Control is to have its UK Premiere on Friday 17 August, following a hugely successful world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May, where it opened the prestigious Director’s Fortnight to rapturous reviews from critics. The film tells the story of Joy Division singer Ian Curtis and was inspired by the book Touching From A Distance, written by Ian Curtis’s widow Deborah Curtis. It follows Curtis’s rise to fame, his battles with epilepsy, his relationships with both his wife and girlfriend and his suicide in 1980.
Control was directed by photographer Anton Corbijn, well known for his iconic stills of Joy Division, and stars Nottingham-born actress Samantha Morton and newcomer Sam Riley.
The film was shot in Nottingham during summer 2006. EM Media’s Location Services team assisted the production with establishing its production base in Nottingham at the former Carlton Studios, now owned by the University of Nottingham, along with securing work for 28 regionally-based crew members on the film. The film was co-financed with £250,000 of European Regional Development Funds via EM Media; the production brought an inward investment of £2 million into the city.
Thursday 23 August sees the UK premiere of And When Did Your Last See Your Father?, which stars Jim Broadbent, Colin Firth and newcomer Matthew Beard. Directed by Anand Tucker, the film is adapted from Blake Morrison's moving and candid memoir of his father in the weeks leading up to his death. EM Media invested £250,000 of European Regional Development Funds into And When Did You Last See Your Father?, and as a result the production, which shot during 2006, was partly based in the East Midlands, using regionally based crew, facilities and a variety of locations in Derbyshire, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire. The production brought an inward investment of around £1.2 million to the region.
Both Control and And When Did You Last See Your Father? have been nominated for the coveted Michael Powell Award for Best British New Feature Film; the award is to celebrate imagination and creativity in British filmmaking and is judged by an international jury. Last year’s winner was another EM Media co-financed feature, Brothers of the Head, and it seems very likely that an East Midlands film will scoop the prize again this year.
Actor Paddy Considine’s directorial debut, Dog Altogether, also premieres on Friday 17 August. The short film tells the story of Joseph, a man plagued by self-destructive violence and rage who scours the landscape in search of a single grain of redemption to restore hope to his fractured life. Shot in Glasgow with post production in Nottingham, EM Media invested £10,000 through the European Regional Development Fund in the production of the film.
EM Media’s short film programme; Heartlines | sharp new shorts from the east midlands, is being screened on Monday 20 August. The programme showcases films produced through the DV Shorts scheme and includes films in competition at this year’s EIFF; Rebecca and Over The Hill (already selected for Rushes Soho Shorts Festival), plus other acclaimed films which have recently received international and UK premieres including The Imaginary Girl (Galway Film Fleadh) and Daddy’s Girl (Rhode Island International Film Festival).
Heartlines includes shorts produced through the Identities project. EM Media worked closely with the Peepul Centre in Leicester on this project to provide new and emerging filmmakers and other media practitioners with the opportunity to create screen-based stories reflecting a diversity of social and cultural experiences and perspectives. Identities is a national UK Film Council/Era programme and was developed in the East Midlands by EM Media.
Screen International has also named a number of the writers, directors and producers featured in the programme as this year’s ‘Stars of Tomorrow’. They include Peter Baynton (writ. & dir. Over The Hill), Deborah Haywood (dir. Lady Margaret) and Tina Pawlik (prod. Lady Margaret, Dreams Don’t Walk Straight).
EM Media is hosting The Development Debate: How does your garden grow? on Wednesday 22 August. Building on its experience of nurturing a broad variety of talent, EM Media is bringing together an eminent panel to discuss if, and how, the right environment can be created to nurture creativity and develop the people and skills we need for cinema. The panel will be chaired by Nick James, editor of Sight & Sound, and includes East Midlands’ writer/director Shane Meadows, B3 executive producer and managing director Marc Boothe, Once producer Martina Niland and EM Media Development Executive Paul Welsh.
For further information about any of the films or events listed above please contact : in Edinburgh Emily Lappin or Emma Hewitt, on 07966 439 902 or emily.lappin@em-media.org.uk , in Nottingham Sally Hodgson 0115 934 9096 or via sally.hodgson@em-media.org.uk
