Signature Entertainment has acquired the U.K. and Irish rights to “Unicorns,” the romance drama co-directed by BAFTA nominee Sally El Hosaini (“The Swimmers”) and her long-standing collaborator James Krishna Floyd, who starred in both “The Swimmers” and her directorial debut “My Brother the Devil.”
From a script written by Floyd, “Unicorns” is described as a “visually daring and heartfelt portrayal of modern masculinity” and follows a queer South Asian club performer living a double life who meets a straight, single-father mechanic, with whom unexpected sparks begin to fly. The film stars Ben Hardy (“Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Love at First Sight”), newcomer Jason Patel, Nisha Nayar (“Buddha of Suburbia”), Hannah Onslow (“Empire of Light”) and Sagar Radia (“Industry”).
“We are thrilled to have Signature bring ‘Unicorns’ to U.K. and Irish cinemas where we know audiences will enjoy our unique, timely, but above all entertaining film,” said El-Hosaini and Floyd.
“Unicorns,...
From a script written by Floyd, “Unicorns” is described as a “visually daring and heartfelt portrayal of modern masculinity” and follows a queer South Asian club performer living a double life who meets a straight, single-father mechanic, with whom unexpected sparks begin to fly. The film stars Ben Hardy (“Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Love at First Sight”), newcomer Jason Patel, Nisha Nayar (“Buddha of Suburbia”), Hannah Onslow (“Empire of Light”) and Sagar Radia (“Industry”).
“We are thrilled to have Signature bring ‘Unicorns’ to U.K. and Irish cinemas where we know audiences will enjoy our unique, timely, but above all entertaining film,” said El-Hosaini and Floyd.
“Unicorns,...
- 1/17/2024
- by Alex Ritman
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Bohemian Rhapsody actor Ben Hardy and newcomer Jason Patel were kept apart during the pre-production phase of Unicorns, a love story between an Essex car mechanic and a South Asian drag queen.
It’s the new film co-directed by Sally El Hosaini (My Brother the Devil) and James Krishna Floyd (The Good Karma Hospital), and they took measures to ensure that the relationship Hardy and Patel depict in the movie, which has its world premiere Friday at TIFF, was fresh.
“All of our prep was separate,” Patel confirmed. “They didn’t want us to meet.”
Floyd said that the only time they saw each other was at the read-through, “but they weren’t allowed to talk to each other. We explained it to Ben and Jason and to the heads of department that if they spent too much time together before filming began, then it would be too familiar...
It’s the new film co-directed by Sally El Hosaini (My Brother the Devil) and James Krishna Floyd (The Good Karma Hospital), and they took measures to ensure that the relationship Hardy and Patel depict in the movie, which has its world premiere Friday at TIFF, was fresh.
“All of our prep was separate,” Patel confirmed. “They didn’t want us to meet.”
Floyd said that the only time they saw each other was at the read-through, “but they weren’t allowed to talk to each other. We explained it to Ben and Jason and to the heads of department that if they spent too much time together before filming began, then it would be too familiar...
- 9/8/2023
- by Baz Bamigboye
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: 12 Years a Slave and Brokeback Mountain outfit River Road Entertainment has joined Sally El Hosaini and James Krishna Floyd’s feature Unicorns as producer and financier.
CAA Media Finance will be selling the project at the upcoming European Film Market in Berlin.
The cross-cultural romance, directed by The Swimmers filmmaker El Hosaini and Floyd, from a screenplay by Floyd, is now in post-production.
Today, we can also reveal that the film will co-star emerging British Indian R&b artist Jason Patel alongside the previously announced Ben Hardy (Bohemian Rhapsody).
Related: Deadline’s Full EFM Coverage
Set against a secretive London subculture, the film follows a queer performer (Patel) living a double life and a single father (Hardy) working as a mechanic, whose lives collide after a chance encounter.
“When Laura Windows, our casting director, introduced us to Jason, we knew we’d found our unicorn. Jason has poured his heart and soul into this.
CAA Media Finance will be selling the project at the upcoming European Film Market in Berlin.
The cross-cultural romance, directed by The Swimmers filmmaker El Hosaini and Floyd, from a screenplay by Floyd, is now in post-production.
Today, we can also reveal that the film will co-star emerging British Indian R&b artist Jason Patel alongside the previously announced Ben Hardy (Bohemian Rhapsody).
Related: Deadline’s Full EFM Coverage
Set against a secretive London subculture, the film follows a queer performer (Patel) living a double life and a single father (Hardy) working as a mechanic, whose lives collide after a chance encounter.
“When Laura Windows, our casting director, introduced us to Jason, we knew we’d found our unicorn. Jason has poured his heart and soul into this.
- 2/10/2023
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
On Thursday evening The Swimmers received a four minute standing ovation after its premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival.
This soaring epic dramatizes the true story of two sisters who left their home in war-torn Syria for a new life in Europe — and the chance to compete in the 2016 Summer Olympics.
An epic adventure drawn from the most pressing of global stories, The Swimmers tells the remarkable true tale of sisters Yusra and Sara Mardini, who fled their home in war-torn Damascus to seek a new life in Europe and earn the chance to compete in the Olympics. Directed by Sally El Hosaini (My Brother the Devil) and written by Jack Thorne (TIFF ’19’s The Aeronauts), this is a moving story of two young women refugees, and their inspiring reach for a better life.
The Hollywood Reporter’s Etan Vlessing writes: “It’s an inspirational story,” director El-Hosaini said...
This soaring epic dramatizes the true story of two sisters who left their home in war-torn Syria for a new life in Europe — and the chance to compete in the 2016 Summer Olympics.
An epic adventure drawn from the most pressing of global stories, The Swimmers tells the remarkable true tale of sisters Yusra and Sara Mardini, who fled their home in war-torn Damascus to seek a new life in Europe and earn the chance to compete in the Olympics. Directed by Sally El Hosaini (My Brother the Devil) and written by Jack Thorne (TIFF ’19’s The Aeronauts), this is a moving story of two young women refugees, and their inspiring reach for a better life.
The Hollywood Reporter’s Etan Vlessing writes: “It’s an inspirational story,” director El-Hosaini said...
- 9/12/2022
- by Michelle Hannett
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
The stars descended on Soho House in downtown Toronto on Saturday for Variety and Chanel’s Female Filmmakers’ Dinner during the Toronto International Film Festival.
Guests in attendance included Tilda Swinton, star of Joanna Hogg’s “The Eternal Daughter”; Gina Prince-Bythewood, director of “The Woman King”; Darren Aronofsky, director of “The Whale”; and Anna Kendrick, who’s in Toronto shopping her new AGC Studios project “The Dating Game” to market buyers.
Stars mingled on a packed rooftop before convening in the club’s private dining room, which gathered around 100 of the festival’s bright lights in filmmaking. They dined on a bespoke Soho House menu of beef tartare with black truffle, black cod and bok choy, and wagyu rib cap with porcini purée.
The dinner was hosted by Variety CEO and group publisher Michelle Sobrino-Stearns and co-editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh.
Attendees included Judd Apatow and Leslie Bibb; Margaret Qualley and Jack Antanoff...
Guests in attendance included Tilda Swinton, star of Joanna Hogg’s “The Eternal Daughter”; Gina Prince-Bythewood, director of “The Woman King”; Darren Aronofsky, director of “The Whale”; and Anna Kendrick, who’s in Toronto shopping her new AGC Studios project “The Dating Game” to market buyers.
Stars mingled on a packed rooftop before convening in the club’s private dining room, which gathered around 100 of the festival’s bright lights in filmmaking. They dined on a bespoke Soho House menu of beef tartare with black truffle, black cod and bok choy, and wagyu rib cap with porcini purée.
The dinner was hosted by Variety CEO and group publisher Michelle Sobrino-Stearns and co-editor-in-chief Ramin Setoodeh.
Attendees included Judd Apatow and Leslie Bibb; Margaret Qualley and Jack Antanoff...
- 9/11/2022
- by Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
My Brother the Devil director Sally El Hosaini tells the story of Yusra Mardini in a Netflix film that feels closer to a Disney sports movie
To crudely summarise how the My Brother the Devil director Sally El Hosaini has chosen to adapt the story of Syrian refugee turned Olympic swimmer Yusra Mardini, one could easily go to her soundtrack choice: the loud, anthemic radio pop of Sia. There’s little room for nuance or subtlety in her music, she wants you to feel big emotions in a big way, and there’s equally little room for either here, a Netflix drama that plays more like a Disney sports movie.
Now, there’s nothing inherently wrong with that formula, and there are few harder narratives to resist than one of an underdog done good, but El Hosaini, working with a script from the acclaimed playwright and screenwriter Jack Thorne, finds...
To crudely summarise how the My Brother the Devil director Sally El Hosaini has chosen to adapt the story of Syrian refugee turned Olympic swimmer Yusra Mardini, one could easily go to her soundtrack choice: the loud, anthemic radio pop of Sia. There’s little room for nuance or subtlety in her music, she wants you to feel big emotions in a big way, and there’s equally little room for either here, a Netflix drama that plays more like a Disney sports movie.
Now, there’s nothing inherently wrong with that formula, and there are few harder narratives to resist than one of an underdog done good, but El Hosaini, working with a script from the acclaimed playwright and screenwriter Jack Thorne, finds...
- 9/9/2022
- by Benjamin Lee in Toronto
- The Guardian - Film News
Based on the remarkable true story of Syrian sisters Yusra and Sarah Mardini, "The Swimmers" is a stylish feature film that packs an emotional punch. Directed and co-written by Sally El Hosaini (best known for "My Brother the Devil"), the Netflix movie kicked off the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival — and set the tone for what's sure to be exciting week. This larger-than life movie is a crowd-pleaser.
Alternating between exuberant and exhilarating, heart-warming and horrific, "The Swimmers" is an ambitious picture that tells an almost unbelievable tale of struggle, perseverance, and triumph. Life in Syria changed very drastically in 2011; the film shows sisters Yusra and Sarah Mardini (played by real-life sisters Nathalie and Manal Issa) enjoying a happy, carefree life when the rumblings of civil war first appeared. Four years later, the family's life has been turned upside-down, thanks to the violence overtaking the nation.
"The Swimmers" is drenched (excuse the pun) in feeling.
Alternating between exuberant and exhilarating, heart-warming and horrific, "The Swimmers" is an ambitious picture that tells an almost unbelievable tale of struggle, perseverance, and triumph. Life in Syria changed very drastically in 2011; the film shows sisters Yusra and Sarah Mardini (played by real-life sisters Nathalie and Manal Issa) enjoying a happy, carefree life when the rumblings of civil war first appeared. Four years later, the family's life has been turned upside-down, thanks to the violence overtaking the nation.
"The Swimmers" is drenched (excuse the pun) in feeling.
- 9/9/2022
- by Sarah Milner
- Slash Film
Manal Issa and Nathalie Issa, real life sisters who play a pair of Olympic swimming hopefuls, also sisters, said they weren’t at all aquatic when cast in the Sally El Hosaini film ‘The Swimmers’ that opened TIFF last night.
“Manal and Natalie couldn’t swim when they took the roles,” El Hosaini said at a press conference Friday live streamed on Twitter.
“I was like, ‘forget about it’. I wasn’t going to swim. Let me finish my studies,” said Nathalie. “It was really hard at first. But once you know how to float, it’s really nice, and once you have a goal you want to reach it. It’s how you feel when you are in the water, and how you feel when you want to achieve something” — similar to her character.
Nathalie and Manal play Yusra and Sara Mardini, teenage sisters trying to live as normally as possible in war-torn Syria,...
“Manal and Natalie couldn’t swim when they took the roles,” El Hosaini said at a press conference Friday live streamed on Twitter.
“I was like, ‘forget about it’. I wasn’t going to swim. Let me finish my studies,” said Nathalie. “It was really hard at first. But once you know how to float, it’s really nice, and once you have a goal you want to reach it. It’s how you feel when you are in the water, and how you feel when you want to achieve something” — similar to her character.
Nathalie and Manal play Yusra and Sara Mardini, teenage sisters trying to live as normally as possible in war-torn Syria,...
- 9/9/2022
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
There’s a scene in Sally El-Hosaini’s The Swimmers that was so intense it pushed several of the cast to the point where the production had to take a break. Some were physically sick. “When you see the actors vomiting [in the film], they’re really vomiting,” claims the director.
The scene in question is the most harrowing and difficult to watch of the TIFF curtain-raiser. But it’s the most important one in the whole film. And the reason it exists.
Based on tragically very real-life events, the Working Title/Netflix feature charts the incredible story of Yusra and Sara Mardini, teenage Syrian sisters who fled Damascus in 2015 as the devastating civil war began to creep closer to their home. After reaching Turkey, out of desperation to cross the Aegean Sea to the Greek island of Lesbos, they paid smugglers to board a boat...
There’s a scene in Sally El-Hosaini’s The Swimmers that was so intense it pushed several of the cast to the point where the production had to take a break. Some were physically sick. “When you see the actors vomiting [in the film], they’re really vomiting,” claims the director.
The scene in question is the most harrowing and difficult to watch of the TIFF curtain-raiser. But it’s the most important one in the whole film. And the reason it exists.
Based on tragically very real-life events, the Working Title/Netflix feature charts the incredible story of Yusra and Sara Mardini, teenage Syrian sisters who fled Damascus in 2015 as the devastating civil war began to creep closer to their home. After reaching Turkey, out of desperation to cross the Aegean Sea to the Greek island of Lesbos, they paid smugglers to board a boat...
- 9/9/2022
- by Alex Ritman
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
“The Swimmers” is inspired by the true story of teenage Olympic athlete and Syrian refugee Yusra Mardini who, in 2015, along with her sister Sara and two others, dragged a boat full of fellow refugees across the Aegean sea. After the girls made it to Germany, Yusra was selected along with ten others to compete with the Refugee Olympic Team at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. Her story is undeniably heroic, which makes the mediocrity of the Netflix film of her life story all the more disappointing.
Director Sally El Hosaini (“My Brother The Devil”) took over the reins from Stephan Daldry, whose 9/11 drama “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” is perhaps an all-time low in well-meaning but ultimately hollow Best Picture nominees.
Continue reading ‘The Swimmers’ Review: Syrian Refugee Drama Is An Overly Orchestrated Crowd-Pleaser [TIFF] at The Playlist.
Director Sally El Hosaini (“My Brother The Devil”) took over the reins from Stephan Daldry, whose 9/11 drama “Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” is perhaps an all-time low in well-meaning but ultimately hollow Best Picture nominees.
Continue reading ‘The Swimmers’ Review: Syrian Refugee Drama Is An Overly Orchestrated Crowd-Pleaser [TIFF] at The Playlist.
- 9/9/2022
- by Marya E. Gates
- The Playlist
Click here to read the full article.
Both adversity and triumph are in abundant supply in Sally El Hosaini’s The Swimmers, an undeniably powerful if inescapably episodic drama chronicling the harrowing, real-life flight taken by a pair of sisters from war-ravaged Syria to the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
Ushering in the first business-as-usual edition of the Toronto International Film Festival since 2019, the film’s world premiere should set the stage for a buoyant response ahead of its Nov. 23 Netflix bow — particularly for the performances of the siblings cast as Olympics hopeful Yusra Mardini and her older sister Sara.
Prior to the outbreak of civil war in Syria, the rebellious Sara (Manal Issa) and her studious younger sister Yusra (Nathalie Issa) have been living the life of average teenagers in sun-drenched, suburban Damascus when not swimming competitively under the tutelage of their coach father (Ali Suliman).
But when the growing violence hits too close to home,...
Both adversity and triumph are in abundant supply in Sally El Hosaini’s The Swimmers, an undeniably powerful if inescapably episodic drama chronicling the harrowing, real-life flight taken by a pair of sisters from war-ravaged Syria to the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
Ushering in the first business-as-usual edition of the Toronto International Film Festival since 2019, the film’s world premiere should set the stage for a buoyant response ahead of its Nov. 23 Netflix bow — particularly for the performances of the siblings cast as Olympics hopeful Yusra Mardini and her older sister Sara.
Prior to the outbreak of civil war in Syria, the rebellious Sara (Manal Issa) and her studious younger sister Yusra (Nathalie Issa) have been living the life of average teenagers in sun-drenched, suburban Damascus when not swimming competitively under the tutelage of their coach father (Ali Suliman).
But when the growing violence hits too close to home,...
- 9/9/2022
- by Michael Rechtshaffen
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Toronto International Film Festival started off on a historic day with one of its strongest opening films in years in Sally El Hosaini’s ‘The Swimmers’, but what some audience members will likely remember is the stressful experience of securing their tickets for the Roy Thomson Hall world premiere.
TIFF, which has gone digital again this year via Ticketmaster, has been plagued with ticketing issues all week thanks to a complicated voucher process for public tickets, reports ‘Variety’.
While it was hoped that many of the technical kinks would be ironed out by opening night, this wasn’t the case.
Media outlets, including Variety, that were meant to receive opening night tickets from the film’s studio — in this case, Netflix — didn’t get them in time for the screening due to “technical glitches” and had to be rounded up and escorted to their seats by representatives for the streamer.
TIFF, which has gone digital again this year via Ticketmaster, has been plagued with ticketing issues all week thanks to a complicated voucher process for public tickets, reports ‘Variety’.
While it was hoped that many of the technical kinks would be ironed out by opening night, this wasn’t the case.
Media outlets, including Variety, that were meant to receive opening night tickets from the film’s studio — in this case, Netflix — didn’t get them in time for the screening due to “technical glitches” and had to be rounded up and escorted to their seats by representatives for the streamer.
- 9/9/2022
- by Glamsham Bureau
- GlamSham
TIFF Kicks Off on Historic Day With ‘Swimmers,’ but Finds Itself in the Deep End With Ticketing Woes
The Toronto International Film Festival kicked off on a historic day with one of its strongest opening films in years in Sally El Hosaini’s “The Swimmers,” but what some audience members will likely remember is the stressful experience of securing their tickets for the Roy Thomson Hall world premiere.
TIFF, which has gone digital again this year via Ticketmaster, has been plagued with ticketing issues all week thanks to a complicated voucher process for public tickets.
While it was hoped that many of the technical kinks would be ironed out by opening night, this wasn’t the case. Media outlets, including Variety, that were meant to receive opening night tickets from the film’s studio — in this case, Netflix — didn’t get them in time for the screening due to “technical glitches” and had to be rounded up and escorted to their seats by representatives for the streamer.
During the festival’s opening ceremony,...
TIFF, which has gone digital again this year via Ticketmaster, has been plagued with ticketing issues all week thanks to a complicated voucher process for public tickets.
While it was hoped that many of the technical kinks would be ironed out by opening night, this wasn’t the case. Media outlets, including Variety, that were meant to receive opening night tickets from the film’s studio — in this case, Netflix — didn’t get them in time for the screening due to “technical glitches” and had to be rounded up and escorted to their seats by representatives for the streamer.
During the festival’s opening ceremony,...
- 9/9/2022
- by Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
At the end of “The Swimmers,” you could be excused for thinking that Syrian refugee Yusra Mardini won an Olympic gold medal. She didn’t. That’s not to detract from everything she and her older sister, Sara, went through to escape the Syrian civil war and reclaim their dreams of competitive swimming. It just means that director Sally El Hosaini and co-writer Jack Thorne didn’t know how else to wrap this inspirational true story, which is ideally suited for one of those 40-minute Oscar-grubbing documentary shorts, in their feel-good Toronto Film Fest opener.
At a bloated 134 minutes, however, your brain may well start to prune, the way fingers do when they spend too much time in water. It’s not enough that co-leads (and real-life sisters) Nathalie and Manal Issa have great chemistry on-screen, or that the plot packs some of the same oomph as last year’s “Flee.
At a bloated 134 minutes, however, your brain may well start to prune, the way fingers do when they spend too much time in water. It’s not enough that co-leads (and real-life sisters) Nathalie and Manal Issa have great chemistry on-screen, or that the plot packs some of the same oomph as last year’s “Flee.
- 9/9/2022
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Ahead of its World Premiere at the 47th Toronto International Film Festival, Netflix has unveiled the official teaser trailer for ‘The Swimmers,’ based on the incredible true story of two young sisters who inspired the world.
The film tells the true story of swimming sisters Yusra and Sarah Mardini’s miraculous journey as refugees from war-torn Syria, all the way to the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Helmed by Welsh Egyptian director/writer, Sally El Hosaini, whose last film My Brother the Devil (2013) premiered at Sundance Film Festival winning the World Cinema Cinematography: Dramatic prize before securing El Hosaini the Best British Newcomer prize at the BFI London Film Festival and Best European Film at Berlinale.
The roles of Yusra and Sarah Mardini are played by Lebanese actresses and real-life sisters, Manal and Nathalie Issa.
Also in trailers – Exclusive: Trailer & poster for ‘It Is In Us All’ starring Cosmo Jarvis
The film launches...
The film tells the true story of swimming sisters Yusra and Sarah Mardini’s miraculous journey as refugees from war-torn Syria, all the way to the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Helmed by Welsh Egyptian director/writer, Sally El Hosaini, whose last film My Brother the Devil (2013) premiered at Sundance Film Festival winning the World Cinema Cinematography: Dramatic prize before securing El Hosaini the Best British Newcomer prize at the BFI London Film Festival and Best European Film at Berlinale.
The roles of Yusra and Sarah Mardini are played by Lebanese actresses and real-life sisters, Manal and Nathalie Issa.
Also in trailers – Exclusive: Trailer & poster for ‘It Is In Us All’ starring Cosmo Jarvis
The film launches...
- 9/2/2022
- by Zehra Phelan
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
After two years of virtual events or limited-capacity premieres, the festival returns in spectacular fashion, with more than 250 films expected to screen during the 10-day event. To break down the musts from the meh, here are nine films we’re dying to see.
“Causeway” (A24/Apple Original Films)
Though Jennifer Lawrence had a juicy supporting role in Adam McKay’s disaster comedy “Don’t Look Up” last year, we have not seen the former Katniss Everdeen in the driver’s seat of a film since the one-two punch of “Mother!” and “Red Sparrow”. She returns in earnest at TIFF with “Causeway,” about a soldier with a traumatic brain injury trying to readjust to normal life.
— Matt Donnelly
“Empire of Light” (Searchlight Pictures)
Sam Mendes crafts an ode to the power of movies with this story of a cinema ticket-taker (Olivia Colman) who finds herself drawn to a new employee (Michael Ward). Colman,...
“Causeway” (A24/Apple Original Films)
Though Jennifer Lawrence had a juicy supporting role in Adam McKay’s disaster comedy “Don’t Look Up” last year, we have not seen the former Katniss Everdeen in the driver’s seat of a film since the one-two punch of “Mother!” and “Red Sparrow”. She returns in earnest at TIFF with “Causeway,” about a soldier with a traumatic brain injury trying to readjust to normal life.
— Matt Donnelly
“Empire of Light” (Searchlight Pictures)
Sam Mendes crafts an ode to the power of movies with this story of a cinema ticket-taker (Olivia Colman) who finds herself drawn to a new employee (Michael Ward). Colman,...
- 9/1/2022
- by Brent Lang, Clayton Davis, Matt Donnelly, Angelique Jackson and Manori Ravindran
- Variety Film + TV
Guonadottir is in the festival with Women Talking and El Hosaini with The Swimmers.
Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir and Welsh-Egyptian filmmaker Sally El Hosaini are joining the list of honourees for this year’s TIFF Tribute Awards at next month’s Toronto festival.
Guðnadóttir, known for her scores for films and TV projects including Joker and Chernobyl, will get the Variety Artisan Award. Guðnadóttir composed the score for Sarah Polley’s Women Talking, which will have its international premiere at TIFF on September 13.
El Hosaini, best known as writer-director of 2012 festival award winner My Brother The Devil, will get the TIFF Emerging Talent Award.
Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir and Welsh-Egyptian filmmaker Sally El Hosaini are joining the list of honourees for this year’s TIFF Tribute Awards at next month’s Toronto festival.
Guðnadóttir, known for her scores for films and TV projects including Joker and Chernobyl, will get the Variety Artisan Award. Guðnadóttir composed the score for Sarah Polley’s Women Talking, which will have its international premiere at TIFF on September 13.
El Hosaini, best known as writer-director of 2012 festival award winner My Brother The Devil, will get the TIFF Emerging Talent Award.
- 8/25/2022
- by John Hazelton
- ScreenDaily
The Toronto Film Festival has named Oscar-winning Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir (Women Talking) and award-winning Welsh Egyptian filmmaker Sally El Hosaini (The Swimmers) as honorees of the 2022 TIFF Tribute Awards, which return to an in-person gala fundraiser for its fourth edition at Fairmont Royal York Hotel on September 11th. The former will receive the TIFF Artisan Award, with the latter claiming the TIFF Emerging Talent Award.
The TIFF Artisan Award recognizes a distinguished creative who has excelled at their craft and made an outstanding contribution to cinema and entertainment. Previous recipients include Ari Wegner in 2021; Terence Blanchard in 2020; and Roger Deakins in 2019. The TIFF Emerging Talent Award, most recently bestowed on Danis Goulet, Tracey Deer and Mati Diop, is presented in the spirit of Torontonian Mary Pickford, the groundbreaking actor, producer and co-founder of United Artists, whose impact continues to be felt today.
Guðnadóttir won her first Oscar in 2020 for...
The TIFF Artisan Award recognizes a distinguished creative who has excelled at their craft and made an outstanding contribution to cinema and entertainment. Previous recipients include Ari Wegner in 2021; Terence Blanchard in 2020; and Roger Deakins in 2019. The TIFF Emerging Talent Award, most recently bestowed on Danis Goulet, Tracey Deer and Mati Diop, is presented in the spirit of Torontonian Mary Pickford, the groundbreaking actor, producer and co-founder of United Artists, whose impact continues to be felt today.
Guðnadóttir won her first Oscar in 2020 for...
- 8/25/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
It is the European premiere of Sally El Hosaini’s long-awaited follow-up to ’My Brother The Devil’.
Sally El Hosaini’s The Swimmers is to open the 18th Zurich Film Festival, which runs from September 22-October 2.
The Working Title film for Netflix is based on the true story of the Mardini sisters – talented swimmers who embark on a difficult journey as refugees from Syria, to the 2016 Rio Olympics. Lebanese actors and sisters Manal and Nathalie Issa will play the leads.
Welsh-Egyptian filmmaker El Hosaini – a Screen Star of Tomorrow 2009 – also wrote the feature, which is co-written by Jack Thorne. Working...
Sally El Hosaini’s The Swimmers is to open the 18th Zurich Film Festival, which runs from September 22-October 2.
The Working Title film for Netflix is based on the true story of the Mardini sisters – talented swimmers who embark on a difficult journey as refugees from Syria, to the 2016 Rio Olympics. Lebanese actors and sisters Manal and Nathalie Issa will play the leads.
Welsh-Egyptian filmmaker El Hosaini – a Screen Star of Tomorrow 2009 – also wrote the feature, which is co-written by Jack Thorne. Working...
- 8/25/2022
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
Making its European premiere, Sally El Hosaini’s The Swimmers has been set as the opening film of the 18th Zurich Film Festival. Based on the inspirational true-life story of the Mardini sisters, it will screen on September 22 at Zurich’s Convention Center. It will earlier world premiere as the opening night gala presentation in Toronto.
The Working Title film for Netflix is directed and written by El Hosaini and co-written by Jack Thorne. It follows the harrowing journey of two young sisters from war-torn Syria to the 2016 Rio Olympics.
“The Swimmers is a deeply moving and timely film about a miraculous journey,” says Zff Artistic Director Christian Jungen. “It shines a light on the refugee crisis, but is also up-lifting and inspiring. We couldn’t imagine a better opening night film. Sally El Hosaini, who already with her first feature My Brother The Devil won an award at Sundance,...
The Working Title film for Netflix is directed and written by El Hosaini and co-written by Jack Thorne. It follows the harrowing journey of two young sisters from war-torn Syria to the 2016 Rio Olympics.
“The Swimmers is a deeply moving and timely film about a miraculous journey,” says Zff Artistic Director Christian Jungen. “It shines a light on the refugee crisis, but is also up-lifting and inspiring. We couldn’t imagine a better opening night film. Sally El Hosaini, who already with her first feature My Brother The Devil won an award at Sundance,...
- 8/25/2022
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
Sally El Hosaini’s drama “The Swimmers,” based on the inspirational true-life story of the Mardini sisters, will open the 18th Zurich Film Festival on Sept. 22. It will be the film’s European premiere.
The film is produced by Working Title for Netflix. It is directed and written by El Hosaini and co-written by Jack Thorne, based on a true story. It follows the journey from war-torn Syria to the 2016 Rio Olympics of two young sisters, who embark on a harrowing journey as refugees, putting both their hearts and champion swimming skills to heroic use.
El Hosaini will be joined at the screening by cast members Nathalie Issa and Matthias Schweighöfer, along with Sara and Yusra Mardini, and Yusra’s swimming coach Sven Spannenkrebs.
“’The Swimmers’ is a deeply moving and timely film about a miraculous journey,” Christian Jungen, the festival’s artistic director, said. “It shines a light on the refugee crisis,...
The film is produced by Working Title for Netflix. It is directed and written by El Hosaini and co-written by Jack Thorne, based on a true story. It follows the journey from war-torn Syria to the 2016 Rio Olympics of two young sisters, who embark on a harrowing journey as refugees, putting both their hearts and champion swimming skills to heroic use.
El Hosaini will be joined at the screening by cast members Nathalie Issa and Matthias Schweighöfer, along with Sara and Yusra Mardini, and Yusra’s swimming coach Sven Spannenkrebs.
“’The Swimmers’ is a deeply moving and timely film about a miraculous journey,” Christian Jungen, the festival’s artistic director, said. “It shines a light on the refugee crisis,...
- 8/25/2022
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Director Sally El Hosaini’s new feature Unicorns will begin principal photography in the U.K. this October, with Trudie Styler and Celine Rattray’s Maven Screen Media and Philip Herd’s Chromatic Aberration financing and producing.
Oscar Nominee Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot) is also on board as executive producer.
The feature is described as a cross-cultural romance set against a secretive subculture in London, revolving around a queer South Asian nightclub performer living a double life, and a young, single father who works as a mechanic. When their paths collide, a dramatic search for identity is sparked.
Actor James Krishna Floyd, who also wrote the screenplay, will co-direct with El Hosaini for their third collaboration.
“This is a very personal story for me with the themes of dual culture clash, sexuality, fatherhood and forbidden romance originating from my own experiences,” he said.
Ben Hardy will star as the single father with the casting search underway for an authentic, queer South Asian actor for the other. Renowned Gaysian performer Britain’s first out Muslim Drag Queen’ Asifa Lahore is the consultant and will also executive produce.
Sally El Hosaini’s first feature My Brother the Devil won prizes at Sundance, Berlin and the London Film Festival. Her hotly anticipated second feature The Swimmers is opening Toronto International Film Festival and is being tipped as one of Netflix’s big awards contender this year.
“This unconventional love story resonated deeply with me and I’m excited to be bringing it to the screen with authenticity, sensitivity and humour,” she said.
“We are blown away by Sally’s spectacular work, and her ability to create colourful worlds and find joy in the most challenging situations,” said Styler, Rattray and Herd.
“It is a great honour to help her and James on their third collaboration, and to tell a story where love overcomes all barriers.”...
Oscar Nominee Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot) is also on board as executive producer.
The feature is described as a cross-cultural romance set against a secretive subculture in London, revolving around a queer South Asian nightclub performer living a double life, and a young, single father who works as a mechanic. When their paths collide, a dramatic search for identity is sparked.
Actor James Krishna Floyd, who also wrote the screenplay, will co-direct with El Hosaini for their third collaboration.
“This is a very personal story for me with the themes of dual culture clash, sexuality, fatherhood and forbidden romance originating from my own experiences,” he said.
Ben Hardy will star as the single father with the casting search underway for an authentic, queer South Asian actor for the other. Renowned Gaysian performer Britain’s first out Muslim Drag Queen’ Asifa Lahore is the consultant and will also executive produce.
Sally El Hosaini’s first feature My Brother the Devil won prizes at Sundance, Berlin and the London Film Festival. Her hotly anticipated second feature The Swimmers is opening Toronto International Film Festival and is being tipped as one of Netflix’s big awards contender this year.
“This unconventional love story resonated deeply with me and I’m excited to be bringing it to the screen with authenticity, sensitivity and humour,” she said.
“We are blown away by Sally’s spectacular work, and her ability to create colourful worlds and find joy in the most challenging situations,” said Styler, Rattray and Herd.
“It is a great honour to help her and James on their third collaboration, and to tell a story where love overcomes all barriers.”...
- 8/4/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow and Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
The Working Title and Netflix drama The Swimmers, about real-life sisters on an inspiring odyssey as refugees from war-torn Syria to the 2016 Rio Olympics, will open the Toronto Film Festival on Sept. 8 at Roy Thomson Hall.
Lebanese actresses and real-life sisters Manal and Nathalie Issa play sisters Yusra and Sarah Mardini in the film from writer and director Sally El Hosaini, who co-wrote the script for The Swimmers with Enola Holmes scribe Jack Thorne.
The sisters, fleeing their home in Damascus, had to swim in choppy Mediterranean seas to reach the Greek island of Lesbos as asylum seekers before going on to compete in the pool at the Rio Olympic Games.
“I’m ecstatic. What an honor and privilege to open TIFF with the inspirational true-life story of the Mardini sisters. A city as multicultural and diverse as Toronto is the perfect place...
The Working Title and Netflix drama The Swimmers, about real-life sisters on an inspiring odyssey as refugees from war-torn Syria to the 2016 Rio Olympics, will open the Toronto Film Festival on Sept. 8 at Roy Thomson Hall.
Lebanese actresses and real-life sisters Manal and Nathalie Issa play sisters Yusra and Sarah Mardini in the film from writer and director Sally El Hosaini, who co-wrote the script for The Swimmers with Enola Holmes scribe Jack Thorne.
The sisters, fleeing their home in Damascus, had to swim in choppy Mediterranean seas to reach the Greek island of Lesbos as asylum seekers before going on to compete in the pool at the Rio Olympic Games.
“I’m ecstatic. What an honor and privilege to open TIFF with the inspirational true-life story of the Mardini sisters. A city as multicultural and diverse as Toronto is the perfect place...
- 7/27/2022
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Dutch filmmaker Paula van der Oest, director of Oscar-nominated “Zus & Zo,” has wrapped production on “Love in a Bottle,” starring James Krishna Floyd (“No Man’s Land”) and Hannah Hoekstra (“Hemel”).
The film follows two people in two different countries — both in quarantine during lockdown — who have a love affair through Facetime. Floyd plays a damaged British man who lives mainly through his computer who falls for a charismatic Dutch perfume maker (Hoekstra) whom he met at an airport just before the pandemic struck.
“Love in a Bottle” was shot in two locations in Amsterdam during lockdown, and is one of the few films to shoot two locations simultaneously with two crews, in order to come together for one resulting film. Levitate Film (“The Forgotten Battle”) produced.
Van der Oest’s regular cinematographer Guido van Gennep lensed the film and employed new techniques in order to complete the project.
“We were literally shooting with these iPhones,...
The film follows two people in two different countries — both in quarantine during lockdown — who have a love affair through Facetime. Floyd plays a damaged British man who lives mainly through his computer who falls for a charismatic Dutch perfume maker (Hoekstra) whom he met at an airport just before the pandemic struck.
“Love in a Bottle” was shot in two locations in Amsterdam during lockdown, and is one of the few films to shoot two locations simultaneously with two crews, in order to come together for one resulting film. Levitate Film (“The Forgotten Battle”) produced.
Van der Oest’s regular cinematographer Guido van Gennep lensed the film and employed new techniques in order to complete the project.
“We were literally shooting with these iPhones,...
- 12/18/2020
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
‘No Man’s Land’ Actor James Krishna Floyd: ‘We’re Bored of The Same Old S— Getting Made’ (Exclusive)
Ever since his international breakout role in Sally El Hosaini’s “My Brother The Devil” (2012), where he played the role of a teenager facing prejudice on the streets of gangland London, actor James Krishna Floyd has made a mark with an astonishing diversity of roles.
For “My Brother The Devil,” Floyd won most promising newcomer at the British Independent Film Awards, was selected as a BAFTA Breakthrough Brit and won best actor at the Milan International Film Festival.
Of mixed English and Indian Tamil heritage, Floyd began with a solid grounding in theater and landed his first starring role in “Everywhere and Nowhere” (2011), where he played a British-Pakistani torn between honoring his family traditions and a love for music.
Floyd is one of the leads in Fremantle’s acclaimed Hulu and Arte series “No Man’s Land,” where he plays a London-born British-Egyptian who joins Isis and the war in Syria.
For “My Brother The Devil,” Floyd won most promising newcomer at the British Independent Film Awards, was selected as a BAFTA Breakthrough Brit and won best actor at the Milan International Film Festival.
Of mixed English and Indian Tamil heritage, Floyd began with a solid grounding in theater and landed his first starring role in “Everywhere and Nowhere” (2011), where he played a British-Pakistani torn between honoring his family traditions and a love for music.
Floyd is one of the leads in Fremantle’s acclaimed Hulu and Arte series “No Man’s Land,” where he plays a London-born British-Egyptian who joins Isis and the war in Syria.
- 12/14/2020
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Paramount Pictures has launched the trailer for ‘Blue Story’, a film highlighting the troubles British youth’s face on the streets of London.
Written and directed by Rapman, the story depicts elements of Rapman’s own personal experiences and aspects of his childhood. The messages he aims to send through his works are positive ones, aimed at inspiring kids from difficult backgrounds to turn away from local gangs.
Stephen Odubola (The Legend Of Tarzan), Micheal Ward (Top Boy), Khali Best, Max Fincham, Kadeem Ramsay, Karla-Simone Spence (Wannabe) and Eric Kofi-Abrefa all star.
Also in trailers – Explosive full trailer drops for ‘Terminator: Dark Fate’
The film hits cinemas November 22nd.
Blue Story Synopsis
Blue Story is a tragic tale of a friendship between Timmy and Marco, two young boys from opposing postcodes. Timmy, a shy, smart, naive and timid young boy from Deptford, goes to school in Peckham where he strikes up a friendship with Marco,...
Written and directed by Rapman, the story depicts elements of Rapman’s own personal experiences and aspects of his childhood. The messages he aims to send through his works are positive ones, aimed at inspiring kids from difficult backgrounds to turn away from local gangs.
Stephen Odubola (The Legend Of Tarzan), Micheal Ward (Top Boy), Khali Best, Max Fincham, Kadeem Ramsay, Karla-Simone Spence (Wannabe) and Eric Kofi-Abrefa all star.
Also in trailers – Explosive full trailer drops for ‘Terminator: Dark Fate’
The film hits cinemas November 22nd.
Blue Story Synopsis
Blue Story is a tragic tale of a friendship between Timmy and Marco, two young boys from opposing postcodes. Timmy, a shy, smart, naive and timid young boy from Deptford, goes to school in Peckham where he strikes up a friendship with Marco,...
- 9/3/2019
- by Zehra Phelan
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
My Brother The Devil director Sally El Hosaini is to direct Working Title’s forthcoming Yusra Mardini biopic, which now has the working title The Swimmers. El Hosaini has replaced Stephen Daldry, who is staying on as an exec producer.
The film tells the story of Syrian swimmer Mardini, the teenage Olympian refugee who dragged a dinghy of refugees to safety across the Aegean Sea.
Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner’s firm optioned the life story last year with Kiri creator Jack Thorne, who is also working on Netflix musical drama The Eddy with La La Land director Damien Chazelle, writing the script.
The project is currently out to casting. El Hosaini broke out with 2013 British crime film My Brother The Devil, which picked up a slew of awards, and she has directed episodes of Danny Boyle’s Channel 4 drama Babylon.
The film will tell the true story of Mardini,...
The film tells the story of Syrian swimmer Mardini, the teenage Olympian refugee who dragged a dinghy of refugees to safety across the Aegean Sea.
Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner’s firm optioned the life story last year with Kiri creator Jack Thorne, who is also working on Netflix musical drama The Eddy with La La Land director Damien Chazelle, writing the script.
The project is currently out to casting. El Hosaini broke out with 2013 British crime film My Brother The Devil, which picked up a slew of awards, and she has directed episodes of Danny Boyle’s Channel 4 drama Babylon.
The film will tell the true story of Mardini,...
- 4/29/2019
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
El Hosaini takes over from Stephen Daldry for this story about Syrian Olympic swimmer Yusra Mardini.
My Brother The Devil filmmaker Sally El Hosaini has signed up to direct The Swimmers, the story of Syrian Olympic swimmer Yusra Mardini which is being produced by Working Title.
The project, announced back in 2017, previously had Stephen Daldry at the helm. Wonder writer Jack Thorne has written the screenplay and Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner are producing for Working Title alongside Ali Jaafar (The Idol). Daldry is staying on as an executive producer.
The film follows Mardini and her sister, both competitive swimmers,...
My Brother The Devil filmmaker Sally El Hosaini has signed up to direct The Swimmers, the story of Syrian Olympic swimmer Yusra Mardini which is being produced by Working Title.
The project, announced back in 2017, previously had Stephen Daldry at the helm. Wonder writer Jack Thorne has written the screenplay and Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner are producing for Working Title alongside Ali Jaafar (The Idol). Daldry is staying on as an executive producer.
The film follows Mardini and her sister, both competitive swimmers,...
- 4/29/2019
- by Tom Grater
- ScreenDaily
The word “Brexit” is never uttered in “The Last Tree,” yet the U.K.’s current identity crisis — its surging, hostile preoccupation with defining the parameters of Britishness after a more culturally porous period of history — reverberates quietly throughout Shola Amoo’s sophomore feature. Amoo’s own childhood inspired this plainly heartfelt study of a Nigerian-British boy, raised in a white rural community, whose sense of self changes drastically when he moves to a diverse, deprived area of London. The coming-of-age saga that ensues thoughtfully alternates universal adolescent insecurities with urgently specific minority politics — filtered through a first-person perspective that itself oscillates between furious clarity and vivid confusion.
Confusion, be it over one’s identity, one’s emotions or one’s place in the world, is actually what “The Last Tree” depicts with most assurance. Switching to outright narrative cinema after his restless multimedia debut “A Moving Image,” Amoo elastically...
Confusion, be it over one’s identity, one’s emotions or one’s place in the world, is actually what “The Last Tree” depicts with most assurance. Switching to outright narrative cinema after his restless multimedia debut “A Moving Image,” Amoo elastically...
- 1/25/2019
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
“Lucy was a pioneer in making scriptwriting accessible.”
Lucy Scher, who co-ran UK screenwriting talent incubator The Script Factory from 1996, has died at the age of 53.
Scher joined the organisation a few months after its founding by Charlotte Macleod and helped develop it into a vital part of the UK’s screenwriting development scene, training more than a thousand emerging writers and developers and attracting funding successively from the UK Film Council, Skillset and Creative Europe.
Her colleagues at The Script Factory over the years included Briony Hanson, now director of film at the British Council, and Tricia Tuttle, now...
Lucy Scher, who co-ran UK screenwriting talent incubator The Script Factory from 1996, has died at the age of 53.
Scher joined the organisation a few months after its founding by Charlotte Macleod and helped develop it into a vital part of the UK’s screenwriting development scene, training more than a thousand emerging writers and developers and attracting funding successively from the UK Film Council, Skillset and Creative Europe.
Her colleagues at The Script Factory over the years included Briony Hanson, now director of film at the British Council, and Tricia Tuttle, now...
- 8/2/2018
- by Charles Gant
- ScreenDaily
Filming has wrapped on writer-director Georgia Parris’ feature debut.
Screen can reveal a first look at Mari, the Film London Microwave feature starring acclaimed dancer Bobbi Jene Smith.
The project, which recently wrapped its shoot in Sherborne, Dorset and London, is the debut feature from writer-director Georgia Parris and producer Emma Duffy.
It was commissioned through Film London’s Microwave scheme, the low-budget feature initiative which is backed by the BFI and BBC Films, with support from Creative Skillset. Further backing came from Intermission and Boudica Films.
Mari, a drama with dance elements, also stars Phoebe Nicholls (The Elephant Man...
Screen can reveal a first look at Mari, the Film London Microwave feature starring acclaimed dancer Bobbi Jene Smith.
The project, which recently wrapped its shoot in Sherborne, Dorset and London, is the debut feature from writer-director Georgia Parris and producer Emma Duffy.
It was commissioned through Film London’s Microwave scheme, the low-budget feature initiative which is backed by the BFI and BBC Films, with support from Creative Skillset. Further backing came from Intermission and Boudica Films.
Mari, a drama with dance elements, also stars Phoebe Nicholls (The Elephant Man...
- 3/16/2018
- by Tom Grater
- ScreenDaily
Participants revealed for year-long initiative.
Bafta has named the 15 female directors taking part in its inaugural career development programme for under-represented groups in film and TV.
Launched in February, Elevate will initially focus on helping women progress their directing careers in high-end television and film. According to 2016 data from Directors UK, only 13.6% of working directors between 2004 and 2014 were female.
The group of 15 was selected from 250 applicants, and reflect a range of experience levels and backgrounds.
Participants include My Brother the Devil director Sally El Hosaini, who co-directed Channel 4 and Sundance TV’s Babylon; Wolfblood and Dates director Sarah Walker; Tina Gharavi, founder of media production company Bridge + Tunnel; and Vanessa Caswill, a lead director on BBC3’s Thirteen.
Full list of Bafta Elevate directors:Alicia DuffyAmanda BlueCathy BradyChristiana Ebohon-GreenDawn ShadforthDelyth ThomasEmma SullivanKate SaxonLindy HeymannLisa ClarkeRebecca JohnsonSally El HosainiSarah WalkerTina GharaviVanessa Caswill
The year-long initiative will include panel discussions, masterclasses and workshops, These will build...
Bafta has named the 15 female directors taking part in its inaugural career development programme for under-represented groups in film and TV.
Launched in February, Elevate will initially focus on helping women progress their directing careers in high-end television and film. According to 2016 data from Directors UK, only 13.6% of working directors between 2004 and 2014 were female.
The group of 15 was selected from 250 applicants, and reflect a range of experience levels and backgrounds.
Participants include My Brother the Devil director Sally El Hosaini, who co-directed Channel 4 and Sundance TV’s Babylon; Wolfblood and Dates director Sarah Walker; Tina Gharavi, founder of media production company Bridge + Tunnel; and Vanessa Caswill, a lead director on BBC3’s Thirteen.
Full list of Bafta Elevate directors:Alicia DuffyAmanda BlueCathy BradyChristiana Ebohon-GreenDawn ShadforthDelyth ThomasEmma SullivanKate SaxonLindy HeymannLisa ClarkeRebecca JohnsonSally El HosainiSarah WalkerTina GharaviVanessa Caswill
The year-long initiative will include panel discussions, masterclasses and workshops, These will build...
- 5/18/2017
- ScreenDaily
Set to release on April 7th, City of Tiny Lights starring Riz Ahmed and Billie Piper is a unique portrait of contemporary London as a teeming multicultural metropolis where nothing is as it seems.
Meet Tommy Akhtar (Riz Ahmed), cricket fan, devoted son to an ailing father and deadbeat private eye. He’s got an office above a cab firm, a taste for cigarettes and bourbon, and a finely tuned moral compass that he keeps hidden behind a sharp cynicism. When Tommy walks into his office one morning to find high-class prostitute Melody seeking his help, he’s launched into a story that plays as an utterly original modern noir. He’s drawn into a murder investigation and a dangerous criminal underworld where he will discover dark secrets from his own past
Check out the trailer for this exciting film!
And this cool new poster hot of the presses!
Set in West London,...
Meet Tommy Akhtar (Riz Ahmed), cricket fan, devoted son to an ailing father and deadbeat private eye. He’s got an office above a cab firm, a taste for cigarettes and bourbon, and a finely tuned moral compass that he keeps hidden behind a sharp cynicism. When Tommy walks into his office one morning to find high-class prostitute Melody seeking his help, he’s launched into a story that plays as an utterly original modern noir. He’s drawn into a murder investigation and a dangerous criminal underworld where he will discover dark secrets from his own past
Check out the trailer for this exciting film!
And this cool new poster hot of the presses!
Set in West London,...
- 3/9/2017
- by Stacey Yount
- Bollyspice
Author: Competitions
To mark the release of Urban Hymn on 30th January, we’ve been given 3 copies to give away on DVD.
Michael Caton–Jones’ Urban Hymn, is released on DVD and Digital HD from 30th January,.
Set against the backdrop of the 2011 British summer riots, Michael Caton–Jones’ Urban Hymn is a redemptive coming-of-age story set in South-West London and follows wayward teen, Jamie (Letitia Wright). Encouraged by inspiring and unconventional care worker Kate (Shirley Henderson) to use singing as a release from her troubled life, Jamie’s loyalties soon become torn between Kate and her possessive and volatile best friend, Leanne (Isabella Laughland).
Michael Caton-Jones makes a welcome return with the heart-warming Urban Hymn which won Best Film in the Generator +18 category at the Giffoni Film Festival and screened at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival and Glasgow International Film Festival earlier this year. Shirley Henderson (Southcliffe, Filth, Trainspotting...
To mark the release of Urban Hymn on 30th January, we’ve been given 3 copies to give away on DVD.
Michael Caton–Jones’ Urban Hymn, is released on DVD and Digital HD from 30th January,.
Set against the backdrop of the 2011 British summer riots, Michael Caton–Jones’ Urban Hymn is a redemptive coming-of-age story set in South-West London and follows wayward teen, Jamie (Letitia Wright). Encouraged by inspiring and unconventional care worker Kate (Shirley Henderson) to use singing as a release from her troubled life, Jamie’s loyalties soon become torn between Kate and her possessive and volatile best friend, Leanne (Isabella Laughland).
Michael Caton-Jones makes a welcome return with the heart-warming Urban Hymn which won Best Film in the Generator +18 category at the Giffoni Film Festival and screened at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival and Glasgow International Film Festival earlier this year. Shirley Henderson (Southcliffe, Filth, Trainspotting...
- 1/23/2017
- by Competitions
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
Michael Caton-Jones’s film about a delinquent diva, starring the excellent Letitia Wright, works towards a place of quiet power
This year will go down as the one British cinema began to wrestle with the 2011 UK riots. Set against July’s documentary The Hard Stop, Michael Caton-Jones’s drama risks appearing a perilously soft option the moment juvenile care worker/keen chorister Shirley Henderson overhears delinquent diva Jamie (My Brother the Devil’s excellent Letitia Wright) singing Etta James in her bedroom. Thereafter, committed actors nudge Nick Moorcroft’s scenario away from a very familiar, naggingly complacent groove. The riot backdrop recedes, a convenient prompt for teaching the world to sing anew, yet a stronger second half pushes in unexpected directions. Jamie struggles to disentangle herself from damaged roomie Leanne (a snarling Isabella Laughland) – and Caton-Jones’s achievement is to make this a greater challenge than any a cappella arrangement of,...
This year will go down as the one British cinema began to wrestle with the 2011 UK riots. Set against July’s documentary The Hard Stop, Michael Caton-Jones’s drama risks appearing a perilously soft option the moment juvenile care worker/keen chorister Shirley Henderson overhears delinquent diva Jamie (My Brother the Devil’s excellent Letitia Wright) singing Etta James in her bedroom. Thereafter, committed actors nudge Nick Moorcroft’s scenario away from a very familiar, naggingly complacent groove. The riot backdrop recedes, a convenient prompt for teaching the world to sing anew, yet a stronger second half pushes in unexpected directions. Jamie struggles to disentangle herself from damaged roomie Leanne (a snarling Isabella Laughland) – and Caton-Jones’s achievement is to make this a greater challenge than any a cappella arrangement of,...
- 9/29/2016
- by Mike McCahill
- The Guardian - Film News
Twenty-two emerging producers to receive up to £2.2m; almost 500 applicants.Scroll Down For Recipients
The BFI has announced the recipients of its 2016-18 Vision Awards, comprising 22 investments in up-and-coming UK producers.
The awards, generally spread over two years, are designed to enable producers to build and develop their companies, slates and creative relationships.
The BFI had intended to give 20 awards but increased that allocation to 22 in response to the number of strong applications it received. Almost 500 companies applied for the awards, which are backed by a total commitment from the BFI of £2.2m of National Lottery funding.
Fifteen of the awards are to women producers or partnerships, while eight of the companies are based outside of London, located in Belfast, Cardiff, Glasgow, Hull, Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield and York.
In a bid to foster sustainability, the third iteration of the Vision Awards will include an allowance to cover a producer’s fees and overheads of up to half...
The BFI has announced the recipients of its 2016-18 Vision Awards, comprising 22 investments in up-and-coming UK producers.
The awards, generally spread over two years, are designed to enable producers to build and develop their companies, slates and creative relationships.
The BFI had intended to give 20 awards but increased that allocation to 22 in response to the number of strong applications it received. Almost 500 companies applied for the awards, which are backed by a total commitment from the BFI of £2.2m of National Lottery funding.
Fifteen of the awards are to women producers or partnerships, while eight of the companies are based outside of London, located in Belfast, Cardiff, Glasgow, Hull, Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield and York.
In a bid to foster sustainability, the third iteration of the Vision Awards will include an allowance to cover a producer’s fees and overheads of up to half...
- 8/24/2016
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Metro International inks UK deal for coming-of-age drama.
Metro International has secured an all rights deal for Michael Caton Jones’s (The Jackal) Urban Hymn with UK distributor Bull Dog for UK and Ireland.
The redemptive, coming of age drama stars Shirley Henderson (Trainspotting), Screen International Star of Tomorrow Letitia Wright (My Brother The Devil) and Isabella Laughland (Chubby Funny).
The story follows a neglected, wayward teen whose singing talent offers her an escape to a better life until she finds her loyalties torn between her inspiring, unconventional care worker and her possessive and volatile best friend.
Bull Dog is planning a theatrical release this autumn with a charity premiere benefit for Child Line Rocks, a subsidiary of ChildLine/Nspcc.
The film is written by Nick Moorcroft (St Trinians) and produced by Eclipse Films and Dashishah Global Film Production in association with Powderkeg Pictures, Head Gear Films and Kreo Films Fz.
Other recent...
Metro International has secured an all rights deal for Michael Caton Jones’s (The Jackal) Urban Hymn with UK distributor Bull Dog for UK and Ireland.
The redemptive, coming of age drama stars Shirley Henderson (Trainspotting), Screen International Star of Tomorrow Letitia Wright (My Brother The Devil) and Isabella Laughland (Chubby Funny).
The story follows a neglected, wayward teen whose singing talent offers her an escape to a better life until she finds her loyalties torn between her inspiring, unconventional care worker and her possessive and volatile best friend.
Bull Dog is planning a theatrical release this autumn with a charity premiere benefit for Child Line Rocks, a subsidiary of ChildLine/Nspcc.
The film is written by Nick Moorcroft (St Trinians) and produced by Eclipse Films and Dashishah Global Film Production in association with Powderkeg Pictures, Head Gear Films and Kreo Films Fz.
Other recent...
- 5/15/2016
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: A Separation and About Elly star leads Farsi-language drama.
Production is complete on UK-Iranian drama Gholam, starring Iranian leading man and Asghar Farhadi regular Shahab Hosseini (A Separation).
Iranian-born, London-based photographer and artist Mitra Tabrizian makes her feature debut on the predominantly Farsi-language drama which charts the story of an enigmatic cab driver who is haunted by his past.
The film brings together two of the most prominent Iranian actors from before and after the revolution, Behrouz Behnejad and Hosseini.
The latter shared a Best Actor Silver Bear in 2011 for his turn in Farhadi’s A Separation and will star in the director’s upcoming drama Forushande, which is currently in production. Hosseini also starred in Farhadi’s 2009 drama About Elly.
Gholam, which is among the first UK-Iranian productions to explore the UK-based Iranian diaspora, is understood to be stirring interest in sales outfits and festivals.
Inspiration for the privately-financed low-budget feature came from a real...
Production is complete on UK-Iranian drama Gholam, starring Iranian leading man and Asghar Farhadi regular Shahab Hosseini (A Separation).
Iranian-born, London-based photographer and artist Mitra Tabrizian makes her feature debut on the predominantly Farsi-language drama which charts the story of an enigmatic cab driver who is haunted by his past.
The film brings together two of the most prominent Iranian actors from before and after the revolution, Behrouz Behnejad and Hosseini.
The latter shared a Best Actor Silver Bear in 2011 for his turn in Farhadi’s A Separation and will star in the director’s upcoming drama Forushande, which is currently in production. Hosseini also starred in Farhadi’s 2009 drama About Elly.
Gholam, which is among the first UK-Iranian productions to explore the UK-based Iranian diaspora, is understood to be stirring interest in sales outfits and festivals.
Inspiration for the privately-financed low-budget feature came from a real...
- 4/12/2016
- by andreas.wiseman@screendaily.com (Andreas Wiseman)
- ScreenDaily
Filming has started today on the BBC Three Doctor Who spin-off series Class, a Ya series set in contemporary London, which will shine a light on a whole new corner of the 'Whoniverse'.
Set in Coal Hill School, the series follows four sixth form students at the school who are facing their own fears, secrets and desires as well as navigating a life of friends, parents, school work, sex, sorrow - and possibly the end of existence.
24 year old Greg Austin (represented by Jonathan Arun) stars as Charlie. Greg who grew up in Bournemouth, graduated from Arts Educational Schools in 2013 and played Gordon Selfridge in three series of the acclaimed ITV drama series Mr Selfridge.
22 year old Fady Elsayed (represented by Troika) also stars. Fady is a British/Egyptian actor from London, whose first role was in Sally El Hosaini's My Brother the Devil, for which he got a...
Set in Coal Hill School, the series follows four sixth form students at the school who are facing their own fears, secrets and desires as well as navigating a life of friends, parents, school work, sex, sorrow - and possibly the end of existence.
24 year old Greg Austin (represented by Jonathan Arun) stars as Charlie. Greg who grew up in Bournemouth, graduated from Arts Educational Schools in 2013 and played Gordon Selfridge in three series of the acclaimed ITV drama series Mr Selfridge.
22 year old Fady Elsayed (represented by Troika) also stars. Fady is a British/Egyptian actor from London, whose first role was in Sally El Hosaini's My Brother the Devil, for which he got a...
- 4/4/2016
- by noreply@blogger.com (ScreenTerrier)
- ScreenTerrier
Highly respected producer worked on Joanna Hogg’s Archipelago and Sally El Hosaini’s My Brother the Devil.
British producer Gayle Griffiths has died following a battle with cancer. She was 49.
Griffiths, who died on Friday (Oct 23) in London, was perhaps best known for producing Joanna Hogg films Archipelago (2010) and Exhibition (2013), which both starred Tom Hiddleston, as well as urban drama My Brother The Devil (2012).
Sally El Hosani, director of My Brother The Devil, wrote on Facebook: “I can honestly say that the film wouldn’t have been what it was without her input and wisdom. She had real vision and believed in the film when many others in the industry didn’t. She was a fighter with a truly generous heart and empathy for the underdog.
“She was never one to make a fuss about her health and all through the filming of My Brother The Devil nobody would have guessed she was also having cancer...
British producer Gayle Griffiths has died following a battle with cancer. She was 49.
Griffiths, who died on Friday (Oct 23) in London, was perhaps best known for producing Joanna Hogg films Archipelago (2010) and Exhibition (2013), which both starred Tom Hiddleston, as well as urban drama My Brother The Devil (2012).
Sally El Hosani, director of My Brother The Devil, wrote on Facebook: “I can honestly say that the film wouldn’t have been what it was without her input and wisdom. She had real vision and believed in the film when many others in the industry didn’t. She was a fighter with a truly generous heart and empathy for the underdog.
“She was never one to make a fuss about her health and all through the filming of My Brother The Devil nobody would have guessed she was also having cancer...
- 10/27/2015
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Film fests such as the Toronto Int. Film Festival afford us the best of opportunities to get instantly familiar with new faces in the world of cinema. With last week’s The Conversation, I gave you a rundown of the talent behind the camera with the 2015 Tiff Top Ten New Voices. Today, we look back at the best performances from fresh and relatively new crop of actors and actresses. Almost evenly split genderwise, we’ll surely look back on these early performances from these youthful players as the moment where they received their big break and if they’re not familiar now, they surely will be in the coming years. In deliberating this top ten list, I focused on offerings either unique to the festival or near concurrent premieres in Locarno and Venice.
#10. Karelle Tremblay – Les Etres Chers
After Podz’s Miraculum (2013) Stefan Miljevic’s Amsterdam (2013) and Mathieu Denis’ Corbo...
#10. Karelle Tremblay – Les Etres Chers
After Podz’s Miraculum (2013) Stefan Miljevic’s Amsterdam (2013) and Mathieu Denis’ Corbo...
- 10/19/2015
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
PremierComms
To celebrate release of The Good Lie on DVD, available now, we are giving 3 lucky WhatCulture readers the chance to win 1 of 3 copies courtesy of Entertainment One.
The Good Lie features heart-rendering and powerful performances led by; Oscar® winner Reese Witherspoon (Walk The Line, Wild) as strong and independent employment counsellor, Carrie; Corey Stoll (House Of Cards, Non-Stop) as Carrie’s boss and ex-husband, Jack; Arnold Oceng (My Brother The Devil, Adulthood) as ‘The Chief’ orphan, Mamere; Ger Duany (I Heart Huckabees, Isn’t It Delicious) as his orphan brother, Jeremiah; Emmanuel Jal (Africa United, War Child) as his other orphan brother, Paul; Sarah Baker (Tammy, The Campaign) as Carrie’s acquaintance and volunteer, Pamela; and introducing Kuoth Wiel as Abital, the orphan sister of “The Lost Boys”.
They were known simply as “The Lost Boys”. Orphaned during the Sudanese Civil War, a group of young refugees are given...
To celebrate release of The Good Lie on DVD, available now, we are giving 3 lucky WhatCulture readers the chance to win 1 of 3 copies courtesy of Entertainment One.
The Good Lie features heart-rendering and powerful performances led by; Oscar® winner Reese Witherspoon (Walk The Line, Wild) as strong and independent employment counsellor, Carrie; Corey Stoll (House Of Cards, Non-Stop) as Carrie’s boss and ex-husband, Jack; Arnold Oceng (My Brother The Devil, Adulthood) as ‘The Chief’ orphan, Mamere; Ger Duany (I Heart Huckabees, Isn’t It Delicious) as his orphan brother, Jeremiah; Emmanuel Jal (Africa United, War Child) as his other orphan brother, Paul; Sarah Baker (Tammy, The Campaign) as Carrie’s acquaintance and volunteer, Pamela; and introducing Kuoth Wiel as Abital, the orphan sister of “The Lost Boys”.
They were known simply as “The Lost Boys”. Orphaned during the Sudanese Civil War, a group of young refugees are given...
- 9/1/2015
- by Laura Holmes
- Obsessed with Film
World premiere of Us spy thriller to open independent film festival.
Raindance Film Festival (Sept 23 - Oct 4) has unveiled the programme for its 23rd edition, with 90 features and nearly 200 short from 48 countries set to screen at London’s Vue Piccadilly.
The festival will open with the world premiere of Us spy thriller, Newcomer, starring Screen Star of Tomorrow James Floyd (My Brother The Devil) and Anthony Lapaglia, directed by Kai Barry.
Raindance’s international programme this year includes the world premiere of Rickie Lee Jones: The Other Side of Desire, a portrait of the poet-musician and rock star; the UK premiere of Mexican film Alice in Marialand, starring new Bond girl Stephanie Sigman; and new titles from upcoming British filmmaking talent.
Films dealing with the digital age feature prominently throughout the programme, with highlights including Alex Winter’s Deep Web, narrated by Keanu Reeves; Digital Dissisents, a documentary looking at the “warriors of the digital age” featuring...
Raindance Film Festival (Sept 23 - Oct 4) has unveiled the programme for its 23rd edition, with 90 features and nearly 200 short from 48 countries set to screen at London’s Vue Piccadilly.
The festival will open with the world premiere of Us spy thriller, Newcomer, starring Screen Star of Tomorrow James Floyd (My Brother The Devil) and Anthony Lapaglia, directed by Kai Barry.
Raindance’s international programme this year includes the world premiere of Rickie Lee Jones: The Other Side of Desire, a portrait of the poet-musician and rock star; the UK premiere of Mexican film Alice in Marialand, starring new Bond girl Stephanie Sigman; and new titles from upcoming British filmmaking talent.
Films dealing with the digital age feature prominently throughout the programme, with highlights including Alex Winter’s Deep Web, narrated by Keanu Reeves; Digital Dissisents, a documentary looking at the “warriors of the digital age” featuring...
- 8/25/2015
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Merlin star Colin Morgan co-stars in British coming-of-age feature.
Shooting has begun in France on Waiting For You, a British drama starring Fanny Ardant (8 Women) and Colin Morgan (Merlin).
The film, funded by private equity, will shoot for five weeks on location in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of southern France until June 20. Production will then move to the Ilford in the UK for a week.
Production designer Charles Garrad (The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill…) will make his feature directorial debut on the project, which he describes as “a lyrical mystery”.
The story centres on Paul (Morgan), who investigates his late father’s increasingly disturbing past and becomes suspicious of the mysterious, melancholic and probably dangerous Madeleine (Ardant).
Chris Curling (Hannibal Rising) produces for Zephyr Films and it will be shot by cinematographer David Raedeker (My Brother the Devil).
French actress Ardant won the Cesar Award for best actress in 1997 for Pedale Douche and was nominated...
Shooting has begun in France on Waiting For You, a British drama starring Fanny Ardant (8 Women) and Colin Morgan (Merlin).
The film, funded by private equity, will shoot for five weeks on location in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of southern France until June 20. Production will then move to the Ilford in the UK for a week.
Production designer Charles Garrad (The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill…) will make his feature directorial debut on the project, which he describes as “a lyrical mystery”.
The story centres on Paul (Morgan), who investigates his late father’s increasingly disturbing past and becomes suspicious of the mysterious, melancholic and probably dangerous Madeleine (Ardant).
Chris Curling (Hannibal Rising) produces for Zephyr Films and it will be shot by cinematographer David Raedeker (My Brother the Devil).
French actress Ardant won the Cesar Award for best actress in 1997 for Pedale Douche and was nominated...
- 6/1/2015
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Whether you adore swoony British period dramas like "A Room With a View" or prefer a Cockney crime drama like "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels," there's something for every stripe of Anglophile on Netflix.
You can revisit a favorite comedy like "Four Weddings and a Funeral," discover a new British indie such as "Fish Tank" or "My Brother the Devil," and get your fix of Dames Helen Mirren and Judi Dench as the royalty they were born to play. Just don't wait too long since film availability is subject to change.
You can revisit a favorite comedy like "Four Weddings and a Funeral," discover a new British indie such as "Fish Tank" or "My Brother the Devil," and get your fix of Dames Helen Mirren and Judi Dench as the royalty they were born to play. Just don't wait too long since film availability is subject to change.
- 5/13/2015
- by Sharon Knolle
- Moviefone
Cast of London-set noir thriller includes Screen Stars of Tomorrow Cush Jumbo and James Floyd.
City of Tiny Lights, a London-set film noir is to begin principal photography on April 27. The film will shoot for six weeks in London and will be released in 2016.
Written by Patrick Neate, based on his novel of the same name, the film will be directed by Pete Travis (Vantage Point, Dredd) and produced by Ado Yoshizaki-Cassuto and Rebecca O’Brien.
The cast is led by Riz Ahmed (Nightcrawler) who plays private eye Tommy Akhtar, and Billie Piper (Penny Dreadful) as Shelley, his long lost love.
The ensemble includes Roshan Seth (Indian Summers) and Screen Stars of Tomorrow Cush Jumbo, who recently landed a recurring role on Us drama The Good Wife,and James Floyd (My Brother the Devil).
The film centres on deadbeat private eye Tommy Akhtar (Ahmed) who walks into his office to find high-class prostitute Melody (Jumbo) seeking his help...
City of Tiny Lights, a London-set film noir is to begin principal photography on April 27. The film will shoot for six weeks in London and will be released in 2016.
Written by Patrick Neate, based on his novel of the same name, the film will be directed by Pete Travis (Vantage Point, Dredd) and produced by Ado Yoshizaki-Cassuto and Rebecca O’Brien.
The cast is led by Riz Ahmed (Nightcrawler) who plays private eye Tommy Akhtar, and Billie Piper (Penny Dreadful) as Shelley, his long lost love.
The ensemble includes Roshan Seth (Indian Summers) and Screen Stars of Tomorrow Cush Jumbo, who recently landed a recurring role on Us drama The Good Wife,and James Floyd (My Brother the Devil).
The film centres on deadbeat private eye Tommy Akhtar (Ahmed) who walks into his office to find high-class prostitute Melody (Jumbo) seeking his help...
- 4/21/2015
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
If you’re looking for a comprehensive overview of the not so distant future in American indie film, a reliable sampling is usually found in the bi-annual Sffs / Krf Filmmaking Grants finalist (and future winners) lists. Grants will be awarded next month, but this finalists’ list overviews a look into the 2016-17 pool of talent and feature films. Among the trio of items that are in various stages of production and we’re keeping tabs on, we have Ian Olds (docu helmer of Fixer: The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi) who moved into fiction feature filmmaking with The Fixer. Produced by Caroline von Kuhn (Camden Int. Film Fest Managing Director and docu field expert), this is said to include supporting players in the shape of Melissa Leo and James Franco. And speaking of Franco…, Travis Mathews from Interior. Leather Bar. fame has Oscillate Wildly next in line. Beasts of the Southern Wild...
- 4/10/2015
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Norwegian comedy-drama named Best European film in Berlin Film Festival’s Panorama section.
Norway’s Out of Nature (Mot Naturen), directed by Ole Giæver, has won the Europa Cinemas Label as Best European film in the Panorama section.
Out of Nature will now benefit from promotional support from Europa Cinemas and better exhibition due to a financial incentive for network cinemas to include it in their programme schedule.
Review: Out Of NatureBLOG: Brisk run for Nature
The winner was chosen by a jury of four exhibitors from the Europa Cinemas network and marks the 11th time the award has been handed out in Berlin.
The jury comprised Pedro Barbadillo (Cineciutat, Palma, Spain); Elsie Roose (Cinema Lumière, Bruges, Belgium); Artem Ryzhkov (Kinoteatr Zarya, Kaliningrad, Russia); Andrea Stosiek (Sputnik Kino, Berlin, Germany).
“With a wry Scandinavian sense of humour, Out of Nature is a well made and entertaining film about man’s contemporary anxieties and concerns – something of a universal...
Norway’s Out of Nature (Mot Naturen), directed by Ole Giæver, has won the Europa Cinemas Label as Best European film in the Panorama section.
Out of Nature will now benefit from promotional support from Europa Cinemas and better exhibition due to a financial incentive for network cinemas to include it in their programme schedule.
Review: Out Of NatureBLOG: Brisk run for Nature
The winner was chosen by a jury of four exhibitors from the Europa Cinemas network and marks the 11th time the award has been handed out in Berlin.
The jury comprised Pedro Barbadillo (Cineciutat, Palma, Spain); Elsie Roose (Cinema Lumière, Bruges, Belgium); Artem Ryzhkov (Kinoteatr Zarya, Kaliningrad, Russia); Andrea Stosiek (Sputnik Kino, Berlin, Germany).
“With a wry Scandinavian sense of humour, Out of Nature is a well made and entertaining film about man’s contemporary anxieties and concerns – something of a universal...
- 2/13/2015
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Sundance Institute and The Royal Film Commission - Jordan announced the six projects selected for the 10th anniversary of the Rawi Screenwriters Lab, which took place October 28 to November 1 in Amman, Jordan. Created as a cornerstone of the Institute’s deep commitment to artists in the Middle East, the Lab has supported over seventy artists from more than a dozen countries.
The two first features produced from the inaugural 2005 Lab premiered at the Sundance Film Festival: "Pomegranates and Myrrh," written and directed by Najwa Najjar (Palestine) and "Amreeka," written and directed by Cherien Dabis (Palestine/Jordan/Us). Notable alums of the Lab also include Mohammed Al Daradji ( "Son of Babylon" ) and Sally El Hosaini ( "My Brother The Devil" ).
More recently, 2009 Rawi alumna Haifaa Al Mansour (Saudi Arabia) premiered her first feature "Wadjda" at the 2012 Venice Film Festival. It was soon acquired by Sony Pictures Classics and was distributed to critical and audience acclaim from around the world. "Wadjda" is the first feature film shot entirely in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the first ever by a Saudi female filmmaker.
The 10 th anniversary events in Amman included a panel on the craft of screenwriting led by Al Mansour, a public screening of "Zindeeq"by Lab Advisor Michel Khleifi, and a reception designed to connect local artists with filmmakers from across the region. Keri Putnam, Executive Director of Sundance Institute, said, “Stories told by independent artists, whether working in the U.S. or internationally, provide remarkable windows into other cultures, and deepen understanding. Ten years into our work in the Middle East, we look forward to continuing to give voice to artists in the region.”
Michelle Satter, Founding Director of the Feature Film Program, said, “We deeply value our collaboration with the Royal Film Commission as well as the artists we have supported in the Middle East over the past 10 years. The films that have emerged from the Lab have reflected upon many of the region’s important cultural and political moments over the past decade. I am proud to see the work of these artists enriching the broader culture with unique and impactful stories."
George David, General Manager of the Royal Film Commission, said,“We are proud of what this Lab has accomplished over the past ten years. It is safe to say that Rawi, with the support of the Sundance Institute has become a recognized contributor to the development of Arab feature films. Cinematic works, which were born in Rawi, have been featured in major films festivals and released in cinema screens globally, exposing our Arab culture and heritage to the world.”
Modeled on the Institute’s renowned Us-based Screenwriters Labs, the Rawi Screenwriters Lab provides an opportunity for filmmakers from the Middle East region to develop their work under the guidance of accomplished screenwriters in an environment that encourages storytelling at its highest level. The Lab is led by the Royal Film Commission of Jordan and managed by Deema Azar, in consultation with Sundance Institute’s Feature Film Program, under the direction of Founding Director Michelle Satter and International Director Paul Federbush.
The Creative Advisors this year included Pavel Jech (This Is Not An American Movie"), Rawi Screenwriting Lab alum Najwa Najjar ("Eyes Of A Thief" , "Pomegranates And Myrrh" ), Hanna Weg ( "Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet" ), Jon Raymond ( "Night Moves," "Wendy and Lucy" ), and Michel Khleifi ( "Zindeeq" ).
The six artists selected for the 2014 Rawi Screenwriters Lab include:
Shake
Writer and Director: Deema Dabis (Jordan)
Free-spirited Kareemah decides to leave her home in Los Angeles to pursue her lifelong dream when she accepts an offer to tour Palestine with an international circus troop. As she struggles to manage her insecurities as a first-time performer, she is continuously shaken up by the complexities of life in Palestine.
Dabis received an Mfa in Cinema from the Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts. From a young age she has always been in love with stories and believes fiercely that the power of creation and a new vision will not only bring healing and insight into our world but also has the potential to create alternative narratives and realities. She is working on a number of projects including her first short film The Sri Lankan , which received funding from the Jordan Film Fund.
Baghdad Perfume
Writer and Director: Roua Ahmad (Iraq)
The tale of a middle-class family and their struggles during the darkest period in Iraq between 2004 and 2006. As the occupation becomes more oppressive and water and electricity begin to run out, the family of three tries to stay together through kidnapping, illness, and the increasing danger of staying in Baghdad.
Ahmad was born on 1983 in Iraq. She received a certificate of participation from USC School of Cinematic Art and a Bachelor's degree in Computer Programming. She later got her Mfa in Directing and Editing from The Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts. Filmmaking has been her ambition since the age of 12. After graduation she worked as an editor and screenwriter for a television production company. Her short films include The Last Hour , and have been screened and nominated for awards in 12 film festivals around the world.
Killer of the Selawa
Writer and Director: Islam Azzazi (Egypt)
Co-Writer: Charles Akl (Egypt)
In the tense atmosphere following the revolution in Egypt, a man spends the night in a remote villa on the outskirts of Alexandria, trying to obtain a permit for his father’s weapons. After news spreads of a vicious, mythical beast in the area, the man finds himself caught up in a murderous accident.
Since his Dostoyevski inspired thesis project, Al-Kharaz (Beads) , Azzazi has directed and produced numerous Documentaries and short films. His documentaries include Wujouh Al-Fayoum (Fayoum Portraits) and Dominate Your Eyes. He has also produced and directed the short film Nahar we Leil (Day & Night), 2006. Azzazi has worked at El-Warsha Theatre Company where he coached actors and photographed theatrical productions. In 2007 he established a new production company Wika with three other filmmakers.
Charles Akl works as a writer, director, editor, art critic and photographer. After graduating from the University of Alexandria’s Faculty of Fine Arts in 2006, he has worked in several domains ranging from architecture design to writing and editing for several arts publications, including Magaz. Akl has also worked as the program coordinator at Al Mawred Al Thaqafy.
Tide
Writer and Director: Hussen Ibraheem (Lebanon)
A man and woman struggle in the aftermath of their son’s death. As the tide approaches their coastal home and they make their way by car to a relative’s house in the mountains, they must confront the tension the tragedy has created between them.
Ibraheem is an independent filmmaker, born in Beirut, Lebanon. After getting his BA in Architecture, Ibraheem followed his love for animation working as a freelance storyboard artist and character designer. Ibraheem was granted a scholarship from The Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts where he studied directing and cinematography. His second short film produced at Rsica, Typo, is currently touring 13 film festivals in Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Greece, USA, UK, and Italy.
The Golden Cap Club
Writer and Director: Merva Faddoul (Lebanon)
A young girl comes of age as the organized world of the adults crumbles during the invasion of Kuwait in the early 1990s. Determined to win a trip to Disneyland, she collects bottle caps in an attempt to find the ‘golden cap,’ as her family tries to distract her from the sudden challenges they face.
Faddoul is an award-winning writer and director. She recieved an Mfa in Film Production from the University of Southern California and a BA in Communications from the Lebanese American University. Her short films have won grants from National Geographic and the Doha Film Institute and they have screened at dozens of festivals worldwide including the Cannes Short Film Corner, Human Rights Nights (Italy), Doha-Tribeca Film Festival, and Tricycle Cinema in London. She is a member of the Writers Guild of America and the International Academy of WebTV.
Snow
Writer and Director: Omaima Hamouri (Palestine)
Eight year-old Dina believes that an old family curse is behind the conflict that arises each summer between her parents, and becomes convinced that snow is the only way to solve their problems. With the help of her grandmother, she resolves to delay her parents’ divorce until the first snowfall.
Hamouri was born in 1988 in Jerusalem. She received her bachelor degree in Mass Media from Al-Quds University, followed by an Mfa in Editing and Screenwriting from the Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts in Jordan. With a never-ending passion for telling human stories through film, Omaima is now working as an independent filmmaker.
The Sundance Institute Feature Film Program is supported by The Annenberg Foundation, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Rt Features, Time Warner Foundation, The Lincoln Motor Company, Red Crown Productions, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Hp, Steve Bing, Jeanne Donovan Fisher, Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Microsoft, The Rockefeller Foundation, Nhk Enterprises, Inc., National Endowment for the Arts, 3311 Productions, The Ammon Foundation, Firestone / von Winterfeldt Family Fund, Ford Foundation, Philip Fung-A3 Foundation, SAGIndie, Grazka Taylor, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and The Ray and Dagmar Dolby Family Fund.
Sundance Institute Feature Film Program
Since its founding in 1981, the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program (Ffp) has supported an extensive list of ground-breaking independent films. Ffp films making their premieres this year include Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash (winner of the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival), Cutter Hodierne’s Fishing Without Nets (winner of the Directing Prize at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival), and Malik Vitthal’s Imperial Dreams (winner of the Best of Next Audience Award at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival). Additional notable films supported over the program’s history include Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale Station , Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox , Haifaa Al Mansour’s Wadjda , Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild , Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene , Dee Rees’ Pariah , Cary Fukunaga's Sin Nombre , Andrea Arnold's Red Road , Miranda July’s Me and You and Everyone We Know , Hany Abu-Assad’s Paradise Now , Josh Marston’s Maria Full of Grace , Peter Sollett’s Raising Victor Vargas , John Cameron Mitchell’s Hedwig and the Angry Inch , Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream , Kimberly Peirce’s Boys Don't Cry , Walter Salles’ Central Station , Chris Eyre and Sherman Alexie’s Smoke Signals , Allison Anders' Mi Vida Loca , Paul Thomas Anderson’s Hard Eight , and Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs .
undance.org/featurefilm
Sundance Institute Sundance Institute is a global nonprofit organization founded by Robert Redford in 1981. Through its artistic development programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, composers and playwrights, the Institute seeks to discover and support independent film and theatre artists from the United States and around the world, and to connect audiences to their work. The Institute promotes independent storytelling as art and as a compelling and powerful way to inform, inspire and unite people. Internationally recognized for its annual Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Institute has supported such projects as Beasts of the Southern Wild, Fruitvale Station, Sin Nombre, The Invisible War, The Square, Dirty Wars, Spring Awakening, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder and Fun Home. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook , Instagram,Twitter and YouTube.
The two first features produced from the inaugural 2005 Lab premiered at the Sundance Film Festival: "Pomegranates and Myrrh," written and directed by Najwa Najjar (Palestine) and "Amreeka," written and directed by Cherien Dabis (Palestine/Jordan/Us). Notable alums of the Lab also include Mohammed Al Daradji ( "Son of Babylon" ) and Sally El Hosaini ( "My Brother The Devil" ).
More recently, 2009 Rawi alumna Haifaa Al Mansour (Saudi Arabia) premiered her first feature "Wadjda" at the 2012 Venice Film Festival. It was soon acquired by Sony Pictures Classics and was distributed to critical and audience acclaim from around the world. "Wadjda" is the first feature film shot entirely in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the first ever by a Saudi female filmmaker.
The 10 th anniversary events in Amman included a panel on the craft of screenwriting led by Al Mansour, a public screening of "Zindeeq"by Lab Advisor Michel Khleifi, and a reception designed to connect local artists with filmmakers from across the region. Keri Putnam, Executive Director of Sundance Institute, said, “Stories told by independent artists, whether working in the U.S. or internationally, provide remarkable windows into other cultures, and deepen understanding. Ten years into our work in the Middle East, we look forward to continuing to give voice to artists in the region.”
Michelle Satter, Founding Director of the Feature Film Program, said, “We deeply value our collaboration with the Royal Film Commission as well as the artists we have supported in the Middle East over the past 10 years. The films that have emerged from the Lab have reflected upon many of the region’s important cultural and political moments over the past decade. I am proud to see the work of these artists enriching the broader culture with unique and impactful stories."
George David, General Manager of the Royal Film Commission, said,“We are proud of what this Lab has accomplished over the past ten years. It is safe to say that Rawi, with the support of the Sundance Institute has become a recognized contributor to the development of Arab feature films. Cinematic works, which were born in Rawi, have been featured in major films festivals and released in cinema screens globally, exposing our Arab culture and heritage to the world.”
Modeled on the Institute’s renowned Us-based Screenwriters Labs, the Rawi Screenwriters Lab provides an opportunity for filmmakers from the Middle East region to develop their work under the guidance of accomplished screenwriters in an environment that encourages storytelling at its highest level. The Lab is led by the Royal Film Commission of Jordan and managed by Deema Azar, in consultation with Sundance Institute’s Feature Film Program, under the direction of Founding Director Michelle Satter and International Director Paul Federbush.
The Creative Advisors this year included Pavel Jech (This Is Not An American Movie"), Rawi Screenwriting Lab alum Najwa Najjar ("Eyes Of A Thief" , "Pomegranates And Myrrh" ), Hanna Weg ( "Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet" ), Jon Raymond ( "Night Moves," "Wendy and Lucy" ), and Michel Khleifi ( "Zindeeq" ).
The six artists selected for the 2014 Rawi Screenwriters Lab include:
Shake
Writer and Director: Deema Dabis (Jordan)
Free-spirited Kareemah decides to leave her home in Los Angeles to pursue her lifelong dream when she accepts an offer to tour Palestine with an international circus troop. As she struggles to manage her insecurities as a first-time performer, she is continuously shaken up by the complexities of life in Palestine.
Dabis received an Mfa in Cinema from the Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts. From a young age she has always been in love with stories and believes fiercely that the power of creation and a new vision will not only bring healing and insight into our world but also has the potential to create alternative narratives and realities. She is working on a number of projects including her first short film The Sri Lankan , which received funding from the Jordan Film Fund.
Baghdad Perfume
Writer and Director: Roua Ahmad (Iraq)
The tale of a middle-class family and their struggles during the darkest period in Iraq between 2004 and 2006. As the occupation becomes more oppressive and water and electricity begin to run out, the family of three tries to stay together through kidnapping, illness, and the increasing danger of staying in Baghdad.
Ahmad was born on 1983 in Iraq. She received a certificate of participation from USC School of Cinematic Art and a Bachelor's degree in Computer Programming. She later got her Mfa in Directing and Editing from The Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts. Filmmaking has been her ambition since the age of 12. After graduation she worked as an editor and screenwriter for a television production company. Her short films include The Last Hour , and have been screened and nominated for awards in 12 film festivals around the world.
Killer of the Selawa
Writer and Director: Islam Azzazi (Egypt)
Co-Writer: Charles Akl (Egypt)
In the tense atmosphere following the revolution in Egypt, a man spends the night in a remote villa on the outskirts of Alexandria, trying to obtain a permit for his father’s weapons. After news spreads of a vicious, mythical beast in the area, the man finds himself caught up in a murderous accident.
Since his Dostoyevski inspired thesis project, Al-Kharaz (Beads) , Azzazi has directed and produced numerous Documentaries and short films. His documentaries include Wujouh Al-Fayoum (Fayoum Portraits) and Dominate Your Eyes. He has also produced and directed the short film Nahar we Leil (Day & Night), 2006. Azzazi has worked at El-Warsha Theatre Company where he coached actors and photographed theatrical productions. In 2007 he established a new production company Wika with three other filmmakers.
Charles Akl works as a writer, director, editor, art critic and photographer. After graduating from the University of Alexandria’s Faculty of Fine Arts in 2006, he has worked in several domains ranging from architecture design to writing and editing for several arts publications, including Magaz. Akl has also worked as the program coordinator at Al Mawred Al Thaqafy.
Tide
Writer and Director: Hussen Ibraheem (Lebanon)
A man and woman struggle in the aftermath of their son’s death. As the tide approaches their coastal home and they make their way by car to a relative’s house in the mountains, they must confront the tension the tragedy has created between them.
Ibraheem is an independent filmmaker, born in Beirut, Lebanon. After getting his BA in Architecture, Ibraheem followed his love for animation working as a freelance storyboard artist and character designer. Ibraheem was granted a scholarship from The Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts where he studied directing and cinematography. His second short film produced at Rsica, Typo, is currently touring 13 film festivals in Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Greece, USA, UK, and Italy.
The Golden Cap Club
Writer and Director: Merva Faddoul (Lebanon)
A young girl comes of age as the organized world of the adults crumbles during the invasion of Kuwait in the early 1990s. Determined to win a trip to Disneyland, she collects bottle caps in an attempt to find the ‘golden cap,’ as her family tries to distract her from the sudden challenges they face.
Faddoul is an award-winning writer and director. She recieved an Mfa in Film Production from the University of Southern California and a BA in Communications from the Lebanese American University. Her short films have won grants from National Geographic and the Doha Film Institute and they have screened at dozens of festivals worldwide including the Cannes Short Film Corner, Human Rights Nights (Italy), Doha-Tribeca Film Festival, and Tricycle Cinema in London. She is a member of the Writers Guild of America and the International Academy of WebTV.
Snow
Writer and Director: Omaima Hamouri (Palestine)
Eight year-old Dina believes that an old family curse is behind the conflict that arises each summer between her parents, and becomes convinced that snow is the only way to solve their problems. With the help of her grandmother, she resolves to delay her parents’ divorce until the first snowfall.
Hamouri was born in 1988 in Jerusalem. She received her bachelor degree in Mass Media from Al-Quds University, followed by an Mfa in Editing and Screenwriting from the Red Sea Institute of Cinematic Arts in Jordan. With a never-ending passion for telling human stories through film, Omaima is now working as an independent filmmaker.
The Sundance Institute Feature Film Program is supported by The Annenberg Foundation, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, Rt Features, Time Warner Foundation, The Lincoln Motor Company, Red Crown Productions, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, Hp, Steve Bing, Jeanne Donovan Fisher, Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Microsoft, The Rockefeller Foundation, Nhk Enterprises, Inc., National Endowment for the Arts, 3311 Productions, The Ammon Foundation, Firestone / von Winterfeldt Family Fund, Ford Foundation, Philip Fung-A3 Foundation, SAGIndie, Grazka Taylor, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and The Ray and Dagmar Dolby Family Fund.
Sundance Institute Feature Film Program
Since its founding in 1981, the Sundance Institute Feature Film Program (Ffp) has supported an extensive list of ground-breaking independent films. Ffp films making their premieres this year include Damien Chazelle’s Whiplash (winner of the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival), Cutter Hodierne’s Fishing Without Nets (winner of the Directing Prize at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival), and Malik Vitthal’s Imperial Dreams (winner of the Best of Next Audience Award at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival). Additional notable films supported over the program’s history include Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale Station , Ritesh Batra’s The Lunchbox , Haifaa Al Mansour’s Wadjda , Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin’s Beasts of the Southern Wild , Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene , Dee Rees’ Pariah , Cary Fukunaga's Sin Nombre , Andrea Arnold's Red Road , Miranda July’s Me and You and Everyone We Know , Hany Abu-Assad’s Paradise Now , Josh Marston’s Maria Full of Grace , Peter Sollett’s Raising Victor Vargas , John Cameron Mitchell’s Hedwig and the Angry Inch , Darren Aronofsky’s Requiem for a Dream , Kimberly Peirce’s Boys Don't Cry , Walter Salles’ Central Station , Chris Eyre and Sherman Alexie’s Smoke Signals , Allison Anders' Mi Vida Loca , Paul Thomas Anderson’s Hard Eight , and Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs .
undance.org/featurefilm
Sundance Institute Sundance Institute is a global nonprofit organization founded by Robert Redford in 1981. Through its artistic development programs for directors, screenwriters, producers, composers and playwrights, the Institute seeks to discover and support independent film and theatre artists from the United States and around the world, and to connect audiences to their work. The Institute promotes independent storytelling as art and as a compelling and powerful way to inform, inspire and unite people. Internationally recognized for its annual Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Institute has supported such projects as Beasts of the Southern Wild, Fruitvale Station, Sin Nombre, The Invisible War, The Square, Dirty Wars, Spring Awakening, A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder and Fun Home. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook , Instagram,Twitter and YouTube.
- 11/10/2014
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
If you forgot about "Babylon," don't worry —we did too. It was nearly a year ago when the UK's Channel 4 debuted the pilot episode of the show, directed by none other than Danny Boyle, and in our B-grade review, we noted the show had a lot of potential. Evidently, the network thought so too, and a first season was commissioned and shot earlier this year, and so a trailer for the first season is here. Featuring a great cast including Brit Marling, James Nesbitt, Paterson Joseph (aka Wayne from "The Leftovers") among others, the comedy/drama follows an American PR adviser who is hired to clean up the image of the London Metropolitan Police Department. And as you might guess, sparks fly. Jon Baird ("Filth") and filmmaker Sally El Hosaini ("My Brother The Devil") take over directing duties, and it looks like the qualities that landed the show on...
- 10/29/2014
- by Kevin Jagernauth
- The Playlist
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