Screen East Success At The Edinburgh International Film Festival

A feature film and three short films supported by regional screen agency, Screen East, are in competition and screening at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.
Mad, Sad and Bad, After Tomorrow, Shadows & Dust and Curtains will all be screened at the prestigious film festival and Screen East will be there to support them.
Mad, Sad & Bad, which will be in competition for the New Directors Award and the Michael Powell Award for Best British Feature, will have its British Gala World Premiere on June 22. Meera Syal will also be taking to the stage for an 'In Person' interview at the festival.
The film is a thirtysomething comedy about an endearingly dysfunctional group of friends whose personal lives are continuously messed up by their own selfish needs and neuroses.
The first feature from writer/director Avie Luthra, mad, Sad & Bad features an ensemble case that includes Meera Syal (The Kumars, Anita & Me), Nitin Ganatra (Bride & Prejudice, Shifty) and Andrea Riseborough (Happy Go Lucky, Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley).
The second feature to be produced by the micro studio Moxie Makers, will be released by Soda Pictures on July 31.
The film was co-financed through the £2.25m Screen East Content Investment Fund, an award of funding from the European Regional Development Fund Objective 2 Programme administered by GO East, Government Office for the East of England. The fun was successfully launched at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival with internationally celebrated director Michael Winterbottom and producer Andrew Eaton and has now been exhausted following 12 investments.
Laurie Hayward, Chief Executive of Screen East, said: "Screen East is extremely proud to have another of its Content Investment Fund supported features having its world premiere at such an esteemed film festival. This follows our first feature, Dean Spanley, securing its world premiere at Toronto. This is a remarkable feat that fulfils our ambition to put the region on screen at the world's most prestigious film festivals."
Also in competition and screening at Edinburgh are two of Screen East's Digital Shorts films.
After Tomorrow, written and directed by Suffolk-based filmmaker Emma Sullivan is screening in UK Shorts 2 on June 27 at 12pm at Filmhouse 2. Returning to the village of his estranged wife, James grows increasingly concerned when the sinister owner of the guest house refuses to let him leave. A psychological suspense with a surprising yet moving denouement. The film stars Joseph Mawle, famed for his portrayal of Jesus Christ in The Passion (Red Riding Ch4, Persuasion ITV, Clapham Junction Ch4) and Kika Markham (Franklyn, Longford, Wonderland).
Shadows and Dust, an animation written and directed by Essex-based filmmaker Jon Dunleavy is in McLaren Animation 1 screening on June 20 at 6:20pm at Filmhouse 2.
Shadows and Dust follows eight-year-old Marla as she wakes to find a tooth fairy exchanging her tooth for a shiny new coin. In search of treasure and riches Marla begins a frightful journey as she follows the tooth fairy out of the city and into a fairy tale forest. Along Marla's adventure she encounters a host of scary childlike shadow creatures, discovers the tooth fairy fortress and all the treasures it holds and uncovers a startling truth about the real reason the fairies takes our childhood teeth.
Another Screen East funded short film is also screening in UK shorts 2. Curtains is written and directed by Dan Jemmett and Julian Baratt (one half of comedy duo The Mighty Boosh). it is a Warp Films/Made Up North production, co-funded by Film Four and Screen East's Xcellerate Fund. Curtains is a dark comedy set in Great Yarmouth and tells the story of Barry Shepherd, a worn out Punch & Judy man. After 50 years working the wooden dolls, it's time for a splashy puppet finish, an adieu. As things begin to fall apart around him, Barry's life becomes increasingly pervaded by the reality of his tawdry and violent profession. Drinking and cursing his way unrepentantly onwards, he continues with the show. Even as it threatens to destroy him and take his soul...
Sam Burton, Screen East Talent Executive, said: "We are delighted that three short films funded by Screen East are in competition and screening at this years' Edinburgh International Film Festival. Once again the quality of films being made in the region is being recognised by a festival of this calibre and we are thrilled to have worked with such talented filmmakers on these projects."
Shadows and Dust writer and director Jon Dunleavy said: "I am thrilled to have my work recognised by Edinburgh International Film Festival. With Shadows and Dust being viewed and judged by top industry talent and the public alike, opportunities like this are priceless to a filmmaker."
(KMcA/BMcC)