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Bankside Films has boarded world sales on UK writer-director Thea Gajić’s feature debut, Surviving Earth, ahead of its screening in the Cannes Great 8 showcase, and unleashed a first-look image.

Surviving Earth is based on a true story. A talented harmonica player arrives in the UK in the 1990s after fleeing the conflict in Yugoslavia. He rebuilds his life in Bristol, working as a counsellor and forming a Balkan band with friends from his work. When traumas from his past life start to resurface, his life starts to fracture, with his beloved only daughter the hardest hit.

Cast includes Slavko Sobin,...

Christopher Andrews’ Bring Them Down starring Barry Keoghan and Christopher Abbott, Sean Dunn’s The Fall Of Sir Douglas Weatherford and Marianne Elliott’s The Salt Path, featuring Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs, are among the eight films taking part in the Great 8 showcase, which presents new UK feature films from first-and second-time UK filmmakers to international distributors and festival programmers.

Now in its seventh year, the 2024 Great 8 showcase is funded and produced by the BFI and the British Council, with support from the Great Britain & Northern Ireland campaign, BBC Film and Film4.

In preparation for Cannes, unseen footage from...

Stars: Alec Baldwin, Jo Martin, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, MyAnna Buring, Michael Sirow, Pavan Grover, Anjul Nigam, Davor Tomic, Slavko Sobin, Peter Brooke | Written by Pavan Grover | Directed by Timo Vuorensola

Above the North Atlantic Ocean, a terrorist group hijack Oceanic Flight 420. The countdown begins as the Nsa try finding a way to combat the situation before the plane’s fuel runs out. Director Hawkins (Alec Baldwin) plans to shoot down the plane before it does catastrophic damage on the ground, although Deputy Toyin (Jo Martin) wishes to put faith in their asset; an Interpol agent working undercover amongst the hijackers.

A key moment has Hawkins declare “This is not the beginning of some heroic story”, before calmly explaining his rationalisation of sacrificing a plane of innocent civilians to save other lives. While that moment begins explaining the boss’ mindset during this crisis, it also attempts to tell audiences not to...

"What we do today... is the beginning of their end." 101 Films has revealed a trailer for 97 Minutes, yet another airplane hijacking thriller coming up (also see: Idris Elba in Hijack). This one is a UK production, filmed in the UK, and it's directed by the Finnish filmmaker Timo Vuorensola, best known for the two Iron Sky movies. In a race against time, a hijacked 767 hurtles towards disaster, with its fuel reserves dwindling rapidly... Despite strong opposition, Nsa Director Hawkins takes a bold step ordering the plane to be shot down... The lives of the innocent passengers now rest solely in the hands of Alex (Meyers) an undercover Interpol agent, who has been embedded in the terrorist cell. The clock is ticking, with only 97 Minutes – can he save them? Jonathan Rhys Meyers stars as the man on the plane, with Alec Baldwin as Hawkins, plus MyAnna Buring, Jo Martin, Michael Sirow,...

Exclusive: Jonathan Rhys Meyers and MyAnna Buring have signed on to star alongside Alec Baldwin in the hijacked airplane action-thriller 97 Minutes, from director Timo Vuorensola (Iron Sky), which has entered production at Black Hangar Studios in the UK.

97 Minutes centers on a hijacked 767 that will crash in that amount of time when its fuel runs out. Against the strong will of Nsa Deputy Toyin, Nsa Director Hawkins (Baldwin) prepares to have the plane shot down before it does any catastrophic damage on the ground, leaving the fate of the innocent passengers in the hands of Tyler, one of the alleged hijackers on board who is an undercover Interpol agent – or is he?

Meyers and Buring are playing passengers on the transatlantic flight, with Jo Martin (Doctor Who), Michael Sirow (Infamous), Pavan Grover,...