BFI Filmmakers, issue 2

A PATCH OF FOG
NORFOLK
BRAND NEW-U
DIRECTOR: MICHAEL LENNOX
DIRECTOR: MARTIN RADICH
DIRECTOR: SIMON PUMMELL
DEPARTURE
HOW TO CHANGE
THE WORLD
DIRECTOR: MIRANDA BOWEN
DIRECTOR: ANDREW STEGGALL
SPACESHIP
DIRECTOR: ALEX TAYLOR
THE ONES BELOW
DIRECTOR: DAVID FARR
IONA
DIRECTOR: SCOTT GRAHAM
I AM BELFAST
DIRECTOR: MARK COUSINS
DIRECTOR: JERRY ROTHWELL
WHO’S GONNA LOVE
ME NOW?
DIRECTOR: SEAN McALLISTER
THE LOVERS AND
THE DESPOT
DIRECTORS: ROBERT CANNAN
& ROSS ADAM
HIGH-RISE
DIRECTOR: BEN WHEATLEY
THE INCIDENT
TRESPASS AGAINST US
DIRECTOR: ADAM SMITH
LIGHT YEARS
DIRECTOR: ESTHER MAY CAMPBELL
COUPLE IN A HOLE
DIRECTOR: TOM GEENS
REMAINDER
THE MUSEUM
OF INNOCENCE
DIRECTOR: BRYN HIGGINS
ELECTRICITY
DIRECTOR: GRANT GEE
THOMAS QUICK
THE SURVIVALIST
DIRECTOR: STEPHEN FINGLETON
BILL
THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY
DIRECTOR: PETER STRICKLAND
THE FALLING
DIRECTOR: CAROL MORLEY
THE GOOB
DIRECTOR: RICHARD BRACEWELL
DIRECTOR: GUY MYHILL
THE LOBSTER
ROBOT OVERLORDS
DIRECTOR: YORGOS LANTHIMOS
DIRECTOR: JON WRIGHT
45 YEARS
DRUG LORD:
THE LEGEND OF SHORTY
BROOKLYN
DIRECTOR: JOHN CROWLEY
SLOW WEST
DIRECTOR: ANGUS MACQUEEN
X+Y
DIRECTOR: MORGAN MATTHEWS
DIRECTOR: JOHN MACLEAN
HYENA
LONDON ROAD
DIRECTOR: GERARD JOHNSON
DIRECTOR: RUFUS NORRIS
CATCH ME DADDY
DARK HORSE
DIRECTORS: DANIEL WOLFE
& MATTHEW WOLFE
DIRECTOR: LOUISE OSMOND
SUNSET SONG
DIRECTOR: OMER FAST
DIRECTOR: TERENCE DAVIES
SUFFRAGETTE
TESTAMENT OF YOUTH
DIRECTOR: SARAH GAVRON
BYPASS
DIRECTOR: DUANE HOPKINS
DIRECTOR: ANDREW HAIGH
DIRECTOR: JANE LINFOOT
SECOND COMING
DIRECTOR: DEBBIE TUCKER GREEN
DIRECTORS: TOMER HEYMANN,
BARAK HEYMANN & ALEXANDER BODIN SAPHIR
DIRECTOR: BRIAN HILL
A SYRIAN LOVE STORY
GOZO
DIRECTOR: JAMES KENT
BFI.ORG.UK/FILMFUND
QUEEN AND COUNTRY
DIRECTOR: JOHN BOORMAN
LOVE IS ALL
DIRECTOR: KIM LONGINOTTO
CONTENTS
BFI FILMMAKERS
04
07
08
09
10
14
16
18
20
22
FIRST FEATURES
ISSUE 2 | WINTER 2014/15
08
09
10
14
16
18
20
22
DIRECTORS STEPHEN FINGLETON,
JANE LINFOOT AND ESTHER MAY CAMPBELL
BFI NET.WORK
INVESTING IN NEW AND EMERGING TALENT
ACROSS THE UK
CATCH ME DADDY
DANIEL AND MATTHEW WOLFE ON FINDING
THEIR LEAD, SAMEENA JABEEN AHMED
WHO’S GONNA LOVE ME NOW?
PRODUCER/DIRECTOR ALEXANDER
BODIN SAPHIR ON HIS NEW DOCUMENTARY
45 YEARS
WRITER/DIRECTOR ANDREW HAIGH
ON HIS SECOND FEATURE
X+Y
DIRECTOR MORGAN MATTHEWS ON MAKING
THE LEAP FROM DOCUMENTARIES TO FICTION
TESTAMENT OF YOUTH
WRITER JULIETTE TOWHIDI TALKS ABOUT
ADAPTING A CLASSIC MEMOIR
BROOKLYN
PRODUCERS FINOLA DWYER AND
AMANDA POSEY DISCUSS THEIR LATEST PROJECT
LONDON ROAD
DIRECTOR RUFUS NORRIS IN CONVERSATION
WITH THE BFI’S BEN ROBERTS
BILL
BRINGING A FAMILY COMEDY TO THE BIG SCREEN
WELCOME...
Thanks for picking up this, the highly anticipated second issue of BFI FILMMAKERS, which offers a few glimpses at some of the films being made across the UK (and
beyond) with our support at the Film Fund.
After a debut described as "promising... some nice production values" we've added more pages, to cover more filmmakers.
The front page features writer and director Andrew Haigh on a follow-up of his own, working alongside the great Charlotte Rampling on the recently completed 45 Years.
Andrew drew attention with his docu-drama Greek Pete in 2009, but it was the surprise success of his first dramatic feature, Weekend, in 2011 that marked him out.
With 45 Years, starring Rampling with Tom Courtenay as a couple whose steady marriage is struck by an unthinkable crisis, Andrew and his producer Tristan Goligher have
swerved the sophomore slump. It's a remarkably mature film which, when viewed alongside his TV work on the HBO series Looking, suggests a filmmaker with a fine ear for
honest, intimate and uncomfortable drama, and someone with the confidence to tell his stories at his own speed. As he considers his next steps (he is currently working on
the second season of Looking) Andrew has built up a reputation that will help him attract cast and crew, and raise finance. It’s a reputation that will help him get his future
films off the ground.
It's satisfying to see a filmmaker's career moving forward and upwards, and a number of strong voices emerged this year which promise the same: Yann Demange (’71),
Hong Khaou (Lilting), Destiny Ekaragha (Gone Too Far!), Jane Pollard and Iain Forsyth (20,000 Days On Earth) all made distinctive debuts in 2014, and we look at some
of the other upcoming debuts that we're currently supporting over the next few pages.
We’ve also recently celebrated the first birthday of the BFI NET.WORK, a new approach to our pre-first feature talent development which spans the UK.
A sobering statistic from our own research unit shows that, over the last 10 years at least, only 18% of the directors of UK independent films have gone on to make a
second. Whilst not accounting for those working in TV or in the US and elsewhere, that’s still 82% who didn’t make a second independent film in the UK.
So we know that we need to put as much time and effort into the follow-up, if we're going to help build film careers that last, and definitely a resolution for the year ahead.
BEN ROBERTS Director of the BFI Film Fund
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COUNTY ANTRIM
FIRST
FEATURES
STEPHEN FINGLETON, JANE LINFOOT AND
ESTHER MAY CAMPBELL ON THEIR EXPERIENCES
AS FIRST TIME FEATURE DIRECTORS
THE
SURVIVALIST
STEPHEN FINGLETON
Stephen Fingleton on the set of The Survivalist, County Antrim
A vital and dynamic British film industry relies on the presence of a growing body of new, inspiring directors coming
forward with their first features.
It is not hard to imagine the complex thoughts and emotions that run through a first-time feature director’s mind. They
weigh up the inherent challenges of the process against their innate desire to tell the stories they deeply care about.
While the experience of creating short films, familiarity with production as well as a good producer will guide their
decisions, there is nothing comparable to the effort, complexity and excitement of creating a debut feature film.
Stephen Fingleton, Jane Linfoot and Esther May Campbell are three such directors making that first leap into feature films,
supported in part by the BFI which sees investing in talent as essential for enabling and nurturing new filmmakers across the
UK. The BFI’s approach and process has also become more structured in order to ensure new filmmakers can be provided
with the necessary level of editorial support alongside raising finance. Filmmakers can apply for funding at any time during
the year, but projects are assessed at quarterly intervals and follow a process which includes meetings with filmmakers.
When Stephen Fingleton decided he wanted to become
a director, he made a brave choice. He decided he would
make a career outside of the film industry. “I knew early on
that I didn’t have any connections in the industry that would
be able to help me. I made the decision to use the money
I earned working in financial administration, and eventually
from a full-time job at the BBC, to make short films to
show at festivals,” says Fingleton.
The Survivalist is a daring debut. It is sci-fi, set in a world after
global economic collapse, and focuses on the title character,
played by Martin McCann. When a mother and daughter,
Kathryn (Olwen Foéuré) and Milja (Mia Goth), approach this
lone survivor for food, their presence brings new problems
that threaten the survivalist’s existence.
Born in Northern Ireland, Fingleton began his career,
like many directors, making short films that he wrote,
directed and produced. As he points out, “When you are
making a film for a couple of thousand pounds, there
aren’t the divisions between directing and producing
at that level.”
THE SURVIVALIST
DIRECTOR Stephen Fingleton
PRODUCERS David Gilbery,
Wayne Marc Godfrey, Robert Jones
WRITER Stephen Fingleton
CAST Martin McCann, Mia Goth,
Olwen Fouéré, Barry Ward
SHOOT DURATION Five weeks
LOCATION County Antrim
FILM STOCK Digital
PRODUCTION COMPANY The Fyzz Facility
PRODUCTION PARTNERS The Fyzz Facility, BFI,
Northern Ireland Screen, Goldcrest
SALES COMPANY K5 International
04
BFI.ORG.UK
With The Survivalist, this changed. New challenges were
presented in tackling a feature-length film, but fortunately
the script was at an advanced stage. What Fingleton
needed was to show what he could do as a director, so he
made a short called SLR, shortly followed by another with
the support of the BFI, called Magpie. “Making Magpie was
incredibly helpful because if I hadn’t made it, I would never
have found my cinematographer Damien Elliott. It was also
a chance to experiment, and unlike SLR it was a film that
I made for myself.”
Like many first-time directors, Fingleton wrote the material
he was working with. “When you are on set and you have
written the script, it prepares you for when you encounter
problems, and you can quickly work out rewrites. The intimacy
of writing and directing is very powerful because you are able
to judge an actor’s performance and the material that they
are delivering.”
When asked what he had learned from making his first
feature, he said, “To my great surprise I discovered that
I was a director of actors.”
HUDDERSFIELD
THE INCIDENT
DIRECTOR Jane Linfoot
PRODUCERS Caroline Cooper Charles, Sarada McDermott
WRITER Jane Linfoot
CAST Ruta Gedmintas, Tom Hughes, Tasha Connor
SHOOT DURATION Four weeks
LOCATION Huddersfield
FILM STOCK Digital
PRODUCTION COMPANIES Square Circle Films,
Universal Spirits
PRODUCTION PARTNERS BFI, Creativity Capital
THE
INCIDENT
JANE LINFOOT
Ruta Gedmintas in The Incident, Huddersfield. PHOTO BY ROBERTA RIDOLFI
“The reality is you often have to create your own
opportunities when first starting out,” says director Jane
Linfoot, who is making her debut with The Incident. Her film
is a psychological drama concerning a young couple, played
by Ruta Gedmintas and Tom Hughes, whose lives are turned
upside down when they cross paths with a troubled and
vulnerable young teen played by Tasha Connor.
While Jane Linfoot had experience working as a line
producer and production manager making commercials,
it was her time spent doing voluntary work for the Karen
Hilltribes Trust charity on the Thai/Burmese border that
encouraged her to make her first film. “I picked up a video
camera and made an observational short film about the
plight of the people; it was that experience that stayed
with me and inspired me to move into creating my own
work.” Her experience gave her an understanding of
knowing what could be achieved on a low budget, and in
writing The Incident she knew that “a cast of thousands,
helicopter shots and multiple far-flung locations” would
be out of the question.
For Linfoot, it has always been about creating stories that
“emotionally connect and impact on an audience, and stay
with them beyond the end credits.” With The Incident she
says, “I truly believed in the essence of the story and felt it
was an important time to tell a story like this.”
Linfoot explains how writing her own material gave her
the time to build characters, and to really connect with
them. “So, when it comes to casting and directing the
actors, I have a good understanding of what I am looking
for, and how best to try to encourage the emotional
performances that I need from them,” she says.
Linfoot appreciates just how important the support is from
the whole production team, especially on a first feature.
“The people that come on board are there because they
are passionate about the project and have a genuine desire
to be involved; they aren’t doing it for the money. I was
fortunate to have incredible support from old and new
collaborators who really believed in the film.”
BFI.ORG.UK
05
BRISTOL
James Stuckey in Light Years, Bristol
LIGHT
YEARS
ESTHER MAY CAMPBELL
In 2009, Esther May Campbell won the BAFTA® for
Outstanding Short Film. Over the course of her career
to date she has directed music videos, shorts and
episodes of Skins for E4 and Wallander for the BBC.
Now she embarks on her first feature film, Light Years,
which follows an eight-year-old girl during the course of
one day as she tries to find her mother.
“There are many things in the script that are personal to
Esther: the theme of the loss of someone close to you, of
searching for the reasons but finding that there is no reason.
Then there is the theme of moving on together through
hardship because of the love one shares with family,”
says producer Sam Haillay.
Crafting this story, like many films, had its own challenges.
“We had a lot of locations, a lot of material to capture and
we were also working with children, so we had to schedule
carefully. You have got to figure out how to get these
scenes done during a relatively short shooting period,
capturing five or six scenes a day.” Campbell also
recognised the need to allow herself to go with “the
unexpected” and to be “light enough to go with it”,
which is a must when working with a mix of professional
and non-professional actors.
Part of Campbell’s ability and freedom to work like this
comes from the trust she has with Haillay. She describes
him as a “nurturing producer”, and explains that he “really
does try and enable and listen to how a director wants to
do things, to find the right filming structure. We keep in
constant conversation and we adapt as we go along.”
“The politics in the hierarchy of conventional production
aren’t helpful for play and discovery. Creativity can’t often
flourish in an environment that feels like a test. I’m
interested in adapting the model of production, as well as
experimenting with film form and its conventions to make
new work. We recorded sounds before we shot a frame of
film. Our composer sat in the locations and played music
after the shoot. We changed from a 40 person crew to a
5 person crew. This movement calls for a lot of trust,
patience and humour,” says Campbell.
Ultimately for Campbell, Light Years was about “being
willing to wait, listen, nurture until the film came to fruition.”
WORDS BY JOSEPH WALSH
LIGHT YEARS
DIRECTOR Esther May Campbell
PRODUCERS Samm Haillay, Wendy Bevan-Hogg
CAST Muhammet Uzuner, Beth Orton, Zamira Fuller,
Sophie Burton, James Stuckey
SHOOT DURATION Six weeks
LOCATION Bristol
FILM STOCK 16mm
PRODUCTION COMPANY Third Films
PRODUCTION PARTNERS BFI, Creative England,
Finite Films
SALES COMPANY The Match Factory
06
BFI.ORG.UK
NET.WORK@LFF event
PHOTO BY NELE HECHT
BFI NET.WORK
A NEW WAVE: INVESTING IN THE DEVELOPMENT
OF UK WRITERS, DIRECTORS AND PRODUCERS
Since 1889, when William Friese-Greene first captured
Hyde Park on celluloid, pre-dating the Lumière brothers
by six years, the UK has been home to a film industry
that stands tall on the world stage, crafting compelling,
striking and original cinematic stories. Just over the
past 12 months UK films and talent have won 26 major
film awards, giving inspiration to those with real
ambition to make their films. Our filmmaking talent is
the lifeblood of our industry and the key to the UK film
industry’s reputation for creativity and expertise in a
highly competitive international business. Discovering
and helping new and emerging British film writers,
directors and producers to realise their potential so that
they can become the next generation of distinctive
filmmaking voices is vital to ensuring we have films that
audiences at home and abroad can see and enjoy.
The BFI NET.WORK marks a new approach towards
UK-wide support for talent development backed by an
annual budget of £3 million and connecting the UK’s
film agencies for the first time. Creative Scotland,
Creative England, Ffilm Cymru Wales, Northern Ireland
Screen and Film London are working together with the
BFI, offering experienced development teams and
talent centres who can provide tailored support in a
joined-up way, fitting the business and creative needs
of promising UK writers, directors and producers yet to
make their first feature film. But it’s not just about what
the talent can learn from experienced professionals –
their careers may follow different paths but via the
NET.WORK there are new opportunities for them to
learn from each other.
CREATIVE ENGLAND
As part of its contribution to the BFI NET.WORK,
Creative England has recruited a highly-experienced
development team to work closely with promising
writers, directors and producers from across England.
Led by Celine Haddad and Paul Ashton, the team offers
a hands-on approach that is tailored to the needs
of the project and talent attached. Creative England’s
NET.WORK activities are designed to get new
filmmakers on to the ladder towards a feature,
complementing the successful iFeatures low-budget
scheme. Its available NET.WORK funding covers feature
film development, short films and pilots together with
editorial, mentoring and training support. In its first year,
emerging talent have been supported in developing
more than 40 feature film projects.
The very first short funded, Rachel Tunnard’s Emotional
Fusebox, was selected for the BFI London Film Festival,
garnered a BIFA nomination and has now led to Rachel’s
first feature How To Live Yours going into production.
How To Live Yours has generated a pre-sales distribution
bidding competition, almost unheard of with first-time,
low-budget, independent films.
In partnership with Baby Cow Productions and Big Talk
Pictures, Creative England will soon announce the
shortlisted finalists for the Funny Girls programme. This
new scheme will offer five filmmaking teams a £10,000
production award towards the production of a comedy
short film from a female director. The teams also get
industry mentoring through Big Talk and Baby Cow,
two giants of UK film and television comedy.
New initiatives have also included NET.WORK@ LFF,
an intensive series of meetings, screenings and talks
designed to show filmmaking in an international context
alongside regional talent development programmes.
creativeengland.co.uk
FILM LONDON
London Calling Plus was the new short filmmaking
scheme launched this year, under the BFI NET.WORK
banner, to champion under-represented voices in the
capital. Five short films were awarded £15,000, are
already completed and on the path to success. Harry
Potter director David Yates selected Sarmad Masud
as the winner of the London Calling Plus Award for his
hilarious and clever Two Dosas. Sarmad is joining Yates
on set to shadow him as he directs a major feature film
in the UK. Two Dosas has been taken on by Shorts
International and licensed to British Airways. Some
Candid Observations on the Eve of the End of the
World, directed by John Howlett, won the London
Calling Jury Award, with a £2,000 prize.
Head of Talent Development & Production Deborah
Sathe is looking to support filmmakers in the longer
term, hoping London Calling Plus filmmakers will come
straight back to her team to make a feature through the
BFI and BBC Films supported Film London Microwave.
A trail has already been laid for other filmmakers to
follow. Hong Khaou came to Film London with his play
Lilting, and the eventual Microwave funded adaptation
went on to steal the hearts of audiences and critics this
year at Sundance, landing the Cinematography Award
and a Grand Jury Prize nomination. It also opened the
BFI’s FLARE festival and secured three BIFA nominations.
It was Khaou’s first feature, following two shorts
produced with Film London.
filmlondon.org.uk
FFILM CYMRU WALES
The awardees of the new NET.WORK supported
Horizons Fund are also already beginning to see success,
demonstrating how even a modest funding award can be
very beneficial at a crucial point in a filmmaker’s career.
Writer/director Rungano Nyoni recently picked up the Arte
pitching prize of $6,000 at the Locarno Film Festival and
the $22,000 Open Doors award for her Horizons funded
project I Am Not A Witch. The Ffilm Cymru Wales award
enabled her to conduct vital research and shoot taster
footage at a refugee witch camp in Ghana before
embarking on the screenplay.
NET.WORK in Wales has also set up Launchpad, a
three-day talent lab combining film finance meetings,
case studies, directors’ and writers’ labs, script
readings, screenings and masterclasses. Experienced
professionals such as the BAFTA-winning filmmaker
Kieran Evans, Frank director Lenny Abrahamson,
Emmy-winning director Marina Zenovich, writer/producer
Peter G Morgan, US producer Dan Lupovitz, and
Element Pictures’ Ed Guiney, all shared insights and
expertise with the new and emerging Welsh talent.
Another ground-breaking programme is Y Labordy,
an ambitious bi-lingual/Welsh language TV, film and
theatre scriptwriting training and mentoring programme
with an international focus supported in partnership with
S4C, Creative Skillset Wales and Arts Council Wales.
ffilmcymruwales.com
SCOTTISH FILM TALENT NETWORK
Funded by Creative Scotland, the BFI and Creative
Skillset, the Scottish Film Talent Network (SFTN) will be
delivered by the Centre for the Moving Image (CMI),
DigiCult and Hopscotch Films representing Scotland in
the NET.WORK. The SFTN recently announced
the appointment of Claudia Yusef as the Talent
Development Executive responsible for scouting and
supporting the next generation of Scottish talent who
will follow in the footsteps of acclaimed Scottish
filmmakers such as Lynne Ramsay, David Mackenzie,
Peter Mullan and Paul Wright.
Since its launch in September, the SFTN has supported
a number of emerging writers, directors and producers
to attend talent labs at festivals including Toronto and
Reykjavik. In conjunction with the launch of the new
SFTN website, guidelines are soon to be published for
the first round of Scottish shorts aimed at new talent
who have yet to receive their first short film commission.
The deadline for applications will be 5 January 2015,
with the first development workshop taking place at the
end of January. This marks the first of many new
opportunities to come through the SFTN, including a
slate of short film commissions for more established
talent, professional development opportunities and a
feature film development programme for individuals
and teams on the verge of making their first feature.
scottishfilmtalent.com
NORTHERN IRELAND SCREEN
Northern Ireland’s presence as a filmmaking centre may
feel synonymous with Game of Thrones but Northern
Ireland Screen has long invested in the country’s homegrown talent. Script read-throughs with professional
actors in the presence of potential producers, financiers
and collaborators in London is one of the many ways
that Northern Ireland Screen uses NET.WORK funding
to support filmmakers in developing their projects. One
such script read-through had Martin McCann trudge
through a war-torn Ireland whilst a live soundtrack
played throughout, an enthralling and evocative
rendering of the screenplay, and a fantastic showcase
for writers, actors and directors.
The NET.WORKshops also bring together up to 50 new
and emerging filmmakers from Northern Ireland to work
with industry experts and independent companies in
animation, factual and live action spheres.
northernirelandscreen.co.uk
Lizzie Francke, Senior Development & Production
Executive at the BFI says, “Ensuring that filmmakers get
the right kind of support at the right time in their careers
sounds simple but is so important if they are going to
develop as the next generation of distinctive and
singular voices. The NET.WORK is a new and fresh
approach to achieving this kind of support and is all
about the partner organisations collaborating and
working holistically to support talent.”
During this first year of the NET.WORK different
programmes have brought new and emerging talent
together with experienced executives and international
filmmakers, places on courses have been funded and
mentors brought on board, plus pilots and shorts have
been funded across the land. In the coming months
even more new resources are going live including the
NET.WORK website which will help filmmakers
showcase their work to film industry professionals,
including agents and talent executives providing
a unique and innovative ‘postcode-free’ route to
securing development support and funding.
This is just the beginning.
WORDS BY BFI NET.WORK CONTRIBUTORS
BFI.ORG.UK
07
YORKSHIRE
CATCH ME DADDY
DIRECTING AND WRITING DUO THE WOLFE BROTHERS AND
PRODUCER MIKE ELLIOTT ON DISCOVERING SAMEENA JABEEN AHMED
“Sameena was immediately different, almost the
opposite of what we thought we were looking for.
But we kept going back to her audition tape –
everything about her was interesting. I couldn’t stop
watching,” says Daniel Wolfe, reflecting on how rising
star Sameena Jabeen Ahmed came to be cast in the
lead role in Catch Me Daddy, the Wolfe brothers’
debut feature.
It was a long and unconventional journey towards
finding the right woman to play the part of Laila,
a young Pakistani teen who goes on the run with
her Scottish boyfriend (Conor McCarron) through the
Yorkshire Moors, pursued by a group of men, hired by
her father (Ali Ahmed) and led by her brother Tariq
(Wasim Zakir), to bring her home. Producer Mike
Elliott describes the film as a “contemporary western”,
and was attracted to the project because he knew
that the Wolfe brothers would “tackle the story with
integrity and that it would resonate with audiences”.
Two to three years ago Daniel was making a name for
himself directing award-winning music videos for
Chase & Status, and a video starring Jake Gyllenhaal
for The Shoes. Meanwhile, producers Mike Elliott and
Hayley Williams were working on a development slate
at EMU Films - the London and Manchester-based
film production company set up by Elliott and his
partners Jim Mooney and Walli Ullah.
Williams had already worked with Daniel Wolfe as his
first assistant and with Mike, they asked him to write
a treatment for Catch Me Daddy. As a first assistant
director, Elliott had enjoyed working with directors
including Michael Winterbottom, Lars von Trier and
Jane Campion. Williams had worked alongside Nick
Broomfield and Mike Leigh, directors with a particular
vision. As producers, they saw similar attributes in
Daniel and Matthew. “They write in the same way
they shoot,” says Williams. “It’s dynamic, visual
and poetic.”
Given the intensity of the plot, finding the right person
to play Laila was crucial. Adopting an alternative
approach, the Wolfe brothers decided that they would
opt for a non-professional actor, finding Laila would
require time, effort and resources, as well as an
understanding and commitment to approaching
the shoot in a different way and following through
in supporting the actor.
Working with non-professional actors was a
particularly daring choice for the Wolfe brothers as
debut feature filmmakers, but the decision to street
cast was integral to the entire production.
Over the course of some months they saw hundreds
of girls, either in casting sessions or on tape, all of
which was organised by casting director Lucy Pardee
and Elliott’s producing partner Hayley Williams.
“There were a few girls we liked who on the surface
had a lot in common with Laila’s character in the
script and the vibe that we initially set out looking
for. But beyond that, there was no real sense of
connection, nothing deeper that would bring the
story, and the world we were creating to life.”
Sameena was instantly different – she created a
“palpable energy in the room”.
In a beautiful and moving scene in the film, Ahmed’s
vibrancy fills the screen when she dances with
McCarron to the Patti Smith song Horses. “There
had been several moments along the way where we
knew Sameena was the girl for the role. She is tough
and strong which was key to her character, but the
dance scene was really exciting and emotional to
watch,” says Matthew Wolfe. “That day was just
electric,” adds Daniel.
Sameena Jabeen Ahmed’s performance in Catch
Me Daddy has already earned her an award for
Best British Newcomer at the 2014 BFI London Film
Festival. When asked what the award meant to the
production, Elliott said, “It was a validation of the
street casting process needed for this story, and
speaks volumes for the professional actors who
played alongside her. There is a huge risk in going
down this route, but the result is that there is a
brilliantly controlled collision going on in the film.”
He added, “We are very proud of her; it was a great
moment for the film.”
WORDS BY JOSEPH WALSH
CATCH ME DADDY
DIRECTOR Daniel Wolfe, Matthew Wolfe
PRODUCERS Mike Elliott, Hayley Williams
WRITERS Daniel Wolfe, Matthew Wolfe
CAST Sameena Jabeen Ahmed,
Conor McCarron, Gary Lewis,
Wasim Zakir, Anwar Hussain
SHOOT DURATION Five weeks
LOCATION Yorkshire
FILM STOCK 35mm
PRODUCTION COMPANY Emu Films
PRODUCTION PARTNERS BFI, Film4,
Screen Yorkshire, Lip Sync Productions
SALES COMPANY Altitude Film Sales
UK DISTRIBUTOR StudioCanal
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BFI.ORG.UK
Sameena Jabeen Ahmed in
Catch Me Daddy, Yorkshire
LONDON
Alexander Bodin Saphir, October 2014
PHOTO BY PAUL MARC MITCHELL
WHO’S GONNA
LOVE ME NOW?
PRODUCER AND CO-DIRECTOR ALEXANDER BODIN SAPHIR TALKS ABOUT
HIS NEW DOCUMENTARY FILM WHO’S GONNA LOVE ME NOW?
“I come from a fiction background, and I found it
very difficult at first to just let the story unfold.
But eventually I learnt that that’s when the magic
happens.” This is how the Danish-British born
Alexander Bodin Saphir describes his latest film,
the documentary Who’s Gonna Love Me Now?
a co-production with the Israeli award-winning
filmmakers, the Heymann Brothers.
The film follows the life of Saar, a man who left his
conservative and religious family in Israel 19 years ago
when he confessed two life-changing facts – firstly
that he was gay and, more shockingly for his family,
that he had become an atheist. Leaving the Levant,
Saar came to London where he joined the London
Gay Men’s Chorus; it was at this time that he also was
diagnosed with HIV. Despite these life-changing
events, Saar remained determined to build a new life
and begin the process of reconciliation with his family.
WHO’S GONNA
LOVE ME NOW?
DIRECTORS Tomer Heymann, Barak Heymann
& Alexander Bodin Saphir
PRODUCERS Alexander Bodin Saphir, Ashley Luke
DOCUMENTARY WRITER Alexander Bodin Saphir
LOCATIONS London, Bexhill, Winchester, Israel
FILM STOCK Digital
PRODUCTION COMPANY Breaking Productions
PRODUCTION PARTNERS BFI, AVICHAI &
Gesher Foundation, Makor Film Fund,
Heymann Brothers
This story has personal connotations for Bodin Saphir.
During his gap year he worked in Sde Eliyahu, a
kibbutz located in Beit She’an, the valley close to the
Sea of Galilee. This was the same community in which
Saar was raised with his family. However, the two
never met prior to beginning production on this film
as Saar was doing his national service with the
Israeli army.
The renowned Heymann Brothers brought Bodin onto
the project two-and-a-half years ago. Bodin Saphir
first met Tomer Heymann when he was being
honoured at a Human Rights Awards dinner. Tomer
asked if he would be interested in a new project as a
cameraman. Bodin picks up the story. “Tomer asked if
I could give him an hour to come and meet this guy.
He told me that it would only be a couple of days
shooting. I went to meet Saar, and our hour meeting
turned into two or three. We had this great chat, and,
as Tomer promised, I fell in love with Saar's story.
“From my first meeting with Saar it was obvious that
he’s an extremely charismatic, intelligent and
engaging person. Then as I learned more about his
struggles and his incredibly intense relationship with
his family I just wanted to know more, to be a fly on
his wall – to see how his story would unfold.” Initially
Bodin Saphir came onto the project as a cameraman
but became more and more involved and eventually
was co-directing. “Although documentary film was
relatively new to me, I think my background in writing
and fiction direction made for a natural progression
to co-directing this project.”
As well as being a filmmaker, Bodin Saphir is also
a playwright and the ‘author in residence’ at Great
Ormond Street Hospital. Whilst these other
commitments were important, Saar’s story captivated
Bodin Saphir. After agreeing to work on the project, he
found that he and the Heymann brothers couldn’t stop
filming. “The two days’ filming went well, so it was
extended, and we decided to do a few more. This
turned into a couple of months, and we extended it to
Pesach. That was six months of filming, which turned
into a year, and now we are two years on. The reason
that the Heymann Brothers and I kept filming was that
Saar’s story kept evolving. Effectively we couldn’t put
the camera down.”
Spending such a prolonged period charting Saar’s
story allowed Bodin Saphir the chance to consider
how the camera’s presence influenced Saar’s life.
“If you follow someone around for two-and-a-half
years you end up becoming his or her shadow.
I deeply care for Saar and his family and recently we
drove together to Sde Eliyahu, which I hadn’t been
to for 16 years; to go back there with Saar – that
was a very special moment.”
With a story that is as deeply personal as this, there
comes a sense of privilege, which Bodin Saphir was
keenly aware of. “There were days when you would
just stop and take stock of what has happened. Being
allowed to witness this story is a privilege, and there
are a lot of personal moments that we have captured.
It takes a special and courageous individual to allow
us in to film for just one day, let alone two and a half
years. Given the pressures on him Saar was
remarkable throughout the shoot. And with that
privilege comes a great deal of responsibility.”
When he looks back on what the film has meant for
him as a filmmaker, Bodin Saphir admits, “I have
learned so much from Who’s Gonna Love Me Now?
and working with the Heymann Brothers. It’s
completely changed my working practice and how
I write and direct, both fiction and non-fiction.”
WORDS BY JOSEPH WALSH
BFI.ORG.UK
09
45 YEARS
DIRECTOR Andrew Haigh
PRODUCER Tristan Goligher
WRITERS David Constantine (Short Story), Andrew Haigh
CAST Charlotte Rampling, Tom Courtenay
SHOOT DURATION Six weeks
LOCATION Norfolk
FILM STOCK 35mm
PRODUCTION COMPANY The Bureau Film Company
PRODUCTION PARTNERS BFI, Film4, Creative England
SALES COMPANY The Match Factory
UK DISTRIBUTOR Curzon Film World
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BFI.ORG.UK
NORFOLK
45 YEARS
DIRECTOR AND WRITER ANDREW HAIGH ON HIS SECOND
FEATURE 45 YEARS AND WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP
WITH PRODUCER TRISTAN GOLIGHER
“There is a thread that goes through all of my work.
Thematically the same things interest me, and they
are in everything I do,” is how director Andrew Haigh
describes his films.
Haigh’s work is laced with the themes of love and
choice – potent subject matters in his hands, as
shown with his 2011 breakout feature Weekend,
which pushed the boundaries of the potential for
LGBT cinema. The story, which was written, directed
and edited by Haigh, is a compelling examination of
modern love that follows two young gay men who
find that their one-night stand blossoms into
something much more significant. Haigh considers
Weekend a career-defining moment. “After the
release of the film my career changed dramatically.
It meant that people were interested in developing
my projects, which was a nice change, and it also
led to working on the HBO comedy Looking, of
which I am currently directing the second season.”
Prior to Weekend, Haigh made a low-budget
docu-drama entitled Greek Pete. It was made for
less than £5,000 and was a turning point in Haigh’s
career as a director. “I finally felt that I could call
myself a filmmaker, which was a first for me.
Whether or not the film was totally realised or
successful, it gave people some confidence that
I could make a feature.”
Along his filmmaking journey, Haigh has had the
support of his long-standing producer Tristan
Goligher who has been with Haigh since his first film.
This relationship began when they worked together
on the short film Five Miles Out. Haigh explains,
“Tristan is a creative producer in the very best
sense. He cares first and foremost about the
creative side of the project. He is always the first
person to see any draft of an outline or version of a
script or any kind of cut. His advice is always valid
because we have the same goal – to make the
project the best it can be.” Goligher’s reasons for
working with Haigh compliments this ethos. He says,
“Andrew has a rare ability to be confident about his
intentions, whilst simultaneously questioning and
challenging his own ideas. This means that part of
our working relationship, especially during
production, is a constant discussion on how this
will impact on the story.”
Haigh has based his forthcoming feature film
45 Years on a short story by David Constantine,
originally titled In Another Country. “I first read the
short story about six years ago and I was instantly
drawn to it. It is about love, both romantic and
otherwise, but it is also a story about choices.
It is about how these choices shape a life; shape
the meaning of life,” says Haigh.
45 Years was seen to be a more attractive prospect
to investors because of the success that Haigh
and Goligher had with Weekend. Goligher reflects,
“Thinking back to when we were taking Weekend
out to people, showing it to funders, no-one was
interested. I think that was for a number of reasons
including the obvious questions around Andrew and
myself. As a young producer it made it very difficult
to finance a film like that until you’ve done it once
and it works.
“In the UK we have a very big blind spot in our
cinema culture when it comes to independent dramas
about middle-class people dealing with emotional
issues and existential questions. It goes two ways in
the UK, where at the higher end it is romantic and
sentimental, at the other it is gritty. I don’t think as a
cinematic nation we are very good at the place in
between.” However, Weekend and 45 Years are both
films that occupy that space. “We both just stopped
waiting for permission to make the films we wanted
to make. Weekend was a huge success at SXSW
winning the Audience Award; I don’t think we could
have opened at a better festival and in some ways
that festival has been a huge source of inspiration
for us,” concludes Goligher.
45 Years focuses on Kate Mercer (Charlotte
Rampling) a week before her wedding anniversary
with her husband (Tom Courtenay) as they are
planning a party to celebrate their years of marriage
together. Unsettling these happy tidings is the arrival
of a letter for her husband, informing him that the
Andrew Haigh and Tristan Goligher on the set of 45 Years, Norfolk. PHOTO BY AGATHA NITECKA
body of his first lover has been discovered frozen
in a glacier in the Swiss Alps. As the days pass, it
becomes apparent that there might not be a
marriage left to celebrate.
Arguably 45 Years may be considered a partner-piece
to Weekend, following similar themes and evolving
Haigh’s voice as an artist set at the other end of the
age spectrum. “On a creative level, we [Andrew and I]
look at 45 Years as a thematic sequel to Weekend,”
says Goligher. Both titles examine relationships facing
tough choices. Haigh’s passion for exploring such
territory is what drives him: “I am interested in why
people make certain choices, what guides them,
what stops them, what scares them about making
choices at all. It is very hard having the ability to
choose and to take control of your life. It is both
exhilarating and at the same time is enough to make
you hide under your bed and never come out.”
When asked how he feels about his developing
voice as director, Haigh says, “I don’t think that
I can answer that until I have some hindsight. You
try different things, you experiment, and you push
forward certain ideas that interest you as a
filmmaker. You become more confident about
certain decisions and less about others. You stop
making old mistakes but add a whole list of new
ones. You certainly become more confident to the
point that you can at least pretend you know what
you are doing.”
Ultimately for Haigh and Goligher the films they make
are about how the stories resonate with audiences
and comment on how we live our lives. Goligher
echoes the spirit of these sentiments. “I’m interested
in stories that contribute something to the discussion
of how we live our lives, politically, philosophically,
and ultimately personally. 45 Years is all of those.
Crucially it’s a story about people I feel are rarely
portrayed honestly on screen. If we do that, then we
have a chance to make a deep, intimate connection
with people. What more can we aspire to?”
WORDS BY JOSEPH WALSH
Charlotte Rampling and Andrew Haigh on the set of 45 Years, Norfolk. PHOTO BY AGATHA NITECKA
X+Y
DIRECTOR Morgan Matthews
PRODUCERS David Thompson,
Laura Hastings-Smith
WRITER James Graham
CAST Asa Butterfield, Rafe Spall,
Sally Hawkins, Jo Yang, Eddie Marsan
SHOOT DURATION Six weeks
LOCATIONS Sheffield, Cambridge, Taiwan
FILM STOCK Digital
PRODUCTION COMPANIES Origin Pictures,
Minnow Films
PRODUCTION PARTNERS BBC Films, BFI,
Head Gear Films & Metrol Technology,
Screen Yorkshire and LipSync
SALES COMPANY Bankside Films
UK DISTRIBUTOR Koch Media
X+Y
DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER TURNED FEATURE DIRECTOR
MORGAN MATTHEWS ON HIS DEBUT DRAMA X+Y
Morgan Matthews is already a recognised filmmaker
whose television documentaries including The Fallen,
Beautiful Young Minds and Scenes from a Teenage
Killing have garnered awards from BAFTA, the Royal
Television Society, the Grierson Trust and also the
Sheffield Documentary Festival. X+Y is his first fiction
feature film, which premiered at the 2014 BFI London
Film Festival.
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BFI.ORG.UK
whilst watching this documentary I realised that I cared
deeply for Edward Johnson and his family, and I came
away knowing that the death penalty was wrong. So if I
wanted to make people care about an issue, I had to
make them [the audience] care about the people who
were affected by that issue first.”
From an early age, Morgan Matthews was interested in
and cared about stories concerning ordinary people
who were often in dramatic, or difficult, situations.
Growing up in the Midlands and subsequently moving
to Bristol, Matthews was brought up in a home where
he says he “became very aware of politics and social
issues”, through his mother who was a community
worker, and his stepfather who worked with children
who’d been excluded from school.
Matthews became a father when he was 15 years old,
an experience that contributed to what he hopes is “a
non-judgmental approach when it comes to telling the
stories of people who might otherwise be seen in a
one-dimensional or stereotypical way.” His interest in
photography was also beginning to take root, a passion
that was the first step on his journey to becoming a
filmmaker. He began experimenting by capturing the
local characters of Bristol on his stills camera but soon
knew that he wanted to marry his passion for
photography with his love of storytelling.
Paul Hamann’s 1988 documentary 14 Days In May,
which focused on the final days in the lead-up to the
execution of Edward Johnson, who was convicted of
murder, but insisted that he was innocent, had a
profound effect on Matthews as a boy. “I could not
believe that he was being put to death in the modern
world. It just seemed utterly inhuman. Fundamentally,
“I wanted to move to London and study film. I was very
naive and didn’t think I could get onto a film course, but
I turned in my portfolio of photographs and some
ideas.” This portfolio earned him a place at what was
then the London College of Printing (LCP) and it was
here that he was able to begin working with the moving
image and find his form. He described his graduation
film as “an experimental hybrid of drama and
documentary shot on black and white 16mm where
the viewer wasn’t sure who was ‘real’ and who
was an actor.”
Whilst still studying at the LCP, Matthews found unpaid
work experience with Diverse Productions at the age of
20, starting as a researcher on an episode of Secret
Lives about Jeremy Thorpe (the former politician who
was forced to resign as the Liberal Party leader in 1976
after he was accused of having a homosexual affair).
From here, Matthews moved on to working on Channel
4’s Cutting Edge. It was also a period that coincided
with the birth of the docu-soap, an arena in which he
would thrive. “My first paid job in TV was working on a
pilot for Paddington Green for Lion Television, which
was eventually commissioned for 30-episodes, playing
at 9pm on BBC1.” Only a year after leaving college, he
was directing, shooting and cutting episodes of this
popular series.
Through independent documentary company Century
Films, Morgan made the 90-minute documentary Care
House about a care home for people with learning
disabilities and challenging behaviour. “Although it
wasn’t my first stand-alone piece, it was the first film
SHEFFIELD
Morgan Matthews and Asa Butterfield on the set of X+Y, Sheffield
that I felt was made in the style I wanted to make it, and
it had a profound effect on me,” reflects Matthews. “I fell
in love with this place full of amazing characters, warmth
and incredible stories, and found myself practically living
there – filming over Christmas. Again, I felt that if I cared
about the people in my film, then an audience could too.”
In 2007, he set up his own production company, Minnow
Films, essentially giving him more control over the films
that he was making. “It got to the point where people
were asking me what I wanted to make a film about
next,” Matthews says he wanted to use this situation
wisely. “I realised I was in a privileged position and
therefore I should be using it to tackle bigger, socially
important issues.”
This drive and passion came through with his highly
acclaimed work The Fallen, a three-hour documentary
which showed on BBC2 shortly after Remembrance Day
in 2008, it chronicled every single British service person
to die in Iraq and Afghanistan. Later he turned his
camera towards street violence, with Scenes From
A Teenage Killing, a two-hour documentary exploring
the tragic stories of every teenager who was murdered
in the UK in 2009.
His debut feature, X+Y, is inspired by Beautiful Young
Minds, a feature-length documentary he made in 2007,
which followed a group of teenagers through the training
and selection process of the International Mathematical
Olympiad. Matthews knew the writer James Graham
(then a young talent emerging in theatre), having been
impressed by his early plays such as The Whiskey Taster.
Now James is one of the most sought after writers in
Morgan Matthews, October 2014
PHOTO BY PAUL MARC MITCHELL
the UK having experienced great success with This
House at the National Theatre. He has recently worked
with Harvey Weinstein on adapting Finding Neverland
as a Broadway musical and is set to work with Paul
Greengrass on his feature 1984.
“I love making documentaries, but fiction is a new
and exciting chapter for me, “ says Matthews. “The
beauty of documentary is that you don’t necessarily
know exactly what is going to happen. Whereas with
fiction there is more freedom with the story and more
control, allowing you to take the story wherever you
want it to go”.
For Matthews the transition has been relatively smooth
thanks to his filmmaking experience. With X+Y,
Matthews has brought together an impressive cast of
British talent that includes Rafe Spall, Sally Hawkins,
Eddie Marsan and rising star Asa Butterfield. “The
parallels with documentary and fiction are many, but
particularly when it comes to casting. As much as good
casting is imperative in fiction, it is also essential in
documentary – whether you are interested in a particular
subject and speak to hundreds of people in order to cast
a documentary or whether you come across an amazing
character with an amazing story. It’s all about the casting.
Documentary is as much about character and narrative
as fiction. Making small stories into big ones is really
important to me, but I’m also interested, as I was in
documentary, in finding the heart and soul in big stories
and bringing them to an audience in a fashion that
I hope will make them care.”
WORDS BY JOSEPH WALSH
TESTAMENT
OF YOUTH
SCREENWRITER JULIETTE TOWHIDI ON HER ADAPTATION
OF VERA BRITTAIN’S TESTAMENT OF YOUTH
“I think that something was broken forever,” is how
screenwriter Juliette Towhidi reflects on the aftermath
of World War I. For Towhidi, the war is a subject with
which she has become intimately familiar. For the past
two years, she has been researching and writing the
screenplay for an adaptation of Vera Brittain’s Testament
Of Youth, an evocative, personal account of Britain
in the lead-up to and following the war.
Towhidi spent part of her childhood in Iran before moving
to England. Like Vera Brittain, Towhidi attended Oxford
University where she read English Literature. After
graduating, Towhidi became a Reuters journalist for a
short while. Finding that this wasn’t the career for her, she
subsequently worked as a script editor, where she had
the opportunity to work with Roman Polanski, amongst
others. Although she ultimately left journalism, Towhidi
confesses, “because of my journalistic background
I always do a lot of research if it is available”.
In what she refers to as her ‘unformed’ years, she was
able to learn the mechanics of the industry. “Living life is
one thing, but working in the film business is another.”
Working in development, Towhidi was able to learn “what
it is like on the other side, and why they won’t pick up a
script”. However, she found the experience of seeing
people "becoming commodities” and the brutality of
aspects of the industry “chilling”.
In 2003, she received her first scriptwriting commission,
Calendar Girls, which was directed by Nigel Cole and
starred Dame Helen Mirren. From here, Towhidi went
on to adapt Death Comes To Pemberley from the
best-selling P.D. James novel for the BBC. This drama
was a sequel to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, set six
years into Elizabeth and Darcy’s marriage. Preparing for
the estate’s annual ball, they become entangled in a
murder mystery. Both the heartfelt comedy and the
BBC drama were met with critical praise.
For Towhidi, who has primarily worked in film, the
transition between TV and cinema is not a concern.
“I think that it is the same process because you
immerse yourself in a world. The variation between the
two is fantastic, although when you work in TV you have a
longer timeframe to work with compared to film.”
In 2012, she began to work on a literary adaptation of
a different sort, Testament Of Youth. The challenges of
tackling Brittain’s memoir were numerous. Published in
1933, this personal account of the earliest days of the
20th century conveys the rage of a post-World War I
generation, and the women left to pick up the pieces
following the devastation at home and abroad. The
book spans two-and-half decades, and Towhidi was
tasked with condensing the rich prose of the author into
a feature-length film. “First of all you have to let it fix in
your gut and get that passionate desire inside of you.
Then you try and backtrack and work out why it speaks
to you.” For Towhidi, screenwriting is always about
”hitting the crest of the waves”.
Towhidi was cautious not to fall into a trap that can
plague writers. “Your temptation is always to go to the
most dramatic event, which in this case is the war.”
In fact, Towhidi avoids the gore of war, preferring to
use the screen time for developing the characters,
allowing the audience to get to know these three or four
young men, and somehow make their lives resonate for
the millions who died.
For Towhidi, the real "hair-standing-up moment” came
while reading Testament Of Youth. She heard “her
[Vera’s] voice and her fury as a young woman”. This
anger at the senseless waste, “felt so modern”, and it
was precisely her connection with “this brilliant mind”
that made Towhidi want to adapt the book.
Once Shirley Williams, Vera’s daughter, provided
permission for the adaptation to go ahead there
was, of course, an added pressure. The figures in
Brittain’s book lived, fought and died. Testament Of
Youth would debut at the BFI London Film Festival in
the centenary year of the war. When asked about
what is was like to write about these once living, loving
and breathing men and women, Towhidi says, “It is
haunting, but it is also a satisfying feeling that you get
to connect with the past for a moment and carry the
flame a few yards in your own way. I have to say that
it was an honour to have the responsibility to work on
this film, but it didn’t stop me thinking, ‘God, I’ve
really got to get this right’.”
WORDS BY JOSEPH WALSH
Juliette Towhidi, October 2014
PHOTO BY PAUL MARC MITCHELL
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BFI.ORG.UK
YORKSHIRE
TESTAMENT OF YOUTH
DIRECTOR James Kent
PRODUCERS David Heyman, Rosie Alison
WRITERS Vera Brittain (Autobiography), Juliette Towhidi
CAST Alicia Vikander, Kit Harington, Dominic West,
Hayley Atwell, Emily Watson, Miranda Richardson
SHOOT DURATION Seven weeks
LOCATIONS Oxfordshire, Yorkshire, London
FILM STOCK Digital
PRODUCTION COMPANY Heyday Films
PRODUCTION PARTNERS Heyday Films, BBC Films,
Taron Egerton, Alicia Vikander, Kit Harington and Colin Morgan in Testament of Youth, Yorkshire
BFI, Screen Yorkshire, Nordisk Film Production,
Lipsync Productions and Ingenious
SALES COMPANY Protagonist Pictures
UK DISTRIBUTOR Lionsgate
ENNISCORTHY
BROOKLYN
GIRLS ON FILM: OSCAR® AND BAFTA AWARD-NOMINATED PRODUCERS
FINOLA DYWER AND AMANDA POSEY ON THEIR LATEST FILM,
AN ADAPTATION OF COLM TÓIBÍN’S BROOKLYN
It’s five years since Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey’s
first joint production An Education was released,
bringing success and acclaim in the US and
internationally as well as at home. Directed by Lone
Scherfig and adapted by prize-winning author Nick
Hornby, from British journalist Lynn Barber’s memoir of
the same name the film starred Carey Mulligan in a
career-launching and BAFTA-winning performance, and
brought a host of nominations, including a Best Picture
Oscar® nomination for Amanda and Finola.
Although An Education was a stand-out success, it
hasn’t been a flash in the pan: between them Dwyer
and Posey have produced a number of successful and
distinctive films, both separately and together. These
include Dustin Hoffman’s directorial debut Quartet,
starring Maggie Smith; Iain Softley’s debut Backbeat,
both produced by Dwyer; and Fever Pitch starring Colin
Firth, also adapted by Hornby and produced by Posey.
Now, via their joint production company Wildgaze
Films, the duo are working on Brooklyn, an adaptation
of Colm Tóibín’s long-listed Booker Prize novel.
Dwyer read Tóibín’s book and found that she couldn’t
get it out of her mind. She was fully aware of Tóibín’s
reputation and that the book was much beloved by
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BFI.ORG.UK
readers, but there were real challenges to making
a cinematic adaptation and raising the finance.
“First of all, it was a period piece set across two
continents. From the off we knew that recreating both
worlds set in the early 1950s comes at a price. Added
to this, its leading female role in many ways seems
to be passive. I knew this would be a challenge to
dramatise and the nature of the material meant that we
wouldn’t be able to cast big names.” All of these
factors meant that the film could be a tough sell in
terms of financing. There still remains an industry
attitude that female-led stories don’t make money or
at least not as much as stories about men. Despite
initial concerns, Dwyer felt convinced that there was
a wonderful film there.
This was all happening in the wake of the success of
An Education. “We had been on the circuit with An
Education right after the Oscars®, and I needed a bit of
a reboot, so I thought I would go to New York,” says
Dwyer. On the journey she continued to think about the
possibilities of adapting Brooklyn, and decided to
check if the rights were still available. A chance meeting
in New York with a friend led to her being introduced to
Tóibín, who was at a rare book fair on behalf of
Princeton University, and the two hit it off. Seizing the
moment, Dwyer asked whether he’d consider her
optioning the book, and despite the fact that the rights
were being pursued by a number of other parties,
Tóibín gave Dwyer his blessing.
Posey and Dwyer have had a long-standing
collaboration with the writer Nick Hornby, which has
proven to be incredibly fruitful. Posey worked with
Hornby on two adaptations of Fever Pitch, the first
starring Colin Firth, the second directed by the Farrelly
brothers and starring Drew Barrymore and Jimmy
Fallon. More recently, Dwyer and Posey produced an
adaptation of Hornby’s comic tragedy, A Long Way
Down, directed by Pascal Chameuil and adapted by
Jack Thorne. When Brooklyn came into view, Hornby
was a natural first port of call for Dwyer and Posey.
Tóibín’s subtle and understated style is not inherently
cinematic, yet both producers felt that Hornby’s tender
touch would help to fully realise the story. The writer
immediately saw the ‘inherent drama’ of Tóibín’s book.
“Nick knew exactly what he wanted to do with it”,
recalls Posey. “It seemed very clear to him right from
the off.” Dwyer points to one of Hornby’s first comments.
“He talked about the passivity in her [the leading role’s]
BROOKLYN
DIRECTOR John Crowley
PRODUCERS Finola Dwyer, Amanda Posey
WRITERS Nick Hornby (Screenplay), Colm Tóibín (Novel)
CAST Saoirse Ronan, Domhnall Gleeson,
Emily Bett Rickards, Julie Walters,
Jim Broadbent, Michael Zegen
SHOOT DURATION Seven weeks
LOCATIONS Enniscorthy Ireland, Canada
FILM STOCK Digital
PRODUCTION COMPANY Wildgaze Films /
Finola Dwyer Productions
CO-PRODUCERS Parallel Films, Item 7
PRODUCTION PARTNERS BBC Films,
Telefilm Canada, Ingenious,
Bord Scannán na hÉireann /
the Irish Film Board, BFI, SODEC, BAI, RTE
SALES COMPANY HanWay Films
UK DISTRIBUTOR Lionsgate
Domhnall Gleeson and Saoirse Ronan on the set of Brooklyn
character, and conversely her strength, where she is like
a flower unfolding, gradually taking control. We know it
is a delicate story, but we know from test screenings
that audiences really embrace it and go with it.”
Brooklyn needed a director who would also be able to
appreciate the subtlety of the material, and yet bring it
to screen with real power. John Crowley had long been
a fan of the book, and became available just as Dwyer
and Posey were seeking their director. They admired
his outstanding stage work as well as his films which
included Boy A, which launched Andrew Garfield, and
Intermission. Irish-born, and with a fantastic track
record with performance, Crowley was a strong fit to
direct Brooklyn. He, like Posey and Dwyer, recognised
the distinctiveness of the story. As Dwyer says, “When
John came on board he said that there are countless
Irish immigration stories, however he had never come
across a story like this, told from the perspective of a
young woman.” What could have been seen as a
weakness, namely the challenge of getting finance for a
female-led story, would actually prove to be a factor in
what makes Brooklyn fresh and original.
With the director and a great script in place, the
biggest test was yet to come in the form of tackling a
production across two continents on a challenging
budget. The production began in Ireland before moving
to Montreal, which would stand in for period New York.
In Ireland, the team ended up choosing to film in
Enniscorthy, where the book is actually set: “We looked
all over Ireland, but Enniscorthy offered us a lot
creatively, and an array of authentic locations; we even
opened up a dance hall that had been condemned,”
says Dwyer. Discussing shooting in Canada, Dwyer
continues, “Montreal was more challenging. Firstly
because it is more expensive than Toronto, and
secondly because they speak French, though creatively
it was a no-brainer for the wonderful locations it
offered.” The language barrier, of course, made it
necessary to have a crew who could speak both
English and French.
“It was clear that we were going to have to piece
together the financing from a range of sources and
incentives, and when looking for the right locations,
this was also a critical factor,” says Dwyer. “I made up
a ‘look book’ of key locations early last year and sent it
out to film offices around the world to see what they
could offer.” This ‘look book’ is a collection of photo
references which convey the requirements of the
project including the period, types of buildings, streets
and larger locations.“You still have to go and look,
but it narrows it right down.”
When asked what they felt was the biggest challenge
to overcome, Dwyer says, “We had as many as 11
different financing entities and they all had to be knitted
together into an official three-way co-production. It was
like a Rubik’s cube of a project.” Posey adds, “Making
the financial needs and the creative needs come
together at the same time is an art.”
Fortunately, whilst it was a complex project for Dwyer
and Posey, it is clear that the story always drives
them, making them want to craft films with love and
care. And, thanks to their wealth of knowledge in
the industry, they have the tools to realise those
stories on the big screen.
WORDS BY JOSEPH WALSH
Amanda Posey and Finola Dwyer on the set of Brooklyn
LONDON ROAD
DIRECTOR Rufus Norris
PRODUCERS Dixie Linder, Nick Marston,
Tally Garner, David Sabel
WRITER Alecky Blythe
CAST Olivia Colman, Clare Burt, Anita Dobson,
Kate Fleetwood, Linzi Hateley, Nick Holder,
Eloise Laurence, Claire Moore, Nicola Sloane,
Paul Thornley, Howard Ward, Duncan Wiseby
and Tom Hardy
SHOOT DURATION Six weeks
LOCATION Kent
FILM STOCK Digital
PRODUCTION COMPANIES Cuba Pictures,
National Theatre
PRODUCTION PARTNERS BBC Films, BFI,
Arts Council England, LipSync
SALES COMPANY Protagonist Pictures
UK DISTRIBUTOR National Theatre
LONDON ROAD
BEN ROBERTS, DIRECTOR OF THE BFI FILM FUND, IN CONVERSATION
WITH RUFUS NORRIS, INCOMING DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL THEATRE
Rufus Norris is best known as a theatre director
and is currently incoming Director of the National
Theatre. He first came to prominence being named
the Evening Standard’s Most Promising Newcomer
with Afore Night Come at the Young Vic and has since
gone on to direct a string of award-winning stage
productions including Festen, the Broadway
production of Les Liaisons Dangereuses, and
London Road which won the Critics’ Circle Award
for Best Musical. In 2012 he landed in the film world
with his debut feature, Broken, an adaptation of
Daniel Clay’s much-praised novel. The BFI Film
Fund and BBC Films backed Norris’s directorial
feature debut which premiered in the Critics’
Week at Cannes and went on to be nominated for
numerous awards including nine BIFAs and named
Best British Independent Film.
Rufus Norris on the
set of London Road
20
BFI.ORG.UK
Earlier this year, Norris embarked on his second film,
London Road, a feature adaptation of Alecky Blythe
and Adam Cork’s play, which opened at the
Cottesloe Theatre under the direction of Norris when
he was an Associate Director at the National.
A daring project, the story is based on the 2006
Ipswich murders, where five women, who worked as
prostitutes, were tragically killed. Unique to this
production was that the script was taken verbatim
from a series of interviews conducted by Blythe
with people who were in the area at the time of the
events. It is also a musical. Ben Roberts, Director
of the BFI Film Fund, met with Rufus to reflect on
translating the play to the cinema screen.
I wanted to talk about the decision to revisit one
of your productions and to turn it into a film,
rather than beaming into cinemas like NT Live.
The first conversation that we had about turning it
into a film was with David Sabel, who is the brain
behind NT Live. He has really driven the idea of this
as a film and it has been an incredible journey.
Usually, NT Live is planned well in advance, but
when London Road opened at the National Theatre,
I think we knew what we had got. David and I sat
down and asked whether we wanted to do an NT
Live, and I said that I didn’t think so, and he was in
agreement. Instead, we wanted to start knocking
about ideas of exploring whether this piece could
have a further evolution.
Had you completed Broken at this stage and
were you looking for another film project? We
hadn’t started shooting Broken. Initially, I thought
that the way to do London Road was almost to do it
in-house, and do it very simply. However, because
we had the cast here, we thought we would try it
out, grab a camera, do a couple of days and get a
few locations. It was a very tight company, not just
the actors, but everyone who was involved. We
took everyone out on performing afternoons and just
did it. That raised as many questions as it answered.
Some things worked; other things didn’t. But the
idea wouldn’t go away, and it felt like the beginning
of the process.
With hindsight are you glad that you had the
opportunity to make another film first with
Broken and then come back to London Road?
I have probably done 60–70 shows, and there isn’t a
stage in the world that I would be afraid of – there is
the notion that once you have work in a profession
for 10,000 hours, you have learned your craft. But
whilst I have my 10,000 hours in theatre, I haven’t
done that in film. So, any hours that I can spend in
film are only just the beginning of understanding
how what I do in theatre relates to what I do in film.
I am very glad that I had a go at something that was
less complex. I loved what I did with Broken, but in
many ways it is a straightforward drama. It is nowhere
near as complex as London Road, for which there
is no blueprint. Yes, it is a musical, and there is a
challenge of recording the audio live, and dealing with
choreography, and whilst it isn’t a massive scale film,
it needed organising in a very different way.
KENT
Olivia Colman in London Road, Bexley, Kent
What about the process of adapting with Alecky
Blythe and Adam Cork? Did anything unexpected
arise shifting from a play to a film?
Part of the deal with London Road being at the
National Theatre was that they would have a hand
in deciding who would direct the play. I wanted to
take everyone who was involved in the theatre
production including the choreographer and
production designer, but we needed to support
this with people who really know what they are
doing in film, and we would need very experienced
heads of department.
I worked with Alecky and Adam, who had cooked
up the idea long before I got involved, and we
reshaped it. I said to Adam and Alecky that I was
going to push them this way and that, but the deal
was that they would be able to veto certain
decisions – I knew that if I saw both of them walking
towards me, I was for the high jump. Once we
started on the film, this dynamic changed.
The first thing that we had to do was to make the
script work for cinema. That meant either that we
would have had to get someone in to do it, or we do
it with Alecky and she turned around immediately
and said that this was a once in a lifetime
opportunity to learn how these things are done.
From my point of view that was the perfect scenario
because it is hers and when you are dealing with
subject matter like that of London Road it is
important. There are 90 minutes of interviews used
in the film taken from probably around 80 hours of
material that Alecky collected, so she knew where to
look for specific pieces and she could go and chat
again with the subjects.
Also, all the material is direct address, it is one
person turning to another person asking them how
they are feeling, or observing someone witnessing
something else. I was worried that it would be very
restrictive, so we had to find clever ways to
construct the scenes and to work as a film.
In terms of your ambition of capturing the vocals
on set, did you have to pick up a lot on ADR?
We knew that the chorus stuff couldn’t be in situ,
but around almost all of the solo material is from set.
Our sound engineer, John Midgeley is absolutely
fantastic. There were vetoes on the set, where John,
and David [Shrubsole, musical director], could say
to me that we were going to have to shoot it again,
and they didn’t have to tell me why. We knew that if
we didn’t work that way we wouldn’t have a film and
it was great to empower everyone. If we were doing
it on stage, this would be normal practice. I am
fortunate enough to have some excellent
relationships with one or two superb sound
designers in theatre, and it is a case of ‘what
they say goes’. Danny, our DOP, was great at
adapting to this.
Did any of your stage company have to unlearn
anything to make it work on screen?
Yes, they had to pull it right down. There was some
sadness to it all, because obviously before Olivia
Colman was cast, there was someone else playing
that part, and it was the same with Tom Hardy. It
was a sad reality of the project. That said, everyone
who was in the show had a good crack of the whip,
and sometimes you have to make those decisions
for the right reasons. For example Kate Fleetwood,
who played Julie in the stage version, is brilliant in
the film as one of the prostitutes. We had done the
show twice, changing the cast, so we were lucky to
have 13 people who had done it on stage to the
level that they were really embedded in the story.
There is something interesting in the comparison
of stage and screen. How would you
characterise the difference in roles as a director?
There are huge crossovers, but I just don’t know
anywhere enough about film to answer the question
properly. I am hugely critical of my theatre work.
I think learning just how a camera works, or how the
camera and an actor relate was new for me. I am
very used to telling the audience where to look in a
play. Take, for instance, the play I am working on at
the moment where there are 23 people on stage for
the majority of the time. The stage is absolute
chaos, and it has to be like that because it is set in a
slum in India. Now, I know that what the actors are
doing on stage will get the audience to look where
I want them to look, that is just craft. When making
a film the camera does that for you, so there is a
whole layer of nuance and decisions that I have yet
to fully appreciate the delicacy of.
But there is an alchemy in theatre between the
audience and the stage, whereas with cinema
you are locked off.
I am good at creating a room in the theatre where
people feel empowered and happy, and I can then
put actors through it at the last minute. You can’t do
that with film, but what is exciting with film is getting
everything planned and then keeping that little
window open for what the promise is now. There
was this one scene that we needed to be sunny,
and it was pouring with rain, and it felt like God was
telling me to give up, and scrap it. We did continue
to shoot, and it is a lovely moment in the film –
we even got a few rays of sunlight. There is
something that cinema and theatre share, in that
you get everything set up so that you can respond
at the moment.
Lots of filmmakers prefer being in the edit than
on set, where they can work it all out.
I have very much enjoyed the editing process on the
limited amount of filming that I have done. In the end
I love working with actors, and those moments
where you get something you didn’t expect.
In terms of you moving into the NT role,
and the time it will take, do you still have
filmmaking ambitions?
You have to be pretty bipolar, and the saddest
thing for me is that I have taken on this huge role
that is a huge privilege and quite a complicated
change in my life. The saddest thing is that after all
this time I finally manage to find my way in film and
enjoy it and then I had to make this decision to
walk away for the time being. My contract is for
five years, so for the time being I couldn’t make
a film because if you are going to do it, you have
to do it properly.
WORDS BY JOSEPH WALSH
BILL
DIRECTOR Richard Bracewell
PRODUCERS Charles Steel, Alasdair Flind,
Tony Bracewell
WRITERS Laurence Rickard, Ben Willbond
CAST Mathew Baynton, Simon Farnaby,
Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick,
Laurence Rickard,
Ben Willbond, Helen McCrory, Damian Lewis
SHOOT DURATION Seven weeks
LOCATIONS Yorkshire, London
FILM STOCK Digital
PRODUCTION COMPANIES Cowboy Films,
Punk Cinema
PRODUCTION PARTNERS BFI, BBC Films,
Lip Sync, Screen Yorkshire
SALES COMPANY Independent Film Sales
UK DISTRIBUTOR Koch Media
22
BFI.ORG.UK
On the set of Bill, London
LONDON
BILL
PRODUCER TONY BRACEWELL ON BILL,
A FAMILY COMEDY ABOUT WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
With the UK family audience regularly bombarded
with US films both animated and live action, finding
a space for British family film has long been an
interesting challenge. Producer David Heyman,
with Harry Potter, proved that with the right source
material, it’s possible to take a British character in a
British setting with a wholly British cast and compete
at the top level globally. Working Title, with Nanny
McPhee, found an audience both here and abroad,
and so has Aardman with its feature films, defiantly,
wonderfully, quirkily British.
Debbie Isitt and backers eOne, with their Nativity
franchise, have a highly functional model that is not
dependent on export value, delivering a huge UK
audience via characters that are commendably
relatable. Diary of a Wimpy Kid is all very well,
but we can all agree that it’s important for British
children to see their own lives reflected on the
big screen.
While British family films have tended to form a
steady trickle over recent years, current activity
suggests something of a resurgence. Nativity 3,
Paddington and the BFI-backed Get Santa are all
competing for audiences this Christmas. The BFI is
also involved in teen sci-fi Robot Overlords, which
premiered at the BFI London Film Festival ahead
of a 2015 release. Stephen Daldry’s adventure Trash,
about street kids in a Rio De Janeiro favela, will be
hoping to snag families as a significant portion of its
audience when it arrives late January. And later in
the spring sees Bill, a comedy about William
Shakespeare from the writers and stars of
CBeebies ratings hit Horrible Histories and Sky
One’s Yonderland.
Bill came about after the film’s director, Richard
Bracewell, was shown a Horrible Histories musical
sketch – Charles II, King of Bling – on YouTube by
his daughter. Bracewell was surprised to spy Ben
Willbond, with whom he’d worked several times,
including directing him in the 2006 feature The
Gigolos, and had a Eureka moment. Bill producer
Tony Bracewell, brother of Richard, says “We got in
touch right away and said, ‘You guys have got to
make a feature film’.”
going to be ambitious and say, we believe this can
work for seven-to-fourteen-year-olds, and their
parents? Are we going to do 90 minutes of bum
gags, or 90 minutes of ‘some’ bum gags, or 90
minutes of mud, and funny jokes about leprosy and
people’s arms falling off, which is great – and then
some heart and some warmth and relationships.”
Willbond, Horrible Histories chief writer Larry Rickard
and principal fellow cast members – Matthew
Baynton, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick and
Simon Farnaby – had, it turned out, also been
thinking about a feature film, infused with the spirit of
Horrible Histories, but absent its branding. Explains
Tony Bracewell, “Horrible Histories is a sketch show
about facts, and creatively the writers didn’t want
those constraints when creating a narrative feature.
They far preferred the Python movie approach of
being set ‘in history’, but embroidering and working
around facts to create an original story – what we did
with Shakespeare.
As the scale of the film became apparent, BBC Films
encouraged the team to bring on board another
producer, which arrived in the form of Cowboy Films’
Charles Steel and Alasdair Flind. At production
stage, the BFI came on, alongside other investors,
with Koch taking on distribution for the UK, Germany
and Scandinavia.
“Larry said very early on: the really interesting thing
for a comedy writer is the lost years, and the fact
that he disappears from 1585 to 1593, and then all of
a sudden he’s a playwright in London. So from Larry
and Ben’s perspective, that is for us a comedy gift.
The alternative tale of how Bill, in our version of
history, ends up being William. Larry would be the
first person to say, with Bill, we’re making it up.
We’re embellishing history with things that we think
are funny, which is quite apt, as Shakespeare was
the first person to do it.”
Developing the screenplay with BBC Films, the
creative team had to make important creative
decisions about the target audience. “You have this
choice,” explains Tony Bracewell, “are we going to
go down a very focused route with a film that is
going to work for nine-to-ten-year-olds, or are you
Given the historical setting, caper-ish tone, smallscreen connection and the fact that multiple roles
are played by the six lead actors, comparisons with
the Python films are inevitable. However, adds Tony
Bracewell, “Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz are in a
way even closer than the Pythons to what they’ve
done: taking Spaced as a TV brand, and then
creating something new based around the
performances.” The BFI’s Natascha Wharton, who
when she was at Working Title was executive
producer on both those Edgar Wright films, is the
organisation’s lead executive for Bill.
“One of the things the BFI’s been really keen to do
and helped us with is the tone of the film, they have
really helped us push this: we can be a family
comedy rather than a kids’ comedy. Articulating
what to the outside world might seem a tiny point,
but everyone involved in the industry knows is
actually a huge point. One of the things that came
out through working with the BFI is: there’s a warm
heart to this film.”
WORDS BY CHARLES GANT
LIFE AT 25 FPS
“ For each ecstatic instant – we must an anguish pay. For every
minute on the red carpet – read ten years of hard work. Film
making is the toughest, most demanding of all professions and
the most precarious. A film from the moment of its first script to
the final print is a nightmare of forces (some supportive, some
hostile) to alter everything. It can feel like being under siege
without the prospect of relief. Yet, despite all of that, when it
comes together in the final show print – OH WHAT JOY IT GIVES!
TERENCE DAVIES
Agyness Deyn and Terence Davies on the set of Sunset Song
”