- For the Boy
- Mendoza
- Glendragon
- A Walk on the Beach
- Carrions Wake
- The Club
FOR THE BOY
Malta 1942, a tiny island under siege from the Axis powers, the most heavily bombed place on Earth. David, a young British Spitfire pilot, writes a war diary for the baby son he has not yet seen. He never knew his own father who died in WW1. His duty is to defend the island against the vastly superior numbers of the enemy but, more than anything, he wants to survive the war and be a father to his son.
Vincenzo is an Italian ‘human torpedo’ of the elite Decima Mas. While sitting astride his bomb, he must pilot it into one of the most heavily defended harbours in the world, attach it to the hull of a British ship and blow it to pieces. He is due to marry Maria, his childhood sweetheart, but can tell her nothing of this mission which is likely to take his life.
The story follows the parallel war experiences of Vincenzo and David who are unaware that their paths cross several times before they finally come face-to-face at the dramatic climax in Malta’s Grand Harbour. Seeing them as boys, we feel their hopes and dreams, and experience the influences that shape the men they become. We meet the women they fall in love with and discover how they respond to the extreme challenges and choices that war forces upon them.
Inspired by real events as recorded in wartime diaries from both sides, this is a war story for our times, about what makes people willing to take terrible acts of destruction for an ideal, in the full knowledge that their own lives will be sacrificed in the process.
For The Boy is written by Christopher Mander who first went to Malta to collect a film festival prize for his short film, Perfect. It was during this visit that he discovered Malta’s remarkable war story and he has often returned to research it.
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MENDOZA
Daniel Mendoza was the smallest heavyweight champion the world has ever known and arguably the most important boxer who ever lived.
This is the true story of an extraordinary talent, who broke down his world’s biggest barriers, turning the illegal practice of prize-fighting in to a mainstream athletic art form.
Mendoza is being written by Steven Knight who was Oscar and BAFTA nominated for Stephen Frears’ Dirty Pretty Things. Steven also wrote Michael Apted’s Amazing Grace and David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises for which Viggo Mortensen was nominated for an Oscar.
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GLENDRAGON
The Glendragon is a remote Chinese takeaway in the Scottish Highlands where Jackie, a young ethnic Chinese woman, lives with her over-protective Grandfather.
Grandfather insists Jackie follows Chinese traditions, including rigorous martial arts training, but Jackie feels she is Scottish and hates being different.
One night, Grandfather is killed, and the Glendragon is burned to the ground. With the killers chasing her, Jackie goes to the only place where she won’t stand out in a crowd, London’s Chinatown. Here she must fight for her life against the man who ended her Grandfather’s life and now wants her own.
Gary Young was a playwright before turning to cinema with Shooters starring Gerard Butler, The Tournament starring Robert Carlyle and Kelly Hu and most recently Harry Brown starring Sir Michael Caine and Emily Mortimer.
Director Gareth Evans discovered new martial arts sensation Iko Uwais and brought him to the action world’s attention in Merantau Warrior.
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A WALK ON THE BEACH
A cynical 12 year-old boy runs away with his mother from her violent boyfriend to a beach hut. After nearly drowning, the boy finds himself in a village believed to have been lost to the sea last century. Here he encounters a mysterious and mischievous old man, who is alternately charming, infuriating, childlike and wise. Through the old man, the boy discovers that his dead father is still alive in the village but the astonishing unmasking of his nemesis shatters all his assumptions.
Written by Christopher Mander, this is a story of childhood rediscovered and reclaimed, an ultimately uplifting journey of awakening set on a spectacularly beautiful beach.
Director Luis Mandoki has a wealth of experience in eliciting emotionally authentic performances from both A-list actors and unknown children in leading roles. His credits include mainstream films like When a Man Loves a Woman, starring Meg Ryan and Andy Garcia, Message in a Bottle, with Kevin Costner, Paul Newman and Robin Wright Penn, White Palace with Susan Sarandon and James Spader, Trapped with Charlize Theron and Kevin Bacon, and Angel Eyes with Jennifer Lopez. He also directed the festival favourite Innocent Voices which won numerous awards.
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CARRIONS WAKE
Carrions Wake is a psychological mystery in which the audience discovers a disturbing twist from a series of increasingly gruesome deaths.
A group of adolescents with violently traumatic pasts are taken on a camping trip by their psychiatric care supervisor, when one of the girls commits suicide. Her corpse appears to come back to life, just long enough to kill the group’s leader. But ‘there’s no such thing as zombies’ according to naïve intern, Chrissie, who is now forced to take responsibility for the group’s safety.
As the ever-decreasing survivors find themselves fending off attacks from a rapidly increasing number of corpses, Chrissie must race against time to identify whatever or whoever is behind the killings before all of their lives are lost.
Carrions Wake is written by Matthew Sanger (Playground Logic) and Rob Green (The Bunker, Gladiators v Werewolves: Edge of Empire).