Scottish Screen backed film takes French award

Richard Jobson has won the award as Best Director for his first feature film, '16 Years of Alcohol' at the Dinard Festival of British Film in France.
The film, a semi- autobiographical story of a young man trying to escape his past proved hugely popular with French audiences, although it has still to find a distributor there. Metro Tartan is distributing in the UK.
Jobson said: "I am absolutely thrilled to have won this accolade. I was sitting at the presentation dinner on Sunday night with absolutely no expectation of being among the winners when suddenly they were announcing my name as Best Director. Scottish Screen were the only people in the UK to support me on 16 years of Alcohol, it is a tribute to their faith in me that the film is a success."
Steve McIntyre, Chief Executive of Scottish Screen, added: "Richard Jobson is a very talented new director, with boundless enthusiasm for the medium and 16 Years of Alcohol is a very accomplished first film. Scottish Screen is delighted to have been involved with the film since the beginning and we are also supporting Richard's second feature, The Purifiers which will premiere next year."
The film had the distinction of being given a special commendation by the Michael Powell Jury at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in August in the award for best British Film, the first time such an acclamation has been given.
(GB)