Welsh Film Talent Receive Boost

Welsh film writers and producers are to benefit as the Film Agency for Wales invest in film talent.
Over £250k has already been invested by the Film Agency for Wales in 23 documentaries, emotional thrillers and feature films in 2011. This brings the Agency’s slate up to a total of 85 projects in development. The breadth and depth of the talent involved is significant; there is no lack of film talent in Wales, or of potential partners keen to come on board.
Nearly £10,000 has gone to Wales based company Biting Point Films (Eric Styles and Jason Durr) is working with Australian company Go Patterson Films on Sean Riley’s (Lure) Wife of Bedlam. The film is set in 1847 and sees a young woman travel to Tasmania, pursuing her dreams of a new life. She falls in love with a charming man and journeys to his home deep into the Tasmanian wilderness. But once there, she discovers his dark and deadly secret. She decides to flee but few, if any, leave the Walls of Bedlam alive...
£15,000 has gone for script development and a short pilot of Raging Balls of Steel Justice, a stop motion model animation parodying the Hollywood action hero genre films of the 1980’s. Mike Mort (Gogs, A Life Less Ordinary) wrote the script and will produce and direct.
Little Stars of Bethlehem is a feature documentary all about a seemingly peaceful infant school that descends into festive chaos in the run up to Christmas. With £10,000 development funding from the Film Agency, Cat Cooper (Street Kids United) will produce alongside Director Adam Cooper (Senses) with Stephen Fry providing the narration.
Experienced producers Ed Talfan (Caerdydd, Belonging) and Kate Crowther (Belonging, The Story of Tracy Beaker) of Severn Screen have secured £15,000 for Denmark. Written by Jeff Murphy (Fairytale of New York, Julia), the film is based on a Merthyr man who sees a documentary and decides life in a Danish prison would be better. It will be co-produced with BBC Films. The Film Agency for Wales has already supported Jeff Murphy with funding for Hole which he worked on with Kate Crowther and Ed Talfan who have also had production funding for I Spit on Your Rave, a zombie movie based around the 2012 Olympics, to be produced in conjunction with Warp Films.
In The Perfect Guy, Ed Fletcher believes he is terminally ill so embarks on a secret quest to find his girlfriend her dream man. Joy at his success is tempered by his discovery he’s not as ill as he thought! Written by David Melkevick (Roast), the project has been awarded £14,000 by the Film Agency. Lee Brazier (Gladiators Vs Werewolves: Edge of Empire) is producer.
Low budget film The Machine has been awarded £20,000 towards script development and the production of a pilot. Written by writer/director Caradog James (Little White Lies), the sci-fi movie is based on Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. John Giwa-Amu (Little White Lies) will produce through Red and Black Films. Caradog James and John Giwa-Amu have previously worked together on Cyrano and Blonde, both of which have had funding from the Film Agency for Wales.
Greenland Time is set to be an emotional thriller that explores the themes of guilt, punishment, loss and love. Written by Catherine Linstrum (Dreaming of Joseph Lees, California Dreamin’, The Black Dog), the film has been awarded £15,000 by the Film Agency and co-developed with the BFI. David J Newman (Perish) will direct alongside Sigma Films producer Gillian Berrie (Perfect Sense, You Instead). Catherine Linstrum and David J Newman co-wrote Perish, a project previously funded by the Film Agency.
£25,000 has also been awarded to Blacklands. The novel was written by Belinda Bauer and has been adapted for the screen by Tony Grisoni (The Pizza Miracle, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas). It tells the harrowing story of 12-year-old Stephen Lamb who lives with his single mum and the aching, ever-present loss of his missing brother who disappeared aged just 11, believed to have been murdered and buried on Exmoor by infamous serial killer Arnold Avery. Julian Jarrold (Appropriate Adult, Red Riding: 1974) will direct alongside Revolution Films producers Andrew Eaton, Josh Hyams (The Killer Inside Me, The Red Riding Trilogy), Neon Park’s Lex Lutzus (Shrek, Madagascar) and James Brown (Lebanon, The Secret in Their Eyes) and Welsh producer Josephine Rose (In the Dark Half) of Bandit Country Ltd.
(LB/GK)