busan International Film Festival, Park’s Second Life made its world premiere in the New Currents competition. Starring Jeong Da-eun (Summer Night) and Jeon Guk-hyang, the film follows a high-school student as she tells a small lie to win attention from her peers but ends up contributing to a friend’s suicide. The shock of witnessing her friend’s death sends the girl fleeing to the countryside where she takes on a new identity. Second Life is Park’s gradu-
Second Life
ation film from Korea National University of Arts. She previously participated in the Cannes’ Cinefondation with 1 Kilogram.
Shaman Sorceress
Contact Finecut cineinfo@finecut.co.kr
This animated feature is based on a novel by Nobel
14 Screen International at AFM November 2, 2018
Dir Ahn Jaehuun
This remake of legendary 1986 horror film Woman’s Wail is directed by Yoo Young-seon, best known for The Wicked. The film stars Seo Young-hee from Madonna and The Chaser and Son Na-eun from the K-pop group Apink. In one of the Joseon dynasty’s most powerful families, the sons are each found dead on their respective first days of marriage. When a young woman is paid for and brought in to marry the last and youngest son, he dies as well, but not before making her pregnant. Produced by Footprint Factory Inc, the film is set for a November 8 release in Korea. Contact Contents Panda sales@ s its-new.co.kr ■ (Left) The Wrath
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Photographed at Everyman King’s Cross, London, July 30, 2018 (Back row, from left) Patsy Ferran, Marli Siu, Niamh Algar, Jamael Westman; (Second row) Erin Kellyman, Antonio Aakeel, Liv Hill, Laurie Kynaston, Anna Blandford; (Front row) Dafne Keen, Joseph Quinn
(Back row, from left) Gabriel Bisset-Smith, Helen Simmons, Ameenah Ayub Allen, Anna Griffin, Koby Adom; (Second row) Prano Bailey-Bond, Moin Hussain, Edwin Thomas, Baff Akoto; (Front row) Rose Glass, Erin Doherty, Harry Lighton, Tamara Lawrance
All photography by Peter Searle
SPOTLIGHT STARS OF TOMORROW 2018
(Not pictured) Amrou Al-Kadhi, Rhianne Barreto, Charly Clive, Esme Creed-Miles, Hania Elkington and Johnny Kenton
When the stars align Screen International’s Stars of Tomorrow 2018 spotlights the hottest up-and-coming actors and filmmakers in the UK and Ireland
W
hile it’s never easy to be a star in the making, the road to Screen International Stars of Tomorrow has widened considerably over the last few years. There was a time when we would look for a reassurance that actors and directors, producers and writers were actively looking to work in UK cinema. That seems like a small stage now. We’ve widened our annual showcase to include Irish talent, and many of our stars — such as Stacy Martin — have gone on to make a name for themselves in international cinema. And since we started in 2004, TV has risen and risen. Stars of our first issue, such as Benedict Cumberbatch, have moved between small and
It has never felt like a more exciting time to be finding talent large screen with ease. This year Claire Foy and Tom Hiddleston (2008) have been rewarded for their television work, while Richard Madden (2011), James Norton and Cush Jumbo (2013) continue to make watercooler-worthy features. This year, Joseph Quinn comes straight from a star turn at London’s National Theatre in Mosquitoes, opposite Olivia Colman, while director Johnny Kenton was already shooting TV’s Endeavour straight out of the National Film and Tel-
16 Screen International at AFM November 2, 2018
evision School. This diversity has been growing over the years as, we’re proud to say, is the ethnic diversity of our line-up: we feel we reflect the new face of the business. It has never felt like a more exciting time to be finding talent in the UK when there are so many ways for their voices to be heard and so many new stories to be told. I’m proud of all the talented people who have done their first-ever interviews for Stars of Tomorrow over the years and in this issue too. When you read through, I’m sure you’ll see why. Good luck to them going forward; they deserve to be highlighted and heard. Fionnuala Halligan, Stars of Tomorrow editor
»
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SPOTLIGHT STARS OF TOMORROW 2018
THE ACTORS Liv Hill
Tamara Lawrance London-born Tamara Lawrance didn’t come from a performing arts background, so she did her own research and attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). “I wasn’t aware of how difficult it was to get into drama school until I got in and there were people [there] who had auditioned four times,” she admits. “I’m very single-minded.” Lawrance graduated in 2015 and has established herself in lead roles at London’s Royal Court Theatre and National Theatre. She has had several small-screen roles in BBC TV series Undercover and Channel 4’s No Offence, as well as in Dominic Cooke’s big-screen adaptation of Ian McEwan’s On Chesil Beach, and is next set for Anthony Neilson’s play The Tell-Tale Heart, adapted from Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, at the National. Recently she wrapped a shoot in the Dominican Republic for the BBC and Heyday Films adaptation of Andrea Levy’s novel The Long Song, directed by 2012 Star of Tomorrow Mahalia Belo. Lawrance stars as a slave living on a plantation in 19th-century Jamaica around the time of the abolition of slavery.
In the past two years, 18-year-old Liv Hill has juggled her studies with roles in two features: as an anguished young woman who finds solace in stand-up comedy in James Gardner’s Jellyfish, which premiered at this year’s Tribeca, and as a naïve housemaid in Lenny Abrahamson’s The Little Stranger. “I needed to get my A-Levels done as my parents were making me,” Hill laughs. “Now I can prioritise acting. It’s a huge relief.” Hill was nominated earlier this year for a best supporting actress Bafta TV award for her debut role in the BBC drama series Three Girls, based on a real-life sexabuse scandal. “It wasn’t until it came out that we felt the intensity and pressure of what we had created,” she recalls. “At the time I was 16 and so excited to have my first job.” Born in Wales, Hill travelled around a lot as a child due to her father’s job in the army, training at a free performing arts group in Nottingham after her family settled nearby. Next up is a role in The Fight, the directorial debut of actress Jessica Hynes. “I find pleasure and excitement in playing people who are very different to me,” she says. Contact Donna French, Gordon & French donna@gordonandfrench.co.uk
Contact Kate Bryden, Gordon & French kate@gordonandfrench.co.uk
A graduate of the University of Oxford, where he majored in French and Portuguese, followed by three years at Guildhall School of Music & Drama, Edwin Thomas was “ready to go” when he launched his professional acting career in 2012. But he was forced to step away from acting for four years thanks to the perfect storm of injuries this sports-mad Londoner had acquired over the years. In his time away from the profession, Thomas trained to be a teacher and taught French and history at a north London academy, before landing the key role of Robbie Ross in Rupert Everett’s The Happy Prince in one of his first auditions back. “It’s the most inspirational thing I’ve ever done,” he says. “Rupert was surprised at how ready to go I was, but with the speed of this industry, I think that’s what people need nowadays.” Raised in Hackney, east London — which he still calls home — to actor parents, Thomas is fully recovered from his physical setbacks and eager to make up for lost time in acting. “The Happy Prince has given me the confidence I can do it at this level.” Contact Nicki van Gelder, Conway van Gelder Grant nicki@conwayvg.co.uk
Niamh Algar Niamh Algar is a woman who knows what she wants. “I’d love to do a boxing film,” says Algar, who has sparred since she was a teenager. “I want to do roles that are quite physical and about pushing yourself.” Algar did not go to drama school, but regularly participated in workshops at the renowned Bow Street acting academy — formerly The Factory — in Dublin. From there she was cast in Lorcan Finnegan’s Without Name. The Irish film screened at the Toronto and London film festivals in 2016, and it was at the London screening that she secured an agent at Independent Talent. “I came over for the festival and didn’t leave,” says Algar, who is now based in the city. The first audition Algar was sent on by her agent was for Shane Meadows’ Channel 4 drama The Virtues, and she won the central role of Dinah opposite Stephen
18 Screen International at AFM November 2, 2018
Edwin Thomas
Graham. Since then, Algar has made two TV series for Channel 4 — The Bisexual, with Desiree Akhavan and Maxine Peake, and Pure, with Joe Cole — and is working on the BBC political thriller MotherFatherSon, with Richard Gere, Helen McCrory and Billy Howle (a 2015 Star of Tomorrow), in which she plays a former soldier from Northern Ireland. She has also made her film debut in dark family drama Calm With Horses, co-starring Barry Keoghan and directed by Nick Rowland (also Stars of Tomorrow in 2015). It is produced by Film4 and Michael Fassbender’s DMC Film, and shot on the west coast of Ireland earlier this year. The actress also has Hollywood in her sights: “I’ve been playing Irish quite a bit and it serves me well, but I’d like to change into a different accent.” Contact Ollie Azis, Independent Talent Group ollieazis@independenttalent.com
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Esme Creed-Miles
Erin Doherty Erin Doherty rose to prominence earlier this year after it was announced she would portray Princess Anne in season three of Netflix’s The Crown. The 26-year-old will play the daughter of Queen Elizabeth II alongside Olivia Colman, Tobias Menzies and Helena Bonham Carter. “Getting to work with this cast? I don’t quite believe it yet,” she says. Doherty studied at the Guildford School of Drama for a year before being accepted into the three-year theatre programme at the Bristol Old Vic theatre. After graduating in 2015, she landed her first onscreen role in an episode of the BBC’s Call The Midwife, in which she portrayed the wife of a blind dock worker — a role Doherty says prepared her for life on set. “With onscreen roles you can only learn on the job, and this prepped me for The Crown. I’ll always be grateful for that.” With a part too in the BBC’s upcoming Les Misérables adaptation, Doherty is establishing herself as a name to watch. “In whatever role you’re playing, you’re constantly reminding yourself how you got there in the first place and you stay grounded in that,” she says.
Despite growing up as the daughter of actors Samantha Morton and Charlie Creed-Miles, and appearing as Shirley Temple alongside her mother in Harmony Korine’s Mister Lonely, Esme Creed-Miles did not set her heart on life as a performer. That all changed when her mother’s agent — now her own rep — told Creed-Miles about Clio Barnard’s Dark River, and the casting search to play Ruth Wilson’s central character as a teenage girl in flashback. CreedMiles went through “a long audition process”, and eventually snagged the role. “After that I decided, I’ll see where this takes me,” she says. Following parts in low-budget UK indies Undercliffe and Pond Life, Creed-Miles auditioned for the title role in Amazon’s Hanna, an eight-part TV series based on Joe Wright’s 2011 film. “With jobs like that, you never think you’re going to get it,” says Creed-Miles, who wrapped the series’ eight-month shoot in August. “That’s one thing where my parents gave me that upper hand. They’ve experienced the rejection that actors get all the time. When you have that zen-ness about it, things maybe come your way a bit more.” Contact Nicki van Gelder, Conway van Gelder Grant nicki@conwayvg.co.uk
Contact Kat Oliver, Conway van Gelder Grant kat@conwayvg.co.uk
Marli Siu Marli Siu grew up in Forres, northeast Scotland, to a Hong Kong-born father and Scottish mother. She recently beat out hundreds of contenders to take the lead role in Scott Graham’s upcoming drama We Don’t Talk About Love opposite Mark Stanley. “Working with Scott was a bit surreal,” she says. “It was a phenomenal experience because he really trusts his actors; there was so much freedom with that film to be completely in the moment.” Graham is equally as enthusiastic about his young star. “There is a joy and a freedom to the way Marli works,” he says. “She’s the kind of actor you want to give your character to because you know she will care for her and make her fly.” Growing up in rural Scotland, opportunities to explore Siu’s dramatic impulses were limited until she
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Antonio Aakeel Growing up in Birmingham, Antonio Aakeel fell in love with acting at an early age and was accepted into London’s Royal Central School of Speech & Drama — an opportunity he turned down to tour with a theatre production of Guantanamo Boy, which led to a small role in Channel 4’s cult TV series Skins. After starring alongside Riz Ahmed in UK crime film City Of Tiny Lights, Aakeel was in the latest reboot of Tomb Raider alongside Alicia Vikander, and is proving to be one of the UK’s most in-demand up-and-coming actors — one who is determined to use his rising status to honour British minorities in the arts. “When I grew up I didn’t see anyone on screen who looked like me, and that does affect your identity,” he says. “Being an actor is about being accountable and responsible, and, for me, representation is very important.” Upcoming projects include BBC One series The Dublin Murders for Element Pictures, and a pair of features in which he takes the lead: Eaten By Lions where he plays a confused Blackpool lad in search of an identity, and Granada Nights as a Brit on a journey of discovery in Spain. Contact Lara Beach, Curtis Brown lara@curtisbrown.co.uk
studied English and drama at Edinburgh Napier University. She subsequently moved to London after appearing in a series of short films, and quickly won a role on the CBBC web series Dixi. Next came the part of Lisa in John McPhail’s zombie musical Anna And The Apocalypse, set in the fictional town of Little Haven and following a group of highschool students who must rally together amid a looming zombie apocalypse. After premiering at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, a UK release is set for Christmas 2018. “It was such an incredible experience,” says Siu, who is excited for what lies ahead. “Acting is such an integral part of the world. It’s a form of art that doesn’t cut anyone off. Cinema is so accessible to people from all walks of life and it’s amazing to be a part of.” Contact Jeanette Hunter, Shepherd Management jeanettehunter@shepherdmanagement.co.uk
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November 2, 2018 Screen International at AFM 19
SPOTLIGHT STARS OF TOMORROW 2018
THE ACTORS Charly Clive
Patsy Ferran While Spain-born, Surrey-raised Patsy Ferran always wanted to be an actor, she was careful not to let that ambition overwhelm her. “It’s important as an actor to be interested in other things,” she says. “If you are so obsessed with the bubble, it can feel quite toxic.” After several years playing the male roles in plays at her all-girls school (“That helped me in my ability to be silly”), Ferran studied drama at the University of Birmingham, followed by RADA. Her first role on stage came in 2014 in Blithe Spirit, opposite Angela Lansbury at London’s Gielgud Theatre. For the past three years, Ferran has been shooting Sky’s period drama series Jamestown in Budapest. While her role started off as the light relief, it has grown more complex as the producers recognised Ferran’s talent. During a series hiatus, she filmed a small part in God’s Own Country for director Francis Lee, and is now back on stage in Tennessee Williams’ Summer And Smoke, which is transferring to London’s West End this month. Acting, says Ferran, is a way of exploring her Spanish side. “Acting is exciting because I’m allowed to be front-footed and expressive without being told I’m inappropriate.”
Actress, comedian and playwright Charly Clive is ready to break out in her first onscreen role in Channel 4’s comedy/drama series Pure, in which she plays the lead role of Marnie, a young woman with extreme obsessive compulsive disorder. “It took a while for me to realise that I was meant to be there on set and it wasn’t some mistake,” says Clive, with a laugh. Born and raised in a village outside Oxford, Clive holds dual US/UK citizenship, which came in handy when the actress was accepted into the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. After graduating, Clive took on various jobs to pay the bills while writing comedy sketches and plays. It was during this time Clive was diagnosed with a benign brain tumour. After months of painful recuperation, she used her experiences to create a comedy sketch show titled Britney — the name she gave her tumour — which she co-wrote with Ellen Robertson. Performing the show at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2016 eventually led to her being cast in Pure. “I’m new to the idea that this is something I can call my job, so to be recognised for doing it well is extraordinary,” she says. Contact Charlotte Davies and Kitty Laing, United Agents cdavies@unitedagents.co.uk klaing@unitedagents.co.uk
Contact Deborah Willey, Independent Talent Group deborahwilley@independenttalent.com
After securing a place at RADA on his fourth attempt, Londoner Jamael Westman stayed the full course but left without an agent. This is where faith lent a hand: not religious faith, but a steady belief in himself. Confidence, in other words, and the support of his mother and friends, one of whom recommended him for a part at London’s Royal Court Theatre in Torn, a play written by 2017 Star of Tomorrow Nathaniel Martello-White. A run in The White Devil at the Globe theatre followed, and brought him an agent who asked an unusual question: could Jamael rap? He could. And how. Next up was an audition for the transfer of Hamilton to London’s West End. Which part?, asked Westman. The answer: Hamilton himself. And the rest is history, with the Streatham-based Jamaican-Irish actor garnering huge acclaim since Hamilton launched at Victoria Palace theatre in December 2017. A sellout run has made it hard to fit in screen roles, but Westman has shot a small part in Sophie Hyde’s Animals opposite Holliday Grainger and also written a play. “I do find myself drawn to more political work,” he says. “Anything, really, as long as it makes people think about themselves.” Contact Lara Beach, Curtis Brown lara@curtisbrown.co.uk
Erin Kellyman Before her role as the mysterious resistance fighter Enfys Nest in this year’s Solo: A Star Wars Story catapulted the 19-year-old Birmingham-born Erin Kellyman to global recognition, the actress had been making her mark on the small screen. She won the role of Cathy in Channel 4’s adaptation of Caitlin Moran’s autobiographical novel Raised By Wolves after her first ever audition. “I love playing other people,” Kellyman says of the natural ease she feels in front of the camera. “I’ve always felt comfortable on set.” Acting was an ambition from a young age, and Kellyman attended Nottingham’s Television Workshop, whose alumni include Vicky McClure and Jack O’Connell, while still at school. She also watched “movie after movie after movie — Les Misérables in particular. I loved the character of Eponine.”
20 Screen International at AFM November 2, 2018
Jamael Westman
When Kellyman auditioned for the BBC’s adaptation of the Victor Hugo novel, however, she read first for Cosette. “I tried to play it as Eponine as much as I could,” she admits. “I got a callback for Eponine and then I thought, ‘Right, this is mine.’” She got the job and shot on location in Belgium. Kellyman is now looking for her next role, and is clear as to what kinds of projects appeal to her. “I think it’s important people see other people on screen they can identify with,” she says. When asked if there is an actor whose career and choices she would like to emulate, Kellyman answers without hesitation: “Julie Walters. If I could do just a quarter of what she has done, that would be a dream come true.” Contact Oriana Elia, Curtis Brown eliaoffice@curtisbrown.co.uk
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SPOTLIGHT STARS OF TOMORROW 2018
THE ACTORS Joseph Quinn
Dafne Keen By her own admission, 13-year-old Dafne Keen had an unusual childhood. Growing up in Spain and England in a bilingual household with her Spanish actor/writer/ director mother Maria Fernandez Ache and UK actor/ director father Will Keen, she would delight in creating performances at home. “Toys are for lots of kids, and acting was my toy,” she says. “I am a child of actors. I’ve always lived on set or in a rehearsal room.” Keen scored her first screen role aged nine opposite her father in Spanish TV series The Refugees, then earned international acclaim as the genetically weaponised child Laura opposite Hugh Jackman in Logan. Her next assignment is an even bigger responsibility: playing Lyra, the protagonist of the BBC’s new eight-part adaptation of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials. The lengthy shoot wraps in November. Unlike Lyra, who has a difficult time with adults, Keen pays tribute to her own mother. “My mum teaches me things every day,” she says. “One thing she said that stuck with me is, ‘Don’t let Dafne get in the way of telling the character’s story’. You have to be listening. You have to have your eyes on the ball, not thinking about other things when you’re telling someone’s story.”
“I am desperate to give comedy a crack. It’s been a bit serious so far,” says south London-born Joseph Quinn of his burgeoning career. After roles in the BBC’s Dickensian and a small part in HBO’s Game Of Thrones, Quinn attracted attention when he was cast as the enigmatic Leonard Bast in the BBC and Starz’ Howards End, adapted by Kenneth Lonergan and directed by Hettie Macdonald. He then snagged the role of Enjolras in the BBC’s forthcoming epic retelling of Les Misérables. While on a break from the production’s six-month shoot, Quinn found time to star in his first feature, Make Up, a Cornwall-set psychological thriller from writer/director Claire Oakley and producer Emily Morgan (I Am Not A Witch) that was developed through Creative England’s iFeatures initiative. “It’s really ambitious,” he says of the project. “I play Tom who works in a holiday park over summer. All kinds of stuff goes down when his girlfriend comes to live with him.” Quinn’s stage work includes starring opposite Olivia Colman and Olivia Williams in Mosquitoes at the National Theatre. In between jobs, he writes comedy scripts with friends. “It’s a good exercise even if nothing comes of it,” he says. “It’s always good to stay creative.” Contact Sam Turnbull, Curtis Brown sam.turnbull@curtisbrown.co.uk
Contact Natalie Day, Independent Talent Group natalieday@independenttalent.com
Rhianne Barreto “It’s so important these stories get told, and it’s incredible I’ve now got this opportunity,” says Rhianne Barreto of her latest project, the lead in an as-yet untitled feature written and directed by Pippa Bianco, a project picked up by A24. “It’s the most incredible thing I’ve ever done,” continues Barreto, who co-stars with 2015 Stars of Tomorrow Nicholas Galitzine and Charlie Plummer. “It was such a passion project, and all of us involved had such a massive investment.” Born in west London to a family of nine, Barreto started out when she filled in for one of the boys’ roles in her sister’s school play. Graduating from London’s National Youth Theatre, she was then accepted at the Brit School in Croydon. It was the following year her big break came after she was selected as one of 14 students to perform as part of a showcase at Trafalgar Stu-
22 Screen International at AFM November 2, 2018
Laurie Kynaston Laurie Kynaston made his professional debut six years ago, aged 18, in the title role of Terence Rattigan’s The Winslow Boy for a Welsh theatre company. “In two days, I went from waiting in the bar to say well done [to the actors] to being in the rehearsal room with them,” he recalls. “It was so exciting.” This opportunity set the pattern for Kynaston, who grew up in north Wales listening to the music of his older brothers and parents, so knew exactly what it meant (“kind of terrifying”) when he was cast as The Smiths’ guitarist Johnny Marr in the 2017 Morrissey biopic England Is Mine. In January, Kynaston was part of the cast refresh for Sam Mendes’s acclaimed London production of Jez Butterworth’s The Ferryman, and he has recently filmed roles in How To Build A Girl, based on Caitlin Moran’s semi-autobiographical novel, and Amazon Prime series The Feed, based on the dystopian-future novel by Nick Clark Windo. Having arrived in London on his own at 19, Kynaston now has a network of friends that includes former Star of Tomorrow Jodie Comer. “She is completely wonderful. This is how you do it as a young actor — be gracious, be kind and be really fucking good.” Contact Greg Herst, Troika Talent greg@troikatalent.com
dios, and she subsequently starred in a short film for Film4 titled Tickle Monster. That led to a recurring role in the CBBC web series Dixi. This summer, Barreto has been filming in Budapest for the upcoming Hanna, an eight-part TV action series created by David Farr and based on the 2011 film directed by Joe Wright, in which she plays the supporting role of Sophie to fellow Star of Tomorrow Esme Creed-Miles’ Hanna. She will also appear in the UK graffiti drama Burners, the debut feature from Oliver Vilas. Barreto’s love for acting has been a driving force from an early age. “It was interesting while growing up, not seeing anyone like me on screen,” she says. “Being able to be seen for roles that I wouldn’t usually be seen for is important — and it shouldn’t just be a phase or a trend.” Contact David Marsden, Sainou david@sainou.com
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SPOTLIGHT STARS OF TOMORROW 2018
THE FILMMAKERS Ameenah Ayub Allen (producer)
Johnny Kenton (writer/director) Brought up in the Scottish Highlands, Johnny Kenton started out making music videos as a teenager, eventually working on projects for Columbia and Universal, as well as ads for Fuji, Nissan and Samsung. In 2013, he used Kickstarter to fund Hereafter, a sci-fi pilot he wrote and directed starring Lydia Wilson and Taron Egerton, which won the prize for best drama or dramedy pilot at New York Television Festival that year. It helped him to be selected as a David Lean scholar at the National Film and Television School (NFTS). “It would’ve been impossible to go otherwise,” he says. Kenton graduated from NFTS in February with Dead Birds, a black comedy about a competitive motherdaughter relationship starring Tara Fitzgerald. Currently working on ITV’s Endeavour and a short for The Ink Factory about author John le Carré, he is developing Live Fast Die Young, which he hopes will be his debut feature, and a pair of TV series: supernatural comedy Double Tucked and sci-fi thriller Blackscape, which he created with 2016 Star of Tomorrow Melissa Iqbal. “For me the world is terrifying and heartbreaking as well as really hilarious and hopeful,” says Kenton. “Making films that are a combination of those things is important to me.”
Producing Sarah Gavron’s latest untitled film this year has been a huge step forward in Ameenah Ayub Allen’s career. Backed by Film4, the BFI and the Wellcome Trust among others, it follows a 15-year-old British Nigerian schoolgirl as she looks after her younger brother, using the help of her friends to avoid being taken into care. For Allen, the project struck a chord. “Coming from Hounslow [west London], I had a group of friends I grew up with that was really diverse,” she says. “It was exactly the film I wanted to do, and with such a brilliant director.” There is a pleasant symmetry at play: Allen’s job as assistant producer on Gavron’s Brick Lane 11 years ago was a breakthrough, and she has taken on various roles since then including as post-production co-ordinator, production manager and now producer. After shorts including Oscar-shortlisted The Road Home, Allen produced her first feature last year, the investigative documentary Erase And Forget. She plans “to make films that will cause the new generation to fall in love with cinema”. That is certainly the aim with Gavron’s feature: “We’ll be showing girls who haven’t been seen in British cinema before, which will inspire filmmakers and other stories that are authentic.” Contact Ameenah Ayub Allen ameenahallen@gmail.com
Contact Roxana Adle, Independent Talent Group roxanaadle@independenttalent.com
Wales-born Prano Bailey-Bond, currently developing her first feature Censor, believes now is a great time for women working in genre-based cinema. “Jennifer Kent with The Babadook has really opened doors,” she says. “We have all these exciting female genre stories coming through and I think that’s been a massive wake-up call for the industry. It’s a really positive space to be working in.” Censor is about a film censor’s reaction to a 1980s video nasty. Backed by the BFI, Ffilm Cymru Wales and Creative England, it is produced by Silver Salt Films. The project was chosen for the BFI Network Weekender 2017, and shortlisted for the Sundance Writers Lab. Bailey-Bond is developing the script with a view to start shooting in early 2019. After attending the London College of Printing, Bailey-Bond started out in post-production, eventually working as an editor and music video director before transitioning into short films, including 2015’s Nasty, which screened at more than 100 festivals. Alongside Censor, Bailey-Bond is developing Womb, a body-horror feature also backed by Ffilm Cymru Wales and produced by Silver Salt. “I’ll probably always do stuff that’s a bit dark and a bit strange,” she says. Contact Prano Bailey-Bond pbaileybond@gmail.com
Gabriel Bisset-Smith (writer/director) Gabriel Bisset-Smith wrote, directed and starred in his debut short Thrush, the story of a relationship told in five minutes through photos, which won the 2010 Vimeo best narrative short award. His 2017 comedy skit in which privileged City workers express secret admiration for the UK’s left-wing Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn went viral, and is pushing half a million views. He is working on his debut directorial feature Caring, “a horror comedy about a disabled woman discovering her carer is a serial killer”, written by playwright Matilda Ibini. “We wanted to cast disabled actors, and do stuff with disability, film and horror that you’ve potentially never seen before,” he says. Also in the works is Offbeat, about a kid whose body goes out of control whenever he hears music; and an untitled Football Manager project, based on the videogame, with Universal.
24 Screen International at AFM November 2, 2018
Prano Bailey-Bond (writer/director)
Making The Last Hours Of Laura K through the BBC’s Writers Room gave Bisset-Smith a larger platform. The interactive murder mystery invites users to act as detective on the final day of protagonist Laura K across various CCTV, social media and other formats. “Luckily because it was so big and confusing, I kind of had to direct it and edit it,” he says. “No-one else really got what we were doing at that stage.” Raised on a London council estate with a mixed-race mother from Jamaica and father from Manchester, Bisset-Smith is also a performer and a playwright, and runs a podcast with comedy partner Robert Cawsey. With the online landscape changing at pace, he is grateful for the medium that has showcased his comedy. “My career wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for the internet,” he says. Contact Nish Panchal, Curtis Brown nish@curtisbrown.co.uk
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SPOTLIGHT STARS OF TOMORROW 2018
THE FILMMAKERS
Rose Glass (writer/director) Rose Glass’s film obsession began as a child when she saw the stop-motion animation work in Jason And The Argonauts. After graduating with a film and video degree from the London College of Communication, she wrote and directed short film Storm House, about a young couple in isolation. That helped her secure a place at the NFTS, where her
graduation film was Room 55, the 1950sset story of a repressed housewife who spends a night in a crazy hotel. The film travelled to festivals including SXSW and Palm Springs. Glass’s debut feature Saint Maud is being produced by Oliver Kassman and Andrea Cornwell, and has backing from Film4 and the BFI. The team plan to shoot soon on the psychological thriller about a reclusive Catholic nurse who believes she can communicate with God. Also on Glass’s slate is dystopian sci-fi The Premises, again with Kassman, and a nascent project about a female bodybuilder. She is interested in intimate, twisted psychological stories that she can tell in a heightened, stylised way. “I want the audience to feel like they’re watching something they shouldn’t be,” she adds. Contact Tracey Hyde, Casarotto Ramsay & Associates tracey@casarotto.co.uk
Moin Hussain (writer/director) Having his second short, Real Gods Require Blood, play in Critics’ Week at Cannes 2017 has opened doors for Moin Hussain. “When it first got announced, I didn’t understand the gravity of what it would mean going forwards,” he says. Since attending last year’s festival, the Critics’ Week organisers have helped with his progression, including a feature
Helen Simmons (producer)
Baff Akoto (writer/director)
Originally planning to be a lawyer, Helen Simmons had her head turned at the University of Cambridge where she ran Watersprite, a short-film festival. After striking partnerships for the event with Bafta and Women In Film & TV, and getting Eddie Redmayne and Neil Gaiman to deliver talks, she began to envision a career in film. After doing development work at Film4 and an internship at the nowdefunct Weinstein Company (where her harassment-free experience included being a director’s assistant on Justin Chadwick’s Tulip Fever), Simmons produced short films before arriving at her debut feature Chubby Funny, which she began working on after meeting writer/ director Harry Michell in 2014. The micro-budget feature, which had good reviews and a small theatrical run in the UK, opened doors for the pair, with sales outfit Independent Films boarding their
It was a “highly inappropriate” viewing of The Godfather when he was eight that gave London-born Baff Akoto the cinema bug. After studying broadcasting in London, Akoto decided to avoid film school and instead travel to Ghana, from where his family originates. As a football fan, he was drawn to the story of African footballers making their improbable journey from the streets of Ghanaian capital Accra to superstardom in Europe. He spent three years chronicling those journeys in Football Fables, a 52-minute documentary that he self-produced and financed, with a few small grants. After further shorts, TV work and taking part in Berlinale Talents in 2016, Akoto has turned his attention to features, and is working on two projects with producer Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor. The first is an untitled prison drama, which is in development with the BFI
next feature Ilkley. The $1.3m (£1m) film is nearing completion. As well as working on Michell’s third feature, Simmons has a raft of projects including a sci-fi with The Levelling director Hope Dickson Leach attached. Simmons’ slate reflects a desire for stories that appeal to her own tastes. Contact Helen Simmons hbsimmons91@gmail.com
Harry Lighton (writer/director) Harry Lighton is in development with BBC Films and Element Pictures on his first feature. Set in the Japanese world of sumo wrestling, it will be told through the perspective of a non-Japanese sumo wrestler as he attempts to assimilate without a mutual language. Making his first short films while studying English literature at the University of Oxford was, Lighton says, a way to exercise his creative impulse. He has made four shorts to date, the third of
26 Screen International at AFM November 2, 2018
which, Wren Boys, was Bafta nominated and screened at festivals including Sundance and SXSW. It centres on a Catholic priest from Cork driving his nephew to prison on the day after Christmas. Lighton relished audience reactions when screening it around the world: “You feel them going, ‘Oh no, we’re going down this generic route.’ When it upturns that, there’s a palpable sigh of relief.” He plans to adapt the story into a feature. Being on the BFI Flare LGBT emerging filmmakers scheme in 2017 also
development lab in France for the eight short filmmakers in his selection. Hussain is currently writing his first feature, which will be a return to the thriller/folk horror of Real Gods Require Blood. Set in a small coastal community in Norfolk, it sees a beached whale cause the town to believe an ancient evil has been awakened. He has also wrapped on Naptha, his next short with Film4, about a father and son working at a petrol station when the father begins to speak in a long-forgotten language and insisting on “a return back home”. An east London native, it was a move to Norfolk that inspired Hussain’s first short Holy Thursday about a young boy on the last week of his paper round faced with three men and three choices. “In terms of ambition, my dream is to just keep on making stuff,” he says. Contact Anthony Mestriner, Casarotto Ramsay & Associates anthony@casarotto.co.uk
with a view to start shooting early next year. The second is an untitled comedydrama set in 1984, following a Jamaican family during the miners’ strike. Separately, Akoto is also set to direct Darkest Place To Die, a US-set neo-noir thriller which is now casting. Contact Baff Akoto mail@baffakoto.com
assisted Lighton with guidance and connections in the industry, including a year of mentoring from Wild Rose director Tom Harper. “I had some hangups about not having gone to film school. He essentially told me to get on with it, and go and make Wren Boys.” Lighton says the starting point for any project is “a strong emotional reaction that I want to explore. I never want my films to preach.” Contact Matthew Bates, Sayle Screen matthew@saylescreen.com
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Anna Griffin (producer)
Hania Elkington (writer)
Nottingham-based Anna Griffin made her first moves into the industry as director’s assistant to Nicolas Winding Refn on 2008’s Bronson, which shot in the East Midlands city. The Danish filmmaker took Griffin to the Scotland shoot of his next film, Valhalla Rising, and later employed her as a researcher on Only God Forgives. “Through him I got an insight into what the world of developing is and what producing can be,” she says. “That’s when I realised I wanted to do it.” In 2013, Griffin joined Wellington Films for a year as a government-funded production assistant. She has continued to work there part-time, including as a producer on Matt Palmer’s thriller Calibre, which came together when Griffin managed to lure Beta Cinema on board. Beta’s advance helped to complete the budget, and Calibre premiered at Edinburgh International Film Festival in June, where it won the Michael Powell Award for best
After winning a run of short fiction prizes in her teens, Londoner Hania Elkington graduated from Edinburgh University with an MA in literature and spent her twenties working as an associate literary agent. But she never stopped writing and twice made the Brit List of best unproduced screenplays: with Son Of Man, about an obese, bullied Catholic schoolboy who learns what it means to be a man in a teen pregnancy class; and Letter From America, a road trip that sees a bereaved English couple retracing the last steps of their daughter around the US. Elkington left agenting in 2014 to focus on screenwriting. She has developed projects for Scott Free, World and Touchpaper, and her script Full Frontal, which came top of the TV Brit List, is in advanced development with Mam Tor/Endemol. The eight-part series The Innocents (New Pictures/Netflix Originals) is Elkington’s first project to hit screens.
Amrou Al-Kadhi (writer/director)
As an actor, screenwriter, director, author, columnist and performer, how does Amrou Al-Kadhi — who identifies as gender non-binary and uses the pronoun ‘they’ — fit in everything? “I’m a full-time creative. I’m honest with everyone I work with. We set up deadlines between us.”
British feature, as well as having its world rights scooped up by Netflix. Griffin now has a wealth of projects on the go at Wellington and under her own banner, Griffin Pictures, including undercover police drama Any Means Necessary from writer Kefi Chadwick and further projects with Calibre director Palmer. Contact Anna Griffin anna@wellingtonfilms.co.uk
At the forefront of several projects is the Film4-backed Layla, which Al-Kadhi is writing and directing, a “contemporary Romeo & Juliet” about two lovers caught between separate sects of London’s LGBT community. Also in the works as a writer/ performer is Glamrou, centring on AlKadhi’s drag queen persona. After parts in films including Steven Spielberg’s Munich, a growing frustration at being offered clichéd roles motivated Al-Kadhi to write scripts with the intent “to use my own experience of being a queer Muslim, and to put it on screen.” To date that has yielded four shorts, including their latest Anemone, which is about a non-binary Nigerian teenager who becomes a sea anemone. In Al-Kadhi’s words, “It’s queer as fuck!” TV contact Kitty Laing, United Agents klaing@unitedagents.co.uk Film contact Giles Smart, United Agents gsmart@unitedagents.co.uk
Anna Blandford (director) Anna Blandford’s route into the industry was an unconventional one. After studying English literature at the University of Birmingham, she worked in design and development before getting involved in community and youth film projects. “The challenge of not going to film school was networking and forming contacts, but it makes you more ballsy because you have to find your own way,” she says. “Having more real-world experience is quite useful.”
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Koby Adom (writer/director) Koby Adom’s 2018 short Haircut was made through Film London’s London Calling scheme and chosen by director David Yates for the London Calling Plus award. He is currently in discussions with Film4 and BBC Films on his debut feature SE28, which is built around a real incident from his youth.
After starting to write and direct her own shorts, Blandford’s 2008 film Looking For Marilyn proved particularly influential. The short was made as part of the Straight 8 2008 competition, which challenged filmmakers to make a short on one cartridge of super-8 with no postproduction. Chosen as the winner, the film screened on Channel 4 and in the Kodak Pavilion in Cannes. “That’s when I realised I wanted to make films that explored social issues or moral issues, but not in a didactic way,” Blandford says.
Co-created with Simon Duric, it is a teen romance with a supernatural twist and stars Guy Pearce and Sorcha Groundsell. “We wanted to explore the change girls go through at adolescence,” says Elkington, who is thrilled her hard work is paying off. “Writers are invisible until you get to that point where someone is taking notice.” Contact Camille McCurry, United Agents cmccurry@unitedagents.co.uk
As a British-Ghanaian, Adom’s body of four shorts take in both his African heritage — he was born on the Ivory Coast and lived in Ghana — and London upbringing. House Girl, Adom’s 2016 masters graduation film from London Film School, sees a British-African girl visit Ghana and find a world apart from the European city she was raised in. Shooting on location in west Africa posed issues, but was an “unforgettable experience” that Adom believes will serve him well: “Anything I do now is not as intense.” For Adom, his heritage is an essential part of his storytelling. “I want to make timeless films, to start making Africa more renowned in the industry,” he says. Further projects alongside SE28 include turning shorts House Girl and Haircut into a series and feature respectively. Contact Patrick Child, Independent Talent Group patrickchild@independenttalent.com
Blandford’s most recent short, family drama On The Surface, was shot in France and is in post-production. Next up is what she hopes will be her debut feature: Capital, an ambitious film about residents of a house set over 150 years that she is cowriting with Anna Valdez Hanks. “It’s about power dynamics between family members and family secrets,” says Blandford. “It’s quite violent.” Contact Jago Irwin, Independent Talent Group s jagoirwin@independenttalent.com n
November 2, 2018 Screen International at AFM 27
SCREENINGS Edited by Paul Lindsell
paullindsell@gmail.com
AFM THEATRES AMC SANTA MONICA 1310 3rd Street Promenade, at Arizona Avenue ARCLIGHT SANTA MONICA Santa Monica Place, level 3 BROADWAY CINEPLEX 1441 3rd Street Promenade, just north of Broadway
MARKET 09:00 AILO’S JOURNEY
Children’s, documentary. 80mins. Dir: Guillaume Maidatchevsky. Gaumont. Follow the incredible odyssey of a newborn reindeer in Lapland. AMC Santa Monica 1
ASTERIX — THE SECRET OF THE MAGIC POTION
Animation. 90mins. Dir: Louis Clichy, Alexandre Astier. Scr: Alexandre Astier. Cast: Christian Clavier, Daniel Mesguich, Alex Lutz, Alexandre Astier, Elie Semoun. SND Groupe M6. When Getafix realises his reflexes are not as sharp as they used to be, he decides to look for a successor. With Asterix and Obelix on his side, he will embark on a quest across Gaul to find a druid worthy of knowing the recipe of the magic potion. ArcLight 3
THE CONQUEST OF SIBERIA
Action/adventure, historical. 100mins. Dir: Igor Zaytsev. Scr: Alexey Ivanov. Cast: Dmitriy Nazarov, Evgeniy Dyatlov, Dmitriy Dyuzhev, Evgeniy Mundum, Pavel Tabakov, Sergey Stepanchenko, Agata Mutsenietse, Yang Ge, Wolfgang Cerny. All Media Company. Set at the time of Peter
the Great’s reforms, when an emerging empire was wreaking havoc on provincial medievalism in the dense boreal forests. These times were the melting pot of everything — of beliefs and nations. The history of Russian Asia was made by captive Swedes, outlanders, Bokharan merchants, civil servants and officers, convicts, architects and chroniclers, Chinese smugglers, shamans and escaped dissenters, Orthodox missionaries and warlike steppe-dwellers Dzungars. AMC Santa Monica 3
NEVER LOOK AWAY See box, above
THE PERFECT ONES
Drama, romance, thriller. 97mins. Dir: Kirill Pletnev. Scr: Daria Gratsevich. Cast: Rinal Mukhametov, Lyubov Aksenova, Polina Maximova. Mars Media Entertainment. Does perfect love exist? Two girls fall in love with the same guy, who suddenly dies. Somehow the girls keep getting text messages and emails from him. Is it a game, a test? Or is he alive? They need to become friends against all odds to solve the mystery of their love, sort out their feelings and deal with their past. Laemmle Monica Film Center 3
28 Screen International at AFM November 2, 2018
09:00 NEVER LOOK AWAY
Drama, thriller. 188mins. Dir: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. Scr: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. Cast: Tom Schilling, Paula Beer, Sebastian Koch, Saskia Rosendahl, Oliver Masucci. Beta Cinema. Young artist Kurt Barnert has fled to
THE PURITY OF VENGEANCE
Thriller. 119mins. Dir: Christoffer Boe. Scr: Bo Hr Hansen. Cast: Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Fares Fares, Johanne Louise Schmidt. TrustNordisk. In an old apartment in Copenhagen, some craftsmen make a scary discovery: behind a fake wall they find three mummified bodies sitting around a dining table with a free space ready. Carl Morck and Assad from Department Q now have to find out who the mummies are and for whom the fourth place is intended. ArcLight 5
PROMO SCREENING FOR MANOU THE SWIFT
Animation, children’s, family. 88mins. Dir: Christian Haas, Andrea Block. Scr: Axel Melzener, Andrea Block. Cast: Kate
West Germany, but he continues to be tormented by memories growing up during the Nazi years and the GDR regime. When he meets fellow student Ellie, he is convinced he has found the love of his life and begins to create paintings that mirror not only his own fate but also the traumas of a generation. AMC Santa Monica 5
Winslet, Willem Dafoe. Sola Media. The little swift Manou grows up believing he’s a seagull. Learning to fly he finds out he never will be one. Shocked, he runs away from home. He meets birds of his own species and finds out who he really is. When both seagulls and swifts face a dangerous threat, Manou becomes the hero of the day. ArcLight 1
RACETIME
Animation, family. 90mins. Dir: Benoit Godbout, Francois Brisson, Jean-Francois Pouliot. Scr: Paul Risacher, Claude Landry, Maxime Landry. Cast: Don Shepherd, Lucinda Davis, Noel Fisher, Angela Galuppo, Sonja Ball, Dawn Ford, Heidi Lynne Weeks, Jenna Wheeler-
Hughes, Satine Scarlet Montez, Holly Gauthier, Elizabeth MacRae. Pink Parrot Media. A wild romp through the trials and tribulations, passionate joys and little victories of childhood. A spectacular sled race through the village. Frankie-Four-Eyes and his team, including Sophie as the driver, take on the newcomers: the mysterious and conceited Zac and his athletic cousin Charly. Broadway Cineplex 1
ROSIE
Drama. 86mins. Dir: Paddy Breathnach. Scr: Roddy Doyle. Cast: Sarah Greene, Moe Dunford. Protagonist Pictures. The story of a mother trying to protect her family after her landlord sells their rented home and they become homeless. Finding a room, even for a night, is a tough job and finding somewhere permanent to live is even harder. Over 36 hours, Rosie and her partner John Paul strive to maintain a loving family unit while shielding their young family from the reality of the situation. ArcLight 9 SUMMER ’03
Comedy. 95mins. Dir: Becca Gleason. Scr: Becca Gleason. Cast: Joey King, Jack Kilmer, June Squibb, Paul Scheer. Blue Fox Entertainment. The hilarious story of 16-year-old Jamie and her extended family, who are shocked after her calculating grandmother unveils an array of family secrets on her deathbed. Jamie is left to navigate
LAEMMLE’S MONICA FILM CENTER 1332 2nd Street AFM SCREENINGS ON DEMAND Loews Hotel, Room 334 » Screening times and venues are correct at time of press but subject to alteration. For late changes visit thefilmcatalogue.com
her own love life and maintain her closest friendships in the midst of this family crisis. Laemmle Monica Film Center 1
TIGERS ARE NOT AFRAID
Fantasy, horror. 84mins. Dir: Issa Lopez. Scr: Issa Lopez. Cast: Paola Lara, Juan Ramon Lopez. Raven Banner Entertainment. A dark fairy tale about a gang of five children trying to survive the horrific violence of the cartels and the ghosts created every day by the drug war. Laemmle Monica Film Center 5
09:30 ANGELO
Drama, historical. 110mins. Dir: Markus Schleinzer. Scr: Markus Schleinzer, Alexander Brom. Cast: Makita Samba, Alba Rohrwacher, Larisa Faber. Playtime. In the early 18th century, an African slave boy is chosen by a European countess to be baptised and educated. Reaching adulthood, he achieves prominence and soon becomes the Viennese court mascot — until he decides to secretly marry a white woman. AMC Santa Monica 2
THE CLEANING LADY
Fantasy, horror, thriller. 90mins. Dir: Jon Knautz. Scr: Jon Knautz. Cast: Alexis Kendra, Stelio Savante, Rachel Alig, Elizabeth Sandy, Joanne McGrath. Jinga Films. A beautiful but lonely women finds www.screendaily.com
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screening TODAY companionship with her cleaning lady, whose face was disfigured in a childhood accident. But as the relationship develops she discovers the tragic truth behind the scars and becomes embroiled in a horrific act of revenge.
A woman is forced to go on the run when her superhuman abilities are discovered. Years after having abandoned her family, the only place she has left to hide is home.
Laemmle Monica Film Center 6
HAPPY SAD
THE EXTRAORDINARY JOURNEY OF CELESTE GARCIA
KINGDOM OF SWEDEN
Drama. 92mins. Dir: Arturo Infante. Scr: Arturo Infante. Cast: Maria Isabel Doaz. The Match Factory. A 60-year-old former schoolteacher and current guide at the Havana Planetarium is looking for a life change. When a group of aliens land in Cuba offering earthlings a chance to visit their planet, Celeste signs up for the journey, hoping for a better and more fulfilling life. ArcLight 4
FAST COLOR
Drama, sci-fi, supernatural thriller. 100mins. Dir: Julia Hart. Scr: Jordan Horowitz, Julia Hart. Cast: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Lorraine Toussaint, David Strathairn. Myriad Pictures.
AMC Santa Monica 4
See box, below
Comedy. 88mins. Dir: Peter Dalle. Scr: Peter Dalle. Cast: Claes Mansson, Johan Ulveson, Peter Dalle. Picture Tree International. While making a web series mocking their quaint small town, two highschool teens slowly discover that their relatives and neighbours are being killed and replaced by creatures that are perfect copies of their victims. Broadway Cineplex 4
MID90S
Comedy, drama. Dir: Jonah Hill. Scr: Jonah Hill. Cast: Sunny Suljic, Katherine Waterston, Lucas Hedges. A24. Follows Stevie, a 13-year-old in 1990s-era Los Angeles who spends his summer navigating between his troubled home life and a group of new friends that he
meets at a skate shop. Nov. 3rd • 11:00 AM Laemmle 3
ArcLight 10
THE PANAMA PAPERS
Documentary. 100mins. Dir: Alex Winter. Scr: Alex Winter. Great Point. Documentary about the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists who uncovered the largest global corruption scandal in history. Laemmle Monica Film Center 2
X — THE EXPLOITED
Suspense, thriller. 111mins. Dir: Karoly Ujj Meszaros. Scr: Karoly Ujj Meszaros, Balint Hegedus. Cast: Moni Balsai. HNFF World Sales. No one believes the troubled ex-detective has discovered a serial murder case. Personal dramas and a murder mystery unfold in presentday Budapest, where demonstrations are part of the pre-election life of a city still trying to cope with the shadows of its historical and recent past. It is a city where nothing seems honest and true, except through the eyes of an emotionally unstable policewoman and her misfit daughter, who wants to know who her father truly was. Laemmle Monica Film Center 4
MY FOOLISH HEART by Rolf van Eijk
Nov. 3rd • 3:00 PM Laemmle 3
ZOOKS by Kristoff and Dimitri Leue
screening TOMORROW Nov. 4th • 11:30 AM Laemmle 4
MARKET 09:30 HAPPY SAD
Drama. 98mins. Dir: Ibon Cormenzana. Scr: Ibon Cormenzana, Jordi Vallejo. Cast: Roberto Alamo, Manuela Velles, Claudia Placer. Filmax. Fireman Marcos is used to living on the edge, but after a tragic event takes
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place, his life takes an unexpected and unwelcome turn. Suddenly, the once caring, altruistic fireman finds himself unable to recognise or empathise with the feelings of others. His daughter, Lola, will play a key role in helping him rebuild his world and learn to feel again. AMC Santa Monica 6
THE CAKE GENERAL
by Filip Hammar and Frederik Wikingsson
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November 2, 2018 Screen International at AFM 29
SCREENINGS
actually the serial killer terrorising their small town.
11:00 A MAN IN A HURRY
Comedy. 100mins. Dir: Herve Mimran. Scr: Christian Streiff. Cast: Fabrice Luchini, Leila Bekhti. Gaumont. Alain is a powerful and respected businessman at the height of his career, with no room in his schedule for such trivial matters as family and fun. A massive stroke jumbles his speech, making everything he says difficult or impossible to understand and often hilarious. In order to save his career, he needs the help of a young speech therapist named Jeanne. But the work requires patience and Alain gradually comes to understand that a whole part of his life has so far passed him by. ArcLight 9
THE ASPERN PAPERS See box, right
THE CLOVEHITCH KILLER
Thriller. 115mins. Dir: Duncan Skiles. Scr: Christopher Ford. Cast: Charlie Plummer. Myriad Pictures. A teenage boy starts to suspect that his wholesome, all-American dad is
AMC Santa Monica 1
CRIME WAVE See box, below
EXTRACURRICULAR
Horror, thriller. 90mins. Dir: Ray Xue. Scr: Matthew Abrams, Padgett Arango. Cast: Luke Goss, Keenan Tracy, Spencer Macpherson, Brittany Teo, Brittany Raymond. DDI (Double Dutch International). Follows four friends who are model students at their high school. When life as a student proves too dreary, they turn to their secret pastime: planning and executing murders. But when a murder goes awry, their bonds and relationships are strained with something they never saw coming. Soon they must use their devious talents to find their way out of a gory situation. Laemmle Monica Film Center 5
LITTLE WOMEN
Family. 111mins. Dir: Clare Niederpruem. Scr: Clare Niederpruem. Cast: Lea Thompson, Ian Bohen, Lucas Grabeel,
MARKET
Sarah Davenport. Pure Flix/Quality Flix. Follow the lives of four sisters — Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March — detailing their passage from childhood to womanhood. Despite harsh times, they cling to optimism, and as they mature, they face blossoming ambitions and relationships, as well as tragedy, while maintaining their unbreakable bond as sisters. Laemmle Monica Film Center 1
PLANETA INFORM PROMO REEL
Action/adventure, drama, horror, sci-fi, thriller. 110mins. Planeta Inform Film Distribution. The new promo materials of the following titles are going to be presented: Coma; Robo; We; Quiet Comes The Dawn; The Soul Conductor; Cursed Seat; Lenin: Revolution Chronicles; The Tolstoy Defence; Surf Siberia; and Kabakovs.
11:00 CRIME WAVE
Comedy, thriller. 98mins. Dir: Gracia Querejeta. Scr: Luis Marias. Cast: Maribel Verdu, Paula Echevarria, Juana Acosta. Film Factory Entertainment. Leyre is a well-to-do woman who has always lived an easy life. That is, until the day her teenage son kills her
ex-husband in a senseless fit of rage. Looking to protect her only son, Leyre tries to hide the crime from the police. Things go from bad to worse when her sick mother and a friend of her son’s, who is in love with her, decide to help Leyre out, unleashing a series of unavoidable and catastrophic events. Broadway Cineplex 1
Drama. 90mins. Dir: Julien Landais. Scr: Jean Pavans, Hannah Bhuiya, Julien Landais. Cast: Joely Richardson, Vanessa Redgrave, Lois Robbins. ARRI Media International. Set in Venice in the late 19th century. An American editor is determined to get his hands on the letters
his icon, the romantic poet Jeffrey Aspern, wrote to his beautiful lover and muse, Juliana Bordereau. Juliana lives in a Venetian palazzo with her niece, Miss Tina, who she seems to control and Morton tries to manipulate. But when the ambitious adventurer trifles with Miss Tina’s affections, she learns to see through his scheme. AMC Santa Monica 3
Broadway Cineplex 3
STANO
MARKET
11:00 THE ASPERN PAPERS
Drama. 110mins. Dir: Raymond De Felitta. Scr: Robert Bruzio. Cast: Joe Manganiello, Sofia Vergara. Kathy Morgan International (KMI). An inspirational underdog story about a young rising star who lands himself in prison because of a terrible accident. After 17 years behind bars and trying to stay alive, he returns to society — and must fight to reclaim his career, his friendships and his love. ArcLight 1
11:30 ALL MEDIA PROMO REEL
Action/adventure. 90mins. All Media Company. September 1941. In a turn of events young
lovebirds Kostya and Nastya find themselves on board a barge evacuating people from under-siege Leningrad. At night the barge gets caught in a storm. When it starts sinking, enemy planes — not rescuers — were the first to arrive on the scene. AMC Santa Monica 2
BEAUTIFUL DARKNESS
Drama, fantasy. 93mins. Dir: Monty Whitebloom, Andy Delaney. Scr: Jennifer Schuur. Cast: Shannon Tarbet, Aidan Turner, Benjamin Walker, Matthew Broderick, Chloe Sevigny. Octane Entertainment. A young girl enlists the help of an eccentric psychiatry student and a solitary construction worker when she is unable to see what is
right in front of her. Broadway Cineplex 2
GOALIE
Biography, drama. 105mins. Dir: Adriana Maggs. Scr: Jane Maggs, Adriana Maggs. Cast: Mark O’Brien, Kevin Pollak, Georgina Reilly. 13 Films. The life of a professional hockey player was not always a glamorous one. For legendary goaltender Terry Sawchuk, each save means one more gash to his unmasked face and one more drink to numb the pain. Even with a wife and seven children at home, he is haunted by the void left from his childhood, which he tried to fill with cheering crowds. Following Sawchuk across the country racking up 103 shutouts and 400
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30 Screen International at AFM November 2, 2018
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SCREENINGS
THE OVAL
Thriller. 85mins. Dir: John Safyurtlu. Scr: John Safyurtlu. Cast: Michael Shaffrey. Aegean Entertainment. When confronted with the certainty of impeachment, an unstable president orders a nuclear first strike in a desperate attempt to retain power. As zero hour counts down, the walls of the Oval Office close in and top-secret security cameras capture the final, absurd moments of a man caught in a trap of his own creation… with the fate of the world at his fingertips. Laemmle Monica Film Center 6
MARKET
TABALUGA
11:30 GWEN
Drama. 84mins. Dir: William McGregor. Scr: William McGregor. Cast: Maxine Peake, Eleanor WorthingtonCox. Great Point. In the stark beauty of 19th-century Snowdonia, a young girl tries desperately to hold her
home together. Struggling with her mother’s mysterious illness, her father’s absence and a ruthless mining company encroaching on their land, a growing darkness begins to take grip of her home, and the suspicious local community turns on Gwen and her family.
dead on the same night a mysterious newcomer joins the group, they start to look among themselves for the culprit. With unexpected plot twists and shocking reveals, the group discovers they’re affiliated with a larger and more terrifying organisation than they could have ever imagined. ArcLight 10 For buyers only
LORO
Drama. 156mins. Dir: Paolo Sorrentino. Scr: Paolo Sorrentino, Umberto Contarello. Cast: Toni Servillo, Elena Sofia Ricci, Riccardo Scamarcio. Pathe International. A film about the life of Silvio Berlusconi. Laemmle Monica Film Center 2
Action/adventure, animation. 90mins. Dir: Sven Unterwaldt. Scr: Gerrit Hermans. Cast: Cameron Ansell. Global Screen. When the brave fire dragon Tabaluga meets beautiful ice princess Lilli, it is love at first sight. To save their world from a tyrannical snowman, they
embark on their biggest adventure. AMC Santa Monica 6
THE UNCOVERING
Thriller. 108mins. Dir: Nacho Ruiperez. Scr: Nacho Ruiperez. Cast: Michel Noher, Jan Cornet, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Francesc Garrido. Filmax. When Jordi returns to the village where he spent part of his childhood, he receives two pieces of news that have a profound effect on him: one, his father isn’t buried, as he had believed, in the village cemetery; and two, Vera, a young girl who was supposedly killed alongside his father, is still alive. Armed with this new information, Jordi decides to stay in the village and try to find out what really happened. Beneath the facade of an ordinary village lies an underground world of prostitution rings, corruption and rivalry between friends and families. AMC Santa Monica 4
Broadway Cineplex 4
THE LEGEND OF THE CHRISTMAS WITCH
stitches to his face, this is a man who lives, breathes, and dies a goalie. Laemmle Monica Film Center 4 By confirmed RSVP only
GWEN See box, above
HERETIKS
their lives to the Lord and seek atonement for their pasts. But upon arrival, Persephone is plagued with terrifying visions and soon realises that it is not salvation that awaits but a battle for her very soul itself. ArcLight 6
Horror. 81mins. Dir: Paul Hyett. Scr: Gregory Blair, Paul Hyett. Cast: Hannah Arterton, Michael Ironside. WTFilms. In the early 17th century, innocent young Persephone is falsely accused and put on trial for her life. Her fate seems sealed until the timely intervention of the mysterious Reverend Mother offering her not just sanctuary, but hope. For the Reverend Mother is the self-appointed leader of a small religious retreat, a secluded priory, where her fellow sisters devote
KILLERS ANONYMOUS
Thriller. 120mins. Dir: Martin Owen. Scr: Martin Owen. Cast: Gary Oldman, Jessica Alba, Tommy Flanagan. Fabrication Films. Reveals a previously unseen underground world of assassins. In a secret location someplace in the city, a group of murderers attend meetings of the confidential support group ‘Killers Anonymous’ in an attempt to control their deadly impulses. When a US senator winds up
Comedy, fantasy. 100mins. Dir: Michele Soavi. Scr: Nicola Guaglianone. Cast: Paola Cortellesi, Stefano Fresi. True Colours Glorious Films. During the day Paola is an ordinary primary school teacher, but at night, she turns into The Christmas Witch, a magical creature who brings gifts to the good kids. One night, Paola disappears, kidnapped by Mr Johnny, a cruel toymaker who had his childhood ruined by the witch and is now seeking revenge. A group of six brave pupils who found out their teacher’s secret will live an extraordinary adventure to rescue her. Will they be able to save Paola and Christmas? ArcLight 2
LEVEL 16
MARKET 11:30 LEVEL 16
Sci-fi. 102mins. Dir: Danisha Esterhazy. Scr: Danisha Esterhazy. Cast: Katie Douglas, Celina Martin, Peter Outerbridge, Sara Canning. MPI Media Group.
Trapped in a prison-like school, 16-yearold Vivien and Sophia embark on a dangerous search to uncover the truth behind their imprisonment. Soon running for their lives, the girls must save themselves or die trying. ArcLight 4
See box, right
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I M VORLDWIDE
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18 0 2 M AF
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MARKET 13:00 EDMOND
Comedy, historical. 112mins. Dir: Alexis Michalik. Scr: Alexis Michalik. Cast: Thomas Soliveres, Olivier Gourmet, Mathilde Seigner, Alice de Lencquesaing. Gaumont. Paris, 1897, in the ‘Belle Epoque’. Edmond Rostand is a playwright of potential genius. Unfortunately, all
13:00 AS GREEN AS IT GETS
Comedy, drama. 115mins. Dir: Florian Gallenberger. Scr: Gernot Gricksch, Florian Gallenberger. Cast: Elmar Wepper, Emma Bading, Monika Baumgartner. Beta Cinema. A grumpy and harddone-by gardener escapes his old life and explores Germany via the sky. What he finds is regained curiosity, peace and a life worth living for. AMC Santa Monica 3
BRAID
Horror, mystery, thriller. 82mins. Dir: Mitzi Peirone. Scr: Mitzi Peirone. Cast: Madeline Brewer, Sarah Hay, Scott Cohen. Blue Fox Entertainment. Two wanted women decide to rob their psychotic and wealthy friend who lives in the fantasy world they created as children. To take the money, they have to join a deadly game of make believe. Broadway Cineplex 3
EDMOND See box, above
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he has written until now has been a flop and his inspiration has dried up. Thanks to his admirer Sarah Bernhardt, he is approached by the greatest actor of the day, who insists on appearing in his next play. And he wants to premiere it in three weeks. But Edmond has not yet written it and has no idea what story he will tell. AMC Santa Monica 1
Animation, children’s, family. 85mins. Dir: Helene Giraud, Thomas Szabo. Scr: Helene Giraud. Futurikon. When a young ladybug gets trapped by accident in a cardboard box shipped to the Caribbean, his parents set off for the paradise archipelago to find him.
to say goodbye to her dying father, she is soon afflicted with visions and wounds that appear to be signs of the gift of Holy Stigmata. But after she is transported to an isolated island convent to seek the help of a mysterious religious order, Madeline discovers her affliction may not be a gift from God but something far more sinister.
ArcLight 3
AMC Santa Monica 5
MONKEY MAGIC
WOLF
Animation. 95mins. Dir: Xihai Ma. Scr: Cheng Zhang, Linzhi Sheng. CMC Pictures. In the Toy World, Sun Wuyuan is pointed out as defective by others. Offended by their comments, Sun Wuyuan commits to finding the Golden Staff to prove that he is the Monkey King.
Action/adventure, horror. 85mins. Dir: Stuart Brennan. Scr: Stuart Brennan. Cast: Stuart Brennan, George McClusky, Mark Paul Wake, Adanna Oji. KSM. The Romans are at war with the Picts. Hadrian’s Wall is the last outpost of the Roman frontier and a small group of male and female soldiers have left the safety of it to travel north, into Pict territory, searching for four missing men. As winter threatens and with no sign of the men, the group prepare to turn home when they encounter a beast that is hunting them.
MINUSCULE — MANDIBLES FROM FAR AWAY
Laemmle Monica Film Center 1
WELCOME TO MERCY
Supernatural thriller. 104mins. Dir: Tommy Bertelsen. Scr: Kristen Ruhlin. Cast: Lily Newmark, Kristen Ruhlin. Pure Flix/Quality Flix. When an American single mother returns to Latvia for the first time in 25 years
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November 2, 2018 Screen International at AFM 33
s me a
SCREENINGS
Sidi Mejai. Playtime. In the absence of her sister Rim, what was Yasmina doing in a car park with their boyfriends Salim and Majid? Rim knows nothing about it, but that’s because Yasmina is doing her utmost to prevent her from finding out. What was it, then? The unmentionable, the worst thing ever, supersize shame… and it was all captured by Salim in a potentially highly volatile video.
THE FURIES
Horror. 80mins. Dir: Tony D’Aquino. Scr: Tony D’Aquino. Cast: Airlie Dodds, Linda Ngo, Taylor Ferguson. Odin’s Eye Entertainment. Rebellious high-school students Kayla and Maddie are stalked and abducted by a sinister presence while out bombing their neighbourhood with graffiti. Waking up in the woods, bound and disoriented in a claustrophobic coffin-like apparatus, Kayla’s first
13:30 CONFESSIONS OF A TEENAGER
Romantic comedy. 112mins. Dir: Cristina Iacob. Scr: Andrei Ciobanu, Alex Cotet, Cristina Iacob. Cast: Bogdan Iancu, Aggy K Adams, Holly Horne. Alien Film Entertainment. The story of Andrei’s adolescence as seen through his eyes, torn between the two girls he loves. ArcLight 2
DAUGHTER OF THE WOLF
Action/adventure, thriller. 90mins. Dir: David Hackl. Scr: Nick Agiashvili. Cast:
FROZEN IN RUSSIA
thought is of Maddie. Before she has a chance to ruminate on the dreadful fate that may have befallen her friend, Kayla sees a terrifying masked man fast approaching, armed with a razor-sharp axe. As the chase ensues, it soon becomes clear Kayla and her pursuer are not alone. There are six more young women, each with a masked stalker assigned to them. As the threat of more killers closes in, she races to save as many girls as she can. AMC Santa Monica 4
Gina Carano, Richard Dreyfuss. VMI Worldwide. Clair McKenna, an ex-military specialist, comes home to the news of her father’s passing, only to find herself at odds with her defiant 13-year-old son, Charlie. With the news that Clair has inherited a large sum of money from her father’s business, Charlie is kidnapped for a ransom. Instead of seeking help, Clair takes one of the kidnappers hostage and forces him to lead her on a perilous journey to rescue her son from the mysterious figure known as the Father. Laemmle Monica Film Center 4
Comedy. 95mins. Dir: Arturo Montenegro. Scr: Elmis Castillo. Cast: Joshua Blake, Elmis Castillo. Princ Films. The entire nation of Panama dreams of qualifying for the World Cup for the first time in its history. Jamal is the most loyal fan of the national soccer team and is so desperate for that dream to come true that he looks into the heavens and promises his patron saint: “If we qualify for the World Cup I will go to Russia and I will marry a Russian girl.” Well, the team does qualify and now Jamal must keep his promise.
will have to fight for their survival. ArcLight 4
SEXTAPE
Comedy. 98mins. Dir: Antoine Descroisieres. Scr: Antoine Descroisieres. Cast: Souad Arsane, Inas Chanti,
BEYOND BROTHERHOOD
Animation. 80mins. Dir: Alexey Tsitsilin, Robert Lence. Scr: Alexey Zamyslov, Alexey Tsitsilin, Robert Lence, Vladimir Nikolaev. Cast: Vladimir Nikolaev. Wizart. After King Harald nearly loses his family due to the Snow Queen’s evil deeds, he bans the use of magic. The only one who can stop him is Gerda. Broadway Cineplex 2
ArcLight 5
THE SNOW QUEEN: MIRRORLANDS
13:30
AN ACCEPTABLE LOSS See box, below
Drama. 110mins. Dir: Arianne Benedetti. Scr: Arianne Benedetti. Cast: Eric Roberts, Drew Fuller, Robin Duran, Valerie Dominguez, Maria Conchita Alonso. Global Genesis Group. Mia and Joshua Bedi are two young siblings who end up living on the streets after the death of their parents and a terrible separation imposed by the government that left them with nothing but their pure and transparent love for each other. It is a story about their survival in a world of bad luck, with amazing second chances and unexpected second falls, in which Mia will have to decide between the love of her brother and the love her life, leading to a surprising turn at the end.
AMC Santa Monica 6
MARKET
15:00
Laemmle Monica Film Center 6
THE FURIES See box, above
GIRLS WITH BALLS
Comedy, horror. 76mins. Dir: Olivier Afonso. Scr: Olivier Afonso, JeanLuc Cano. Cast: Artus, Manon Azem, Louise Blachere, Thiphaine Daviot, Margot Dufrene, Anne Solenne Hatte, Camille Razat, Dany Verissimo, Denis Lavant, Orelsan. Kinology. A women’s volleyball team gets lost in a forest on the day that a peculiar hunting season opens. The girls
MARKET 15:00 AN ACCEPTABLE LOSS
Thriller. 103mins. Dir: Joe Chappelle. Scr: Joe Chappelle. Cast: Tika Sumpter, Jamie Lee Curtis, Ben Tavassoli. 13 Films. Former top US security adviser-turnedprofessor Elizabeth ‘Libby’ Lamm is
threatened by associates from her dark past led by Rachel Burke, a politician with an unwavering knack for achieving her goals. Meanwhile, one of her students, Martin, harbours another type of obsession with Libby. Laemmle Monica Film Center 5 By confirmed RSVP only
IT’S NEVER TOO LATE TO DATE... The Matchmaker_225x15mm.indd 3
34 Screen International at AFM November 2, 2018
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MARKET 15:00 THROUGH THE FIRE
Drama. 117mins. Dir: Frederic Tellier. Scr: Frederic Tellier. Cast: Pierre Niney, Anais Demoustier. WTFilms. Frank is one of the best firefighters in Paris. Married with newborn kids, he is
FORSAKEN
Action/adventure, sci-fi. 103mins. Dir: Alexander Kulikov. Scr: Alexander Kulikov, Michael Raskhodnikov, Olga Raskhodnikova, Aleksey Petrukhin. Cast: Andrey Smolyakov, Anna Banshchikova, Maxim Vitorgan, Grigoriy Siyatvinda, Yuriy Tsurilo. LAStudio. As the result of tragic coincidences, a cosmonaut remains alone on a distant planet. His life is in constant jeopardy. Something inexplicable reaches out to him and it will change him forever. From this moment on he is lost both for himself and other people. How many times must he die to prove that he is alive? Broadway Cineplex 3
HELLO, MR BILLIONAIRE
Comedy. 118mins. Dir: Fei Yan, Damo Peng. Scr: Damo Peng, Fei Yan. Cast: Teng Sheng, Yunhua Song. CMC Pictures. Wang Duoyu has just lost his job when he finds out that he is the heir to his grandfather’s billionaire brother’s fortune. But in order to receive his inheritance, he must
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happy, waiting for what all men like him are waiting for: trial by fire. When that test arrives, Frank sacrifices himself, stuck in the blaze and rescuing his unit. He wakes up in the serious burns unit — his face melted and his body changed forever. AMC Santa Monica 3
successfully spend a billion in 30 days. It is also stipulated that he cannot tell anyone about the task, nor can he own any valuables by the end of it. Extraordinarily excited, Wang Duoyu agrees to the challenge without a doubt. However, it is not as easy as he thought to spend all that money. Laemmle Monica Film Center 3
INDIVISIBLE
Drama. 119mins. Dir: David G Evans. Scr: David G Evans. Cast: Madeline Carrol, Sarah Drew, Jason George, Eric Close. Pure Flix/Quality Flix. Upon returning from serving in the US Army, Chaplain Darren Turner faces a crisis that shatters his family and faith in God. Laemmle Monica Film Center 1
KISS & TELL
Comedy. 88mins. Dir: Michel Blanc. Scr: Michel Blanc. Cast: Karin Viard, Carole Bouquet, Charlotte Rampling. Gaumont. A dark comedy about love, family and friendship. AMC Santa Monica 1
THROUGH THE FIRE See box, above
TRAUTMANN
Drama. 120mins. Dir: Marcus H Rosenmuller. Scr: Marcus H Rosenmuller, Nicholas Schofield. Cast: David Kross, Freya Mavor, John Henshaw, Harry Melling, Gary Lewis, Dervla Kirwan. Beta Cinema. The true story of legendary Manchester City goalkeeper Bert Trautmann, whose love for football, for England and for the love of his life, Margaret, saw him rise from Nazi ‘villain’ to British hero. AMC Santa Monica 5
15:30 ANY ONE OF US
Documentary. 86mins. Dir: Fernando Villena. Cast: Paul Basagoitia, Nichole Munk. Red Bull Media House. After a devastating spinal cord injury, a driven champion chronicles his life as he battles body and mind in an inspiring story of resilience.
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November 2, 2018 Screen International at AFM 35
SCREENINGS
CLARA
Animation, comedy, fantasy. 85mins. Dir: Oleksandr Klymenko. Scr: Oleksandr Klymenko, Sergiy Grabar. Image Pictures. A girl named Clara lives in an amazing fairy world inhabited by dwarfs, dragons and sorcerers. Astonishing adventures await Clara and her friends and also the future of the whole world will fall into her hands. Broadway Cineplex 4
IN LIKE FLYNN
Action/adventure. 90mins. Dir: Russell Mulcahy. Scr: Errol Flynn. Cast: Thomas Cocquerel, Cory Large, William Moseley. Blue Fox Entertainment. Depicts Errol Flynn’s early life in Australia, before he became an internationally famed celebrity. In those days he was an adventurer, opium smuggler, gambler, street fighter, womaniser and gold prospector. AMC Santa Monica 2
MAUI
Drama, mystery. 95mins. Dir: Brian Kohne. Scr: Brian Kohne. Cast: Moronai Kanekoa, Sonya Balmores, Kristina Anapau. American
Cinema International. A disabled Vietnam vet rediscovers the Hawaiian warrior within to protect his family, defend their land and clear his father’s name. AMC Santa Monica 6
AFM SCREENINGS ON DEMAND The following titles are available to view during AFM at Loews Hotel, Room 334
ALL OR NOTHIN’
Thriller. 100mins. Dir: Yesid Leone. Scr: Yesid Leone. Cast: Maria Gaviria, Roberto Escobar, Geraldine Zivic, Alexander Guzman. Media Luna New Films. A journey through crime, corruption and the psychology of the human being.
Drama, historical, suspense, true story. 88mins. Dir: Charles K Campbell, Charles K Campbell. Cast: Carl G Herrick, Brendan Alpiner. Michigan Pride. In 1853, 28 slaves escaped from Boone County, Kentucky. Unwilling to accept their departure, wealthy plantation owners set out to find them.
Laemmle Monica Film Center 4
ANY ONE OF US
PERSECUTED
THE SONATA
Horror. 87mins. Dir: Andrew Desmond. Scr: Andrew Desmond, Arthur Morin. Cast: Freya Tingley, Simon Abkarian, Rutger Hauer. ARRI Media International. A young violinist unravels her long-lost father’s past, triggering dark forces that reach beyond her imagination. AMC Santa Monica 4 By invitation only
WHITE FIRE See box, below
Documentary. 86mins. Dir: Fernando Villena. Cast: Paul Basagoitia, Nichole Munk. Red Bull Media House. After a devastating spinal cord injury, a driven champion chronicles his life as he battles body and mind in an inspiring story of resilience. ASESINATO EN LA ISLA
Drama, suspense, thriller. 90mins. Dir: Alyn Darnay. Cast: Jordi Vilasuso, Barbie Castro, Brian Gross, Brian Patrick Clark. Concord Films (US);
AFM SCREENINGS
Reel One Entertainment (international).
DEAD ON ARRIVAL ASTRAL
Horror, thriller. 84mins. Dir: Chris Mul. Scr: Chris Mul. Cast: Frank Dillane, Vanessa Grasse, Damson Idris. Film Seekers. A student coming to terms with the death of his mother turns to astral projection to reconnect with her. BETRAYED
Action/adventure. 98mins. Dir: Harley Wallen. Scr: Harley Wallen. Cast: John Savage, Richard Tyson, Blanca Blanco. Vision Films. When the Cartel comes to Detroit and tries to push the Russian Mafia out, things don’t go as planned. So now the mayor must do whatever it takes to get his kidnapped daughter back. BILLY GRAHAM: AN EXTRAORDINARY JOURNEY
Documentary. 72mins. Dir: Vonda Harrell, Daniel Camenisch. Scr: Vonda Harrell, Daniel Camenisch. Cast: Billy Graham, Franklin Graham, George Bush. Mission Pictures International. Explores key moments in Billy Graham’s journey from dairy farmer’s son to evangelist.
MARKET 15:30 WHITE FIRE
Action/adventure. 98mins. Dir: Jean-Marie Pallardy. Scr: JeanMarie Pallardy. Cast: Robert Ginty, Fred Williamson, Belinda Mayne,
Jess Hahn, Mirella Banti. Playtime. A team of diamond smugglers stumble upon the location of the supernatural ‘White Fire’ diamond, but competing criminals pose deadly challenges. ArcLight 4
36 Screen International at AFM November 2, 2018
ON DEMAND
BUCKSHOT
Road movie. 80mins. Dir: Joshua J Smith. Scr: Joshua J Smith. Cast: Frank Collison, Tim DeZarn, Allan
Thriller. 97mins. Dir: Stephen C Sepher. Scr: Stephen C Sepher. Cast: Billy Flynn, Christa B Allen, Scottie Thompson, Lillo Brancato, DB Sweeney, Chris Mulkey. Vision Films. Wasserman. Princ Films. A struggling country singer journeys to Nashville in his father’s footsteps.
A sales rep visits a small town in Louisiana on business and finds himself caught up a dark world of corruption and murder with 24 hours to live, running from the police, the mob and a sheriff who wants him dead. Loews Hotel, Room 334
See box, above
Set one rainy evening in a dorm where the varied occupants are at some pivotal point in their lives, all tucked away in solitary rooms, talking about collective experiences, sharing a similar fate.
DIRTY DEAD CON MEN
DREAM KILLER
Action/adventure. 85mins. Dir: MarieGrete Heinemann. Scr: Kevin Interdonato. Cast: Claudia Christian, Louis Mandylor, Peter Dobson, Kristen Dalton. Princ Films. Mickey Rady, a rogue undercover cop, and Kook Packard, a smooth and charismatic con man, together rip off those operating outside of the law for their own gain. But things go awry when a heist sucks them deep into a city-wide conspiracy.
Drama, musical, suspense, thriller. 90mins. Dir: Barbie Castro. Scr: David Chester, Doug Campbell. Cast: Christy Carlson Romano, Taylor Castro, Jacy King, Gail Soltys. Concord Films. When a rising teen singer is accused of murdering her producer, her supportive mother must save her.
DEAD ON ARRIVAL
DORMITORYO: ENDLESS ROOM
Comedy, drama. 80mins. Dir: Emerson Reyes. Scr: Emerson Reyes. Cast: Ces Quesada, Charles Aaron Salazar, Vandolph Quizon. TBA Studios.
ENCHANTED CHRISTMAS
Romance. 90mins. Dir: Terry Cunningham. Scr: Rick Garman, Catherine Fridey. Cast: Alexa PenaVega, Carlos PenaVega. Mission Pictures International. Returning to her hometown in Utah to restore a derelict hotel in time for Christmas, Laura Trudeau discovers old passions and true love can never be fully forgotten. »
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SCREENINGS
Story of how superheroes have conquered the world.
FIDEL UP CLOSE
Documentary, historical. 90mins. Dir: Gabriel Beristain, Roberto Chile, Eduardo ‘Tato’ Flores. Scr: Hubert Barrero. Cast: Fidel Castro. Vedado Films. Reveals the man behind the myth.
THE STOP HIT
Action/adventure, martial arts, thriller. 100mins. Dir: Dr Z. Scr: Dr Z. Cast: Dr Z, Carter Wong, John Ng-Long Cheung. Reel Asian Films. Story of an international drug ring between Los Angeles and Hong Kong.
HAVANA KYRIE
Drama, family, musical. 105mins. Dir: Paolo Confsorti. Scr: Alfredo Mazzara. Cast: Franco Nero. Vedado Films. A lost man finds passion again in Cuba, aided by music and the son he never met.
THE UNWILLING
HEAVY WATER
Documentary. 85mins. Dir: Michael Oblowitz. Scr: Michael Oblowitz. Cast: Nathan Fletcher, Makua Rothman, Danny Fuller, Herbie Fletcher. Red Bull Media House. A close look at Nathan Fletcher’s relationship with big-wave surfing.
AFM SCREENINGS ON DEMAND I CAN ONLY IMAGINE
Drama, family. 150mins. Dir: Andrew Erwin, Jon Erwin. Scr: Alex Cramer, Jon Erwin, Brent McCorkle. Cast: Dennis Quaid,
Cloris Leachman, J Michael Finley. Mission Pictures International. The true story of Bart Millard, lead singer of the Christian band MercyMe. Loews Hotel, Room 334
I’LL BE NEXT DOOR FOR CHRISTMAS
Comedy, family. 100mins. Dir: David Jay Willis. Scr: David Jay Willis, Jenna Park. Cast: Juliette Angelo, Atticus Shaffer, Nicole Sullivan. Vision Films. When 16-year-old Nickey’s long-distance boyfriend decides to visit for the holidays, she’s determined to spare him her family’s over-the-top Christmas obsession by staging a fake Christmas. I CAN ONLY IMAGINE See box, above
When vampires make themselves public, a group of documentarians granted access soon realise they are in for more than they bargained. MAKING BABIES
Romantic comedy. 88mins. Dir: Josh F Huber. Scr: Josh F Huber. Cast: Eliza Coupe, Steve Howey, Ed Begley Jr. Vision Films. A couple put their bodies, wallet and marriage through the ringer of modern infertility treatments.
KILLER ISLAND
Drama, suspense, thriller. 90mins. Dir: Alyn Darnay. Scr: Christine Conradt. Cast: Barbie Castro, Jordi Vilasuso, Jackie Moore, Jacy King. Concord Films. While on a dream vacation, a woman becomes a target when she suspects one of the locals may have committed multiple murders.
MARRIAGE KILLER
Drama, suspense, thriller. 90mins. Dir: Bernard Salzman. Scr: Doug Campbell, David Chester. Cast: Jason London, Barbie Castro, Kristen Renton. Concord Films. A married couple decide to explore a “member’s only night club” but soon realise the deadly consequences.
LIVING AMONG US
Horror. 82mins. Dir: Brian A Metcalf. Scr: Brian A Metcalf. Cast: Esme Bianco, John Heard, Thomas Ian Nicholas. Vision Films.
MY FOOLISH HEART
Drama. 83mins. Dir: Rolf van Eijk. Scr: Rolf van Eijk. Cast: Steve Wall, Gijs Naber, Raymond Thiry. Media Luna New Films.
38 Screen International at AFM November 2, 2018
The last day of legendary jazz trumpeter Chet Baker. NEOMANILA
Drama, suspense, thriller. 101mins. Dir: Mikhail Red. Scr: Mikhail Red, Rae Red, Zig Madamba Dulay. Cast: Eula Valdez, Timothy Castillo, Rocky Salumbides. TBA Studios. An orphan teenager is recruited by a notorious death squad. The group’s leader becomes a maternal figure to the young boy but their loyalties will be tested.
Noam Schpancer. Cast: Joy Rieger, Sasson Gabai. Foresight Unlimited. Two rebellious young women cross paths unexpectedly in Jerusalem, with startling consequences.
THE OTHER STORY
Drama. 112mins. Dir: Avi Nesher. Scr: Avi Nesher,
Suite 333, Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel, 1700 Ocean Avenue, Santa Monica, California, 90401 Tel +1 310 458 6700 (ext 333) Editorial Editor Matt Mueller, matt.mueller@screendaily.com, +44 7880 526 547 US editor Jeremy Kay, jeremykay67@gmail.com, +1 310 922 5908 Senior reporter Tom Grater, tom.grater@screendaily.com, +44 7436 096 420 Group head of production & art Mark Mowbray, mark.mowbray@screendaily.com, +44 7710 124 065 Group art director Peter Gingell Sub editors Willemijn Barker-Benfield, Paul Lindsell, Adam Richmond
THE WAY WE WEREN’T
Advertising and publishing Publishing director
Thriller. 85mins. Dir: John Safyurtlu. Scr: John Safyurtlu. Cast: Michael Shaffrey. Aegean Entertainment. An unstable president orders a nuclear strike in an attempt to retain power.
Romantic comedy. 93mins. Dir: Rick Hays. Scr: Brian DiMuccio, Aria Eisenstat, Rick Hays. Cast: Fiona Gubelmann, Ben Lawson, Tobin Bell. Vision Films. Two people who meet after their previous relationships have imploded, exaggerate, fib and outright lie to make themselves more appealing.
PERSECUTED
WE DIE YOUNG
Thriller. 100mins. Dir: Yesid Leone. Scr: Yesid Leone. Cast: Maria Gaviria, Roberto Escobar. Media Luna New Films. A journey through crime, corruption and the psychology of the human being.
Action/adventure. 96mins. Dir: Lior Geller. Scr: Lior Geller. Cast: Jean-Claude Van Damme. Foresight Unlimited. A 14-year-old boy inducted into gang life is determined his 10-year-old brother won’t follow the same path.
THE OVAL
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OCTAV
Drama, romance. 102mins. Dir: Serge Ioan Celebidachi. Scr: James Olivier, Serge Loan Celebidachi. Cast: Marcel Iures, Victor Rebengiuc, Eric Aradits. Little Film Company. Octav returns home to sell his childhood house. As he wanders through the estate, he relives joyful scenes from his childhood eventually finding answers to the questions that have cast a shadow over his adult life.
Horror, thriller. 84mins. Dir: Jonathan Heap. Scr: Jonathan Heap, David Lipper. Cast: Dina Meyer, Lance Henriksen, Bree Williamson. Vision Films. After the death of a much-despised patriarch, a mysterious box shows up during the reading of the will.
THE DAILY AT AFM
WHAT LIES AHEAD POINT MAN
Action/adventure, drama. 97mins. Dir: Phil Blattenberger. Scr: Phil Blattenberger. Cast: Christopher Long, Jacob Keohane, Chase Gutzmore. Vision Films. A trio of soldiers vow revenge on their platoon when they are left behind enemy lines. RISE OF THE SUPERHEROES
Documentary. 115mins. Dir: Tom O’Dell. Scr: Tom O’Dell. Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Hugh Jackman, Chris Claremont. Vision Films.
Thriller. 88mins. Dir: Rob Gardner. Scr: William J Viglione. Cast: Rumer Willis, Emma Dumont, Kelly Blatz. Vision Films. When two young women embark on a road trip, an unseen peril emerges.
Nikki Tilmouth, nikki. screeninternational@gmail.com, +1 323 868 7633 International account managers Hettie Halden, hettie.halden@screendaily.com, +44 7900 500 799 Ingrid Hammond, ingridhammond@mac.com Gunter Zerbich, gunter.zerbich@screendaily.com, +44 7540 100 254 Production manager Jonathon Cooke, jonathon.cooke@mb-insight.com, +44 7584 335 148 Chief executive, MBI Conor Dignam Printer Sinclair Printing, Los Angeles
ZOOKS
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Animation. 93mins. Dir: Kristoff Leue, Dimitri Leue. Scr: Kristoff Leue, Dimitri Leue. Cast: Matteo Simoni, Frank Focketyn, Warre Borgmans. Media Luna New Films. A contemporary fairytale about people and nature.
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