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Alan Clarke’s brutally unflinching prison drama Scum is set to make its long-awaited return to digital platforms in the UK and Ireland, with Vertigo Releasing confirming a release date of 17th March. The controversial 1979 film, which remains one of the most hard-hitting portrayals of the British borstal system, stars Ray Winstone in a breakthrough performance that would cement his status as one of the country’s most formidable actors.

Originally produced as a BBC television play in 1977, Scum was banned before its intended broadcast, deemed too extreme for public consumption. Clarke and screenwriter Roy Minton refused to let their vision disappear into obscurity, reworking the film as a theatrical release in 1979. What followed was a harrowing portrayal of institutional brutality that quickly became one of the most infamous British films of its era.

Set in a juvenile correctional facility, Scum follows Carlin (Winstone), a young offender who quickly learns...

Exclusive: Oscar winner Vanessa Redgrave and husband Franco Nero are leading cast in under-the-radar social thriller, The Estate, which has wrapped filming in the UK.

The film will chart the story of the Wellsleys, an aristocratic family unable to save their ancestral estate because of debts. As they struggle to find a solution, a series of disturbing apparitions begin to haunt them, forcing the Wellsleys to confront the deep injustices they and other landowners, past and present, have wrought. Below is a first-look image.

The film is being directed, produced and was scripted by Redgrave and Nero’s son, Carlo Gabriel Nero, whose credits as director include HBO movie The Fever and as a producer, the 2017 Cannes entry Sea Sorrow.

Iuvit Media Sales is handling international sales. Filming wrapped last month and the project shot on location in England.

Also starring are Bob Barrett, Jennifer Wiltsie, Julian Rivett, Julian Firth,...

Quick Links Scum Plot And Cast Why Scum Was Banned How Scum Is Still Shocking to This Day Why Scum Is a Classic and Why You Should Watch It

There will always be an interest and allure in banned media, which, for many, raises questions like "Why do they not want me to see this?" This often comes with boundary-pushing cinema that challenges social norms and political powers or goes to such extremes that those in charge of distribution deem it inappropriate to share with the masses.

Are all banned films great? Looking through the video nasties catalog, some of the films only became notorious because they made the infamous list of banned media. Yet, at the same time, others like Salo: The 120 Days of Sodom or Ken Russel's The Devils have garnered such acclaim that they have transcended their initial ban.

There is one notable British film that...

Scum At Cinefamily | 611 N Fairfax Ave.

Beginning Friday, a new Dcp restoration of British director Alan Clarke’s harrowing 1979 film Scum comes to Cinefamily for a well-deserved weeklong run. Set in an anonymous British borstal, a youth detention center for only the most violent and unrepentant of young men, Scum follows the arrival and uneasy integration of three new inmates played by Ray Winstone, Julian Firth and Alrick Riley. In short, brutal order, sides are taken and the tenuous dynamic collapses, and through a series of gripping set pieces Clarke presents an unflinching vision of damaged masculinity at...

Shot over 2 weeks in London and the South Coast, Blood And Carpet is a 1960’s influenced, kitchen sink, comedy thriller. Directed by Graham Fletcher-Cook and starring Annie Burkin (Zebra Crossing), Billy Wright (Betsy And Leonard) and Frank Boyce (Tony) it features supporting roles from Nicola Stapleton (EastEnders, The Rise Of The Krays) Julian Firth (Scum) and Andrew Tiernan (300, The Pianist). !

London 1967 and Ruby and Lyle have a problem. A … Continue reading →

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The Queen (2006) Direction: Stephen Frears Cast: Helen Mirren, Michael Sheen, James Cromwell, Alex Jennings, Sylvia Syms, Helen McCrory, Roger Allam, Julian Firth Screenplay: Peter Morgan Oscar Movies, European Film Award Movies Recommended Helen Mirren, James Cromwell, The Queen A more sober tone would have made Stephen Frears' filmization of Peter Morgan's The Queen screenplay less appealing to a mass audience. However, it would also have made the film itself — and the people and events portrayed in it — more true to life. Frears and/or Morgan and/or the film's producers and executive producers (among them Scott Rudin) simply couldn't resist "humanizing" Queen Elizabeth II and British prime minister Tony Blair, as they both fight a semi-public battle following the sudden and violent death of Princess Diana in 1997. Usually, when we're discussing mainstream movies such as The Queen, "humanizing" means mushying things up. The Queen may not have been...

Seen on PBS.s Mystery! in the late 1990s and based on the best-selling books by Ellis Peters, Cadfael: The Complete Collection has arrived on DVD from Acorn Media, and M&C is giving away a copy autographed by Sir Derek Jacobi! Featuring all 13 episodes from the acclaimed series, Cadfael: Complete Collection sees Jacobi (I, Claudius; Gosford Park; Hamlet) in the role of Brother Cadfael, a warrior turned monk who solves crimes in war-torn medieval England. Filled with pitch-perfect period detail, the award-winning series also features stars Julian Firth (Sylvia) and Michael Culver (A Passage to India) and offers a riveting glimpse into the past. Once a Crusader, now a man of the cloth, the worldly but humble...