Scottish Debut Feature Crying With Laughter Launched At Edinburgh Film Festival

Crying With Laughter, the feature directorial debut of Justin Molotnikov, a darkly funny revenge thriller set in the Edinburgh stand-up comedy world, has been selected for the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2009, as part of the British Gala section and has been nominated for The Michael Powell Award for Best New British Film. Previous winners include: Control, My Summer of Love, Young Adam and Last Resort.
Crying With Laughter has also been tipped by Peter Bradshaw, lead film critic for the The Guardian (June 10, 2009) as one of his Top Ten films to watch at this year's Edinburgh Film Festival. The film is also eligible for the PPG Award for Best Performance in a British Feature Film. Stephen McCole's powerhouse central performance will put him in strong contention for the award in its third year. Crying With Laugher is also eligible for the Standard Life Audience Award and the Skillset New Directors Award. Director Justin Molotnikov has also been selected as Skillset EIFF Trailblazer.
Written and directed by Justin Molotnikov, Crying With Laughter stars Stephen McCole (Rushmore, Band of Brothers, The Crow Road, High Times) as Joey Fisk and Malcolm Shields (Young Adam, The Lost World, Hallam Foe) as Frank Archer. Andrew Neil (Amazing Grace) and Jo Hartley (This is England) also co-star.
Crying With Laughter's story and characters were developed by using improvisation. It is Justin's preferred way of developing drama, similar to a technique that renowned auteur Mike Leigh uses. This ensured Stephen and Malcolm were intimately and intricately involved in creating the story for the film, it also meant that pretty uniquely for a directorial debut feature it was fully funded without a script in place. Lead actor Stephen McCole in researching his roleas stand-up Joey Frisk, took up the challenge of actually becoming a stand-up comedian. Over a three-week period he took on a number of gigs on the circuit in Edinburgh and Glasgow. The painstaking and sometimes painful research gave Stephen a new perception into the stand-up world whilst also giving him the confidence to take on the portrayal of edgy comedian Joey Frisk.
Hannah McGill, Artistic Director of EIFF '09 said of the film: "Crying With Laughter is a vibrant and savagely funny film that has been put together with a breezy confidence that bodes well for its makers' futures in the industry. With an absolutely stellar central turn from Stephen McCole, a sense of humour that's right on the edge and a plot that amps up the tension incessantly throughout, it's a gripping film and one that we are most proud to premiere at EIFF."
Crying With Laughter is a Synchronicity Films and Wellington Films Production for Scottish Screen, EM Media and in association with BBC Scotland. Producers are Claire Mundell, Racell Robey and Alastair Clark. Financed by EM Media through the European Regional Development Fund.
Crying with Laughter receives its press screening on June 19 at 3pm at
Filmhouse 1, it's world premiere official screening on June 21 at 8pm at the same venue and its second public screening on June 26 at 9:30pm on Filmhouse 3.
(KMcA/JM)