London Film Festival's Opening Feature Puts South West In The Spotlight

Mark Romanek's Never Let Me Go will open the prestigious 54th BFI London Film Festival on October 13.
The film was shot in Clevedon and Weston-super-Mare over four days in April 2009. The production caused a stir early last year in the seaside town of Clevedon, when it used the picturesque Victorian Clevedon Pier, the UK's oldest surviving period pier, as a location for filming. The film also shot in a cafe on Weston-super-Mare's seafront.
Based on the highly acclaimed, bestselling novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go is a remarkable story of love, loss and hidden truths. Kathy (BAFTA winner and Oscar nominee Carey Mulligan, An Education), Tommy (Andrew Garfield, Boy A, Red Riding) and Ruth (Oscar nominee Keira Knightley, Pride & Prejudice, Atonement) spend their childhood at Hailsham, a seemingly idyllic Englsih boarding school where they discover a dark and haunting secret about their future.
As they leave the shelter of the school behind and draw inexorably closer to the devastating fate that awaits them as adults, they must also confront the deep feelings of love, jealousy and betrayal that threaten to pull them apart.
Caroline Norbury, Chief Executive of South West Screen, said: "The South West is home to one of the healthiest film and television industries outside of London, and we're delighted to see an excellent film made using our locations and crew open such a prestigious event in the film calendar. Last year, film and television production brought in £62 million to the South West, a significant economic impact and this kind of exposure shows how far the cultural impact reaches too."
Councillor Felicity Baker, North Somerset Council's Executive Member for Tourism, said: "We are very pleased to have attracted filming such a high profile production to our part of the country and wish it every success at the box office."
Never Let Me Go premiered last month at the Toronto International Film Festival and will open the 54th BFI London Film Festival on Wednesday. The BFI London Film Festival is the largest public film event in the UK and will this year showcase 197 features and 112 shorts, including international premieres presented by cars members and filmmakers, before closing on October 24 with Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle's latest film, 127 Hours.
Never Let Me Go will be in UK cinemas from January 21 2011.
(KMcA)