News

Production is underway on horror-thriller film “Borderline,” shot in the U.K. and Malta.

Lucien Laviscount (“Emily in Paris”), Laura Marano (“The Royal Treatment”) and Middle Eastern star Cynthia Khalifeh (“8 Days”) lead a cast that also includes Jason Flemyng (“A Violent Man”).

Khalifeh will play Zena, a young woman who arrives at the Borderline pub for a date with the handsome Jack, whom she met on an app. Quickly realizing she has been stood up, Zena is persuaded to have a drink with the bumbling but charming local Paul, played by Laviscount. However, Paul’s non-threatening manner and easy conversation skills are merely a façade, and he is in fact a serial killer, who lures his victims inside the lawless walls of the Borderline.

The first instalment of the planned horror franchise is directed by Jane Gull (British Independent Film Awards nominated “My Feral Heart”) and written by Elizabeth Morris...

Here’s the latest episode of The Filmmakers Podcast, part of the podcast roster here on Nerdly. If you haven’t heard the show yet, you can check out previous episodes on the official podcast site, whilst we’ll be featuring each and every new episode as it premieres.

For those unfamiliar with the series, The Filmmakers Podcast is a podcast about how to make films from micro-budget indie films to bigger-budget studio films and everything in between. Our hosts Giles Alderson, Dome Lenoir, Dan Richardson, Andrew Rodger and Cristian James talk about how to get films made, how to actually make them and how to try not to f… it up in their very humble opinion. Guests will come on and chat about their filmmaking experiences from directors, writers, producers and screenwriters, to actors, cinematographers and distributors.

The Filmmaker’s Podcast #353: Trailblazing Indie Filmmakers Jane Gull and Karen Newman...

British actor Darren Kent, who had a memorable, heartbreaking role in HBO's hit series Game of Thrones, has died.

According to a post on X from his talent agency, Carey Dodd Associates, Kent passed away on Friday. While it was noted that his best friend and parents were by his side, no additional details were shared on the nature of Kent's passing, though he had been battling osteoporosis, arthritis, and a very rare skin disorder all throughout his career. The actor, who was just 36 years old, is getting remembered on social media by some of the people who'd gotten to know him through their work together.

It is with deep sadness we have to tell you that our dear friend and client Darren Kent passed away peacefully on Friday. His parents and best friend by his side. Our thoughts and love are with his family in this difficult time. Rip my friend â.¤ï¸. pic.

Darren Kent, the British actor who played a goat herder mourning his daughter on Game of Thrones and a skeleton in Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, has died. He was 36.

Kent died Friday, his agency, Carey Dodd Associates, announced. No other details were immediately available. He battled osteoporosis, arthritis and a rare skin disorder.

It is with deep sadness we have to tell you that our dear friend and client Darren Kent passed away peacefully on Friday. His parents and best friend by his side. Our thoughts and love are with his family in this difficult time. Rip my friend ❤️ pic.twitter.com/Ko0mPFUJNK

— Carey Dodd Associates (@CareyDoddAssos) August 15, 2023

Kent made his lone appearance on HBO’s Game of Thrones in the June 2014 episode “The Children” — the season-four finale — where he shows a stunned Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) the charred remains of his 3-year-old daughter, who was killed by Drogon.

The full line-up includes 21 world premieres, six European premieres and 60 Irish premieres.

Ireland’s Galway Film Fleadh (July 11-16) returns for its 35th edition with a line-up including opening night film Thaddeus O’Sullivan’s The Miracle Club, following its world premiere at Tribeca, that stars Laura Linney, Maggie Smith, Kathy Bates and Agnes O’Casey.

The full line-up includes 21 world premieres, six European premieres and 60 Irish premieres from 43 countries, boasting 95 feature films in total.

Closing the festival will be the Irish premiere of Alison Ellwood-directed Cyndi Lauper documentary Let The Canary Sing, with the US ’Girls Just Want To Have Fun...

Jane Gull’s offers strange tonal shifts and an oddly dreamy treatment of the brutal situation the central couple find themselves in

British writer-director Jane Gull made a strong impression with her very likable 2016 debut My Feral Heart, about a young carer with Down’s syndrome. This follow-up feature is about a young couple faced with homelessness. Paul (Niall McNamee) is a young Irish guy hoping to make it as a singer-songwriter and playing pubs in London; his manager is his wife, Sophie, played by EastEnders’s Shana Swash. When they are booted out of their flat for non-payment of the exploitatively high rent, the couple head to Southend looking for work, and gigs and things go from bad to worse.

This is a well-intentioned, earnestly acted film, but the tonal shifts are frankly uncomfortable. The brutally grim events in Paul and Sophie’s life are repeatedly leavened with an odd sort of John-Carney-does-poverty dreaminess.

The programme is back after a nine-year hiatus.

UK screenwriting talent incubator The Script Factory is re-launching after a hiatus of nine years, with upcoming courses set to kick off later this year.

The Script Factory was launched by Charlotte Macleod and Lucy Scher in 1996, to equip new writers and script developers with knowledge of the film industry, with Justine Hart joining the team in 2000. it presented performed readings of unproduced screenplays such as Steven Knight’s Dirty Pretty Things and held masterclasses with filmmakers including Kathryn Bigelow, Andrea Arnold, Charlie Kaufman, Spike Lee and Wes Anderson.

The original incarnation...

Keith Farrell won best director for the film at last month’s festival.

Munro Film has acquired UK-Ireland distribution rights to Wait For Me, the debut feature of UK-based filmmaker Keith Farrell.

Munro will release the film in cinemas on June 2 this summer, with filmmaker and cast events for local audiences in Yorkshire, Greater Manchester and Lincolnshire where Wait For Me was filmed.

The film had its world premiere at Manchester Film Festival last month, where Farrell won best director.

It is produced by Thea Burrows and Margot Douglas for Manchester-based production company Old Hall Films, who struck the deal...

Jane Gull’s music drama will release in cinemas on June 9.

Bulldog Film Distribution has acquired UK-Ireland distribution rights to Love Without Walls, Jane Gull’s music drama about a couple living on the streets.

The film had its world premiere at Manchester Film Festival this month, where it won best UK feature. Bulldog has set a theatrical release for June 9 this summer, including a series of Q&a events with Gull and lead cast Niall McNamee and Shana Swash.

Love Without Walls follows an aspiring musician and his partner who, unable to pay their London rent, find themselves living on the streets.

Commission

Reese Witherspoon‘s production company Hello Sunshine, which is a part of Candle Media, has secured its first U.K. commission. Fronted by TV presenter and bestselling author Stacey Solomon, Channel 4 DIY series “Bricking It” gives viewers easy and helpful tips to makeover their homes themselves.

Hello Sunshine’s U.K. unscripted division opened last year and is headed by executive VP Sarah Lazenby. The show was commissioned by senior commissioning editor Clemency Green and head of daytime and features, Jo Street, for Channel 4. The series will be executive produced by Witherspoon, Sara Rea and Lazenby.

Solomon said: “From an early age, my dad taught me DIY and the importance of fixing things yourself where you can. I still find it so satisfying to build or repair around the house and it saves loads of money. I am beyond excited to work with Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine on their first ever U.

Story editor Kate Leys will head up the programme.

Talent Lab Connects (TLC), Edinburgh International Film Festival’s development programme, will now take place online following the postponement of the festival due to the Covid-19 shutdown.

The programme of script editing and mentoring support for alumni of the festival’s Talent Lab will run from April to December 2020, with all workshops and mentoring taking place remotely.

Story editor Kate Leys will head up the group of industry mentors guiding the selected teams towards development of a feature film or serial drama project.

TLC launched last year, and is funded through the Scottish Government,...

Story editor Kate Leys will head up the programme.

Talent Lab Connects (TLC), Edinburgh International Film Festival’s development programme, will now take place online following the postponement of the festival due to the Covid-19 shutdown.

The programme of script editing and mentoring support for alumni of the festival’s Talent Lab will run from April to December 2020, with all workshops and mentoring taking place remotely.

Story editor Kate Leys will head up the group of industry mentors guiding the selected teams towards development of a feature film or serial drama project.

TLC launched last year, and is funded through the Scottish Government,...

Exclusive: Discussions to cover Brexit, animation and the state of the industry in Scotland.

The Edinburgh International Film Festival (Eiff) has unveiled the line-up of industry events set to take place alongside this year’s festival.

Industry events

The nine-day industry events program held at the Press and Industry Centre in the Traverse theatre begins with the annual Eiff Screen Summit on 21 June, in partnership with the University of Edinburgh and Creative Scotland, and in association with the BFI.

This year it will focus on two issues; the UK screen sector in Europe as the UK moves towards Brexit; and the key developments in Scotland’s screen sector in the past 12 months. This session will begin with a keynote address from Fiona Hyslop, cabinet secretary for culture, tourism and external relations at the Scottish government.

Other industry events include a networking event in partnership with the BFI Network and Prs for Music connecting filmmakers with producers and with...

Exclusive: Discussions to cover Brexit, animation and the state of the industry in Scotland.

The Edinburgh International Film Festival (Eiff) has unveiled the line-up of industry events set to take place alongside this year’s festival.

Industry events

The nine-day industry events program held at the Press and Industry Centre in the Traverse theatre begins with the annual Eiff Screen Summit on 21 June, in partnership with the University of Edinburgh and Creative Scotland, and in association with the BFI.

This year it will focus on two issues; the UK screen sector in Europe as the UK moves towards Brexit; and the key developments in Scotland’s screen sector in the past 12 months. This session will begin with a keynote address from Fiona Hyslop, cabinet secretary for culture, tourism and external relations at the Scottish government.

Other industry events include a networking event in partnership with the BFI Network and Prs for Music connecting filmmakers with producers and with...

Exclusive: UK sales outfit boards doc about all-women punk band and Australian adventure movie.

UK sales outfit Moviehouse has added two films to its slate ahead of the Efm in Berlin.

Currently in post-production and readying for an autumn 2017 completion is documentary Here To Be Heard: The Story of the Slits,about the world’s first all-female punk band formed in 1976 London.

Contemporaries of The Clash and The Sex Pistols, the film tells the story of the Slits and the lives of the women involved, from the bands inception to its end in 2010 with the death of lead vocalist Ari Up.

The film Includes interviews with Slits band member Viv Albertine, The Sex Pistols’ Paul Cook, Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore, Don Letts, Dennis Bovell, Adrian Sherwood and previously unseen footage and recordings of the band.

Moviehouse Entertainment’s Mark Vennis is producing with director-producer William Badgley.

Also new to the slate is recently completed Australian title Rough Stuff...

A journey into blindness, strange magic from Japan, and an Iranian spine-tingler are among the year’s must-sees

• Observer critics’ reviews of the year in full

Every year we hear the same horror story; that cinema is overrun by formulaic franchise fodder, with nothing but superheroes and sequels on display. Yet turn your attention away from the monotony of the multiplexes, where the dreary Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and the disappointing Suicide Squad may rule the roost, and the picture is quite different. At independent cinemas around the UK, we are constantly reminded of the stunning breadth and scope of modern movies, thanks to films such as Peter Middleton and James Spinney’s electrifying Notes on Blindness, an exceptional sensory experience, based on the audiotape memoirs of theologian John M Hull.

Notes on Blindness was just one of several superb homemade indie pics released in the UK this year.

Jane Gull on Stephen Brandon: 'I just got to spend a lot of time with him and bring elements of his personality to the character.' Photo: Courtesy of Eiff

Jane Gull’s My Feral Heart is the story of an independent man, Luke (Stephen Brandon) who has been caring for his mother. The catch is that he has Down’s syndrome, so when she passes away, he finds himself forced to adjust to life in a group home, forging friendships and making an unusual discovery when out walking in the fields nearby. The film is, for the most part, a warm character study that considers Luke as a fully rounded person rather than someone who is merely defined by his disability – and calls his own prejudices into question.

Gull’s film – scripted by Duncan Paveling – is her feature debut, and though she wrote all but one of her short film scripts herself,...

This debut feature has a secret weapon in Steven Brandon, who gives a magnetic performance as a man with Down’s syndrome who is forced into a group home

Luke (Steven Brandon, a gifted performer and the film’s secret weapon) is a very competent young man with Down’s syndrome who singlehandedly cares for his elderly, bedridden mother (Eileen Pollock). But when she dies in her sleep, he’s forced by the authorities to move into a group home with other adults with complex needs, many of whom are much less able than himself. Bereaved, angry and lonely, Luke slips out against house rules to go on long walks, and discovers a mysterious feral girl (played by contortionist Pixie Le Knot, possibly not her real name). She’s been injured by a fox trap and he nurses her back to health in a barn. Meanwhile, Luke gradually grows closer...

★★★★☆ We are taught from a young age never to judge a book by its cover. An idiom passed down from one generation to the next to encourage acceptance and a search for meaning below surface appearance, its essence is too often lost by ignorance, misunderstanding or sheer mean-spiritedness. Jane Gull's debut feature My Feral Heart - which premiered at this year's Edinburgh Film Festival - is led by an extraordinary young actor who, in his lifetime, is likely to have been subjected to such mistreatment. It revolves around Luke (Stephen Brandon), a young man with Down Syndrome.

Highlights include the UK premiere of Finding Dory and the world premiere of the 4K restoration of Highlander [pictured].Scroll down for competition titles

The line-up for the 70th Edinburgh International Film Festival (Eiff) has been unveiled this morning by artistic director Mark Adams.

This year’s Eiff (June 15-26) will comprise a total 161 features from 46 countries including: 22 world premieres, five international premieres, 17 European premieres and 85 UK premieres.

Highlights include the UK premiere of Disney-Pixar animation Finding Dory, in-person events that include Us indie filmmaker Kevin Smith and Sex & The City actress Kim Cattrall, and the opening and closing gala world premieres of the previously announced Tommy’s Honour and Whisky Galore!.

Old classics will be re-imagined with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra performing the score to E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial live at Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre and the world premiere of the newly-restored 4K version of Highlander, celebrating its 30th anniversary with star Clancy Brown in attendance.

The...