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★★★★

‘Pulse racing and deeply unnerving’

We Love Movies

★★★★

‘Tense and thought-provoking’

The Geek Show

★★★★

‘A claustrophobic nightmare’

Britflicks

Die Before You Die is out now in select cinemas and on demand 28th October 2024 from Bulldog Film Distribution.

A hot-headed influencer finds himself trapped six feet underground after an internet challenge, organised by a mysterious group, goes dramatically wrong. With the question of who his tormentors are becoming less and less relevant, Adi battles impending dehydration, suffocation, and his own inner demons as he wrestles to stay alive and free himself from his prison within the earth.

Equal parts claustrophobic thrill-ride and a moving story of personal transformation, Die Before You Die is a striking cinematic work with which takes unexpected and unconventional turns, directed by Dan Pringle (K-Shop) and starring Ziad Abaza, Mim Shaikh (What’s Love Got To Do With It), Priya Blackburn (Bohemian Rhapsody) and Harry Reid...

Netflix has launched the full official trailer for the upcoming series ‘Kaos’ in which Jeff Goldblum plays the role of the all-powerful god, Zeus.

Zeus: King of the Gods, ruler of the world. He’s cruel, stylish and all-powerful.

That is until he’s not. From BAFTA-winning screenwriter and showrunner Charlie Covell (The End Of The F***ing World), Kaos is a bold, darkly comic, contemporary take on Greek mythology: exploring love, power, and life in the underworld.

Having long enjoyed his status as king of the gods, Zeus’s reign has never been truly threatened. That is until he wakes up one morning and discovers a wrinkle on his forehead. Believing it to be the harbinger of an ancient prophecy which foretells his destruction, neurosis sets in: Zeus becomes convinced his fall is coming. As his paranoia takes hold, the god of gods – seeing signs everywhere – starts to dangerously self-destruct.

Netflix has debuted a teaser trailer for the upcoming series ‘Kaos’ in which Jeff Goldblum plays the role of the all-powerful god, Zeus.

Zeus: King of the Gods, ruler of the world. He’s cruel, stylish and all-powerful.

That is until he’s not. From BAFTA-winning screenwriter and showrunner Charlie Covell (The End Of The F***ing World), Kaos is a bold, darkly comic, contemporary take on Greek mythology: exploring love, power, and life in the underworld.

Having long enjoyed his status as king of the gods, Zeus’s reign has never been truly threatened. That is until he wakes up one morning and discovers a wrinkle on his forehead. Believing it to be the harbinger of an ancient prophecy which foretells his destruction, neurosis sets in: Zeus becomes convinced his fall is coming. As his paranoia takes hold, the god of gods – seeing signs everywhere – starts to dangerously self-destruct.

And...

Netflix has revealed the teaser for its upcoming eight-episode Kaos series, which will launch on the streaming service on August 29, 2024. New photos from the series were also released.

Jeff Goldblum plays Zeus: King of the Gods, ruler of the world. He’s cruel, stylish and all-powerful. That is until he’s not.

From BAFTA-winning screenwriter and showrunner Charlie Covell, the Kaos series is a bold, darkly comic, contemporary take on Greek mythology: exploring love, power, and life in the underworld.

Having long enjoyed his status as king of the gods, Zeus’s reign has never been truly threatened. That is until he wakes up one morning and discovers a wrinkle on his forehead.

Believing it to be the harbinger of an ancient prophecy that foretells his destruction, Zeus experiences neurosis and becomes convinced his fall is coming. As his paranoia takes hold, the god of gods—seeing signs everywhere—starts to dangerously self-destruct.

Ella Purnell gave an amazing performance as Jackie Taylor in the hit horror-thriller series Yellowjackets, and many fans hated to see her character's demise. Luckily, we didn't have to wait too long to see her back on our screens because she ended up taking on the main role of Lucy MacLean in the smash-hit post-apocalyptic drama series Fallout. Now, we've just learned that she's set to star in a new comedy-horror flick titled The Scurry. More on this below.

We learned of this great news from the news site Screen Daily. According to the site, Purnell will be starring in the leading role of a park attendant who must use her "unique skills and strength" to fight off and survive a band of of deranged squirrels who begin wreaking havoc at her job. Joining her in the cast are Rhys Ifans (House of the Dragon), Paapa Essiedu (The Lazarus Project...

Back in March, it was announced that Eternal Beauty director Craig Roberts was set to take the helm of a horror comedy called The Scurry, working from a screenplay by The Mash Report’s Tim Telling, with House of the Dragon co-stars Olivia Cooke and Rhys Ifans on board to star alongside Paapa Essiedu (The Lazarus Project), Mia McKenna-Bruce (How to Have Sex), and Antonia Thomas (The Good Doctor). The Scurry is now filming in the UK – but Screen Daily reports that Cooke had to drop out due to scheduling issues and has been replaced by Fallout star Ella Purnell.

McKenna-Bruce also ran into scheduling issues on the way to production and had to leave the project.

The story of The Scurry follows two pest controllers who are called to an eco-café in a country park to investigate what begins as a routine vermin problem but as nightfall approaches an avalanche of deranged squirrels descend,...

Fallout star Ella Purnell has joined the cast of Craig Roberts’ comedy-horror The Scurry, which is now filming in the UK.

Purnell will play a leading role, of a park attendant who must use her unique skills and strength to survive a band of killer squirrels.

True Brit Entertainment is co-producer and UK distributor on the film, which is shooting on location and at Dragon Studios in South Wales.

Previously announced cast members include Rhys Ifans, Screen Star of Tomorrow Paapa Essiedu, and Antonia Thomas. The Mash Report writer Tim Telling penned the script.

Olivia Cooke and Mia McKenna-Bruce are...

The Scurry, a British comedy film about killer squirrels, is in the works, here are the details of the new film.

There have been horror films about a variety of unusual killers over the years, from vengeful car Christine to a killer tyre in Rubber.

Squirrels are the next unlikely killers to get the spotlight, courtesy of the comedy horror The Scurry. The synopsis reads as follows:

Two pest controllers are called to an eco-café in a country park to investigate what begins as a routine vermin problem – but as nightfall approaches an avalanche of deranged squirrels descend, wreaking revenge and mayhem on the staff and visitors in the park.

With many fatalities the survivors take shelter in the café as a freak storm takes out the power and communications leaving them isolated and under attack. An eclectic mix of survivors include pest controllers, a sulky teenager, hypocritical vegans, and...

Rhys Ifans (The King’s Man), Olivia Cooke (House of Dragon), Paapa Essiedu (The Lazarus Project), Mia McKenna-Bruce (How to Have Sex) and Antonia Thomas (The Good Doctor) have all joined new comedy-horror feature The Scurry from Eternal Beauty helmer Craig Roberts.

The project, which is penned by The Mash Report’s Tim Telling, follows two pest controllers who are called to an eco-café in a country park to investigate what begins as a routine vermin problem but as nightfall approaches an avalanche of deranged squirrels descend, wreaking revenge and mayhem on the staff and visitors in the park. With many fatalities, the survivors take shelter in the café as a freak storm takes out the power and communications leaving them isolated and under attack. An eclectic mix of survivors include pest controllers, a sulky teenager, hypocritical vegans, and a drug dealer – there is only an outside chance of survival.

Water & Power Productions,...

Craig Roberts is set to direct killer rodent comedy horror The Scurry, featuring a UK cast of Rhys Ifans, Olivia Cooke, Paapa Essiedu, Mia McKenna-Bruce and Antonia Thomas.

Water & Power Productions, Cliff Edge Pictures, and Circus Studios are producing the UK feature, with Zygi Kamasa’s True Brit Entertainment on board as UK distributor and co-producer for the project. Shooting starts on April 2, making use of the recently announced under £15m Independent Film Tax Credit, with the film’s budget over £10m. Circus Studios will also handle international sales.

Two pest controllers are called to an eco café in...

Chatting away to Sally Hawkins, as you do, in the fabled Abbey Road Studios in posh North London neighborhood of St. John’s Wood, she tells me ”I feel fine” when I inquire after her well-being.

Our feet are planted in the very spot where The Beatles recorded the track for “I Feel Fine,” a single that topped the charts on both sides of the Atlantic back in 1964. I couldn’t tell whether Hawkins purposefully chose those words to chime with where we were stood.

Related Story Breaking Baz: Hot Star Paul Mescal Heats Up London Theater; BAFTA Talks Gender Neutrality; All About Amy Winehouse When We Were Neighbors Related Story 'Glass Onion' Claims Title Of Most-Viewed Film In A Week On Nielsen U.S. Streaming Charts; 'Yellowstone' Has Its First Billion-Minute Week Related Story Joe Cornish Talks Netflix Ghost Hunter Series 'Lockwood & Co...

Click here to read the full article.

The story of a mature woman determined to dig up a long-buried secret history, The Lost King tells a tale not unlike that of Philomena (2013), the award-winning British comedy-drama crafted by much the same key creative talents as this film. Actor-writer-producer Steve Coogan, his co-screenwriter Jeff Pope, director Stephen Frears, composer Alexandre Desplat and producer Christine Langan have gotten the band back together to dramatize the story of how self-taught historian Philippa Langley, played by Sally Hawkins, found the remains of King Richard III in a parking lot.

The result is pleasant-enough middlebrow entertainment that will serve the cinematic needs of older viewers especially. But it’s considerably less interesting than Philomena, a more muckraking work that churned over the Catholic Church’s shameful past and had the all-powerful empathy-extracting weapon that is Judi Dench doing an Irish accent. Moreover, it’s just...

Here’s the latest episode of the The Filmmakers Podcast, part of the ever-growing 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, Dan Richardson, Andrew Rodger and Cristian James talk 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 film making experiences from directors, writers, producers, screenwriters, actors, cinematographers and distributors.

The Filmmaker’s Podcast #290: Craig Roberts talks The Phantom of the Open, Acting,...

A light and lyrical feel-good tale about Mancunian golf legend Maurice G. Flitcroft — the shipyard crane operator who improbably managed to enter himself into the 1976 British Open and then, even more improbably, became an international folk hero for his resilience in the face of humiliating scores — (and based on the book that he and Scott Murray published about Flintcroft in 2010). It’s charming as hell, it has precious little patience for English classism, and it hinges on a child-like outsider whose supernatural guilelessness has a tendency to steamroll over the cynics and gits who get in his way. It even co-stars Sally Hawkins, as all “Paddington” movies have, and all other movies should.

If “The Phantom of the Open” lacks the same magic that Farnaby helped sprinkle over the masterful comedies he co-wrote about the world’s sweetest bear, well, what doesn’t? It’s enough that this heartfelt delight...

At what point does self-awareness turn inside out, to become the very thing it’s observing? “The Phantom of the Open” tries so hard to be a winking commentary on British heartwarmers about lovable outsiders. And its efforts are, as often as not, entertaining. But after a while, it becomes clear that what it wants more than anything is to be embraced as a crowd-pleasing comedy itself.

After noting that his film is based on a true story, director Craig Roberts begins at the end, with an aged Maurice Flitcroft (Mark Rylance) reminiscing about his rather extraordinary golfing career. Why was it so extraordinary? Because, we learn in flashback, it was the epitome of ordinary.

Back in 1976, Flitcroft is just an unassuming shipyard worker, raising three unassuming boys with his unassuming wife Jean (Sally Hawkins). His teen twins (Jonah and Christian Lees) want to be disco dancers, and his older...

‘The Nan Movie’, ‘Hive’, ‘X’ also opening.

eOne’s UK sports comedy The Phantom of the Open tees off at the UK-Ireland box office this weekend, in a bumper weekend with 17 new releases.

Directed by Craig Roberts, The Phantom Of The Open debuted at the BFI London Film Festival in October last year. The film tells the true story of Maurice Flitcroft, an aspiring golfer of limited talent, who managed to gain entry to the British Open Gold Championship Qualifying in 1976 only to shoot the worst round in the event’s history. It will open in 629 locations - the fourth-biggest...

Online platform is aimed at increasing collaboration between creatives.

UK filmmaker Craig Roberts has joined with entrepreneur Craig Heyworth to launch Filmd, an online platform to enable film professionals to connect and collaborate.

The app-based platform has been in development for 18 months ahead of its launch this month, and has recorded 650 members already.

A mission statement for Filmd notes ‘two major pain points’ that it is looking to solve. First, the issue it defines as ‘to get work, you need work’ – the difficulties many aspiring filmmakers have in getting first projects underway. The app gives users the ability to create projects,...

‘Gangs Of London’ Dominates Bafta Cymru

Sky Atlantic drama Gangs of London swept up at last night’s Bafta Wales Cymru Awards, winning four awards, while the leads in It’s A Sin and Saint Maud took home the Best Actor and Best Actress gongs. Pulse Films’ Gangs of London won in four technical categories as ITV’s Pembrokeshire Murders, which starred Luke Evans, won the coveted Best Television Drama. Russell T Davies’ Channel 4 drama It’s A Sin’s Callum Scott Howells won Best Actor, with Davies himself taking home Best Writer, and Saint Maud lead Morfydd Clark won Best Actress for the indie flick. Welshman Davies said he had included a Welsh family in It’s A Sin to “show that HIV isn’t only a metropolitan issue and showcase the vast amount of acting talent in Wales.” Meanwhile, Craig Roberts’ dark comedy Eternal Beauty won Best Feature Film.

HBO Max...

If Maurice Flitcroft hadn’t really existed, a British comedy would surely have invented him. A humble shipyard worker from Barrow-in-Furness who decided, on a rogue middle-aged whim, to enter the British Open despite never having played a round of golf in his life, he was practically a living, breathing Ealing Studios hero. That he managed to repeat the feat multiple times in multiple disguises over the years, earning himself the title of “the world’s worst professional golfer,” tips a real life into the realm of absurdity.

It’s tempting to say, then, that anyone taking on a Flitcroft biopic has a large part of the work done for them. The jokes write themselves, though in “The Phantom of the Open,” screenwriter Simon Farnaby and director Craig Roberts make them sweeter and spryer than they could have been, while a wide-eyed, bucket-hatted Mark Rylance plays Flitcroft with abundant generosity of spirit.

Billie Piper, the writer, director and star of Rare Beasts, discusses her favorite films with Josh Olson.

Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode

Rare Beasts (2021)

Naked (1993)

Eternal Beauty (2019)

Punch-Drunk Love (2002)

Uncut Gems (2019) – Dennis Cozzalio’s praise for the Sandman’s performance, Dennis Cozzalio’s year-end 2019 list

Funny People (2009)

Magnolia (1999)

There Will Be Blood (2007)

Inherent Vice (2014)

Phantom Thread (2017) – Dennis Cozzalio’s review

The Wizard Of Oz (1939) – John Badham’s trailer commentary

A Woman Under The Influence (1974)

Opening Night (1977)

Daddy Longlegs (2009)

Daddy Long Legs (1955)

Betty Blue (1986)

Ivans Xtc. (2000)

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

The Mask (1994)

Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond (2017)

Heavenly Creatures (1994)

Mary Poppins (1964)

Synecdoche, New York (2008)

Adaptation (2002)

Capote (2005)

Other Notable Items

Doctor Who TV series

Penny Dreadful TV series (2014-2016)

Secret Diary of a Call Girl TV series (2007–2011)

I Hate Suzie TV series (2020– )

HBO Max

Mike Leigh

David Thewlis

Kerry Fox

Paul Thomas Anderson

Adam Sandler

John Cassavetes...

Craig Roberts directed from Simon Farnaby’s adapted screenplay of book he co-wrote with Scott Murray.

SPC acquires has picked up all rights in North America, Thailand, France, and China to UK underdog golf drama The Phantom Of The Open starring Mark Rylance, Sally Hawkins, and Rhys Ifans.

Craig Roberts directed from Simon Farnaby’s (Paddington 2) adapted screenplay of the book he co-wrote with The Guardian sports writer and author Scott Murray.

The Phantom Of The Open follows Maurice Flitcroft (Rylance), a dreamer and eternal optimist who played in the qualifying rounds for The British Open golf championship in 1976 and...

Sony Pictures Classics has landed rights to “The Phantom of the Open,” a heartwarming drama starring Mark Rylance, Sally Hawkins and Rhys Ifans.

Craig Roberts, known for his onscreen roles in “Submarine” and “Red Oaks,” directed the film. “Paddington 2” screenwriter Simon Farnaby adapted the screenplay from his book of the same name, which was co-authored by Scott Murray. The inspiring true story follows Maurice Flitcroft (Rylance), an unrelenting optimist who managed to gain entry to the British Open Gold Championship Qualifying in 1976 and subsequently shot the worst round in Open history, becoming a folk hero in the process.

“I’m extremely grateful that SPC share our love for Maurice and his wonderful story,” Roberts said. “They are the perfect fit for this project. I’m very proud of what our cast and crew have created. I hope that Maurice’s superpowers make the world a better place.”

Sony Pictures...

Sony Pictures Classics has taken North America, Thailand, France and China rights to Craig Roberts’ The Phantom of the Open.

Adapted by Simon Farnaby based on the book he co-penned with Scott Murray, The Phantom of the Open follows Maurice Flitcroft (Oscar winner Mark Rylance), a dreamer and unrelenting optimist who managed to gain entry to the British Open Golf Championship Qualifying in 1976 and subsequently shot the worst round in Open history, becoming a folk hero in the process.

The movie also reteams SPC with Sally Hawkins, who starred in its 2016 title Maudie and 2013’s Blue Jasmine, the latter notching her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the 86th Academy Awards. The Phantom of the Open also marks a continued artistic relationship between Hawkins and Roberts; the pair worked together on his 2019 directorial debut, Eternal Beauty, and both starred in Richard Ayoade’s 2010 coming-of-age film Submarine.

BAFTA Award nominee Rhys Ifans also stars.

BAFTA has named the five contenders for its Rising Star award this year: Kingsley Ben-Adir, Conrad Khan, Bukky Bakray, Sope Dirisu, and Morfydd Clark.

Kingsley Ben-Adir starred in Regina’s King’s directorial debut film One Night in Miami as Malcolm X. His career started on the stage, in plays including Mark Rylance’s Much Ado About Nothing. He most recently starred opposite Zoe Kravitz in the Hulu series High Fidelity; played a co-lead role in the third series of the Brit Marling Netflix series The Oa; played Colonel Ben Younger in the BBC/Netflix drama Peaky Blinders; and starred in films The Commuter, King Arthur: Legend of the Sword and Trespass Against Us.

Conrad Khan is known for his role as Tyler in Henry Blake’s UK indie County Lines. He also appeared as a young Chris Hemsworth in The Huntsman: Winter’s War, and he has most recently been...

It looks like we still won’t be going anywhere too exciting in March, so it’s a good job that Sky Cinema has, as always, lined up a slate of new films for us to plough through while we’re waiting to get back out there!

See if anything takes your fancy in our handy guide to what’s coming up on Sky Cinema in the month ahead…

Premieres

The Witches – 5th March on Sky Cinema and the Sky Cinema Pass on Now TV

Back to the Future director Robert Zemeckis takes on Roald Dahl in this reimagining of one of his most beloved books. In The Witches, an orphaned lad gets much more than he bargained for when the world’s Grand High Witch gathers her contemporaries together to plot a scheme against children everywhere. Anne Hathaway, Octavia Spencer, Stanley Tucci, and narrator Chris Rock lead the cast.

“Nomadland” and “Saint Maud” took top honors at the 41st London Critics’ Circle Film Awards, with three wins each, while the late Chadwick Boseman won actor of the year for “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.”

American road movie “Nomadland” won film of the year, while lead Frances McDormand was named actress of the year, and writer-director Chloé Zhao won screenwriter of the year.

British horror film “Saint Maud” won British/Irish film of the year, British/Irish actress of the year for Morfydd Clark, and breakthrough British/Irish filmmaker for writer-director Rose Glass.

Steve McQueen won director of the year for his “Small Axe” anthology, while Shaun Parkes won supporting actor of the year for the first drama in the collection, “Mangrove.” Riz Ahmed won British/Irish actor of the year for his work in “Sound of Metal” and “Mogul Mowgli.” The short that Ahmed wrote, produced and starred in, “The Long Goodbye,...

Nomadland has been named film of the year at the 41st London Critics’ Circle Film Awards, adding to a growing array of honors the movie has amassed since it premiered at the Venice Film Festival.

Chloe Zhao’s American road movie also earned an actress of the year win for Frances McDormand and screenwriter of the year win for writer-director Zhao at the virtual ceremony on Sunday night.

Another multiple honoree was the British psychological horror Saint Maud, which won British/Irish film of the year, British/Irish actress of the year for Morydd Clark (for a body of work also including Eternal Beauty),...

Nomadland has been named film of the year at the 41st London Critics’ Circle Film Awards, adding to a growing array of honors the movie has amassed since it premiered at the Venice Film Festival.

Chloe Zhao’s American road movie also earned an actress of the year win for Frances McDormand and screenwriter of the year win for writer-director Zhao at the virtual ceremony on Sunday night.

Another multiple honoree was the British psychological horror Saint Maud, which won British/Irish film of the year, British/Irish actress of the year for Morydd Clark (for a body of work also including Eternal Beauty),...

Exclusive: Hot off scoring eight nominations from the London Critics’ Circle Film Awards today, A24’s Saint Maud will be hitting theaters in a limited release on Jan. 29. Additionally, I hear Epix went after the movie strongly for a pay TV-all platform release on Feb. 12 in a deal that was estimated to be in the eight figure range.

The pic reps the feature directorial debut of Rose Glass, and stars Morfydd Clark and Jennifer Ehle. Movie follows Maud (played by Clark), a newly devout hospice nurse, who becomes obsessed with saving her dying patient’s soul — but sinister forces, and her own sinful past, threaten to put an end to her holy calling. The movie, which is being compared to A24’s Hereditary and The Witch, made its world...

Films by women writer-directors including Rose Glass, Sarah Gavron, Chloé Zhao and Emerald Fennell scored the most nominations for the 41st London Critics’ Circle Film Awards, which were announced on Tuesday.

Glass’s horror film “Saint Maud” earned eight nominations, including film, director, screenwriter, actress (Morfydd Clark), supporting actress (Jennifer Ehle) and British/Irish film of the year, while Clark is also nominated for British/Irish actress.

Sarah Gavron’s coming-of-age tale “Rocks” scored six nominations, Chloé Zhao’s road movie “Nomadland” five, and Emerald Fennell’s black comedy “Promising Young Woman” four. David Fincher’s biopic “Mank” and Steve McQueen’s house-party film “Lovers Rock” also had four nominations each.

The late Chadwick Boseman received nominations for his lead role in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and his supporting role in “Da 5 Bloods.” Other multiple acting nominees include Morfydd Clark, Anthony Hopkins, Carey Mulligan, Riz Ahmed, Vanessa Kirby, Sacha Baron Cohen and Bukky Bakray.

Multiple nominations for ‘Nomadland’ and ‘Promising Young Woman’.

Rose Glass’ debut feature Saint Maud heads the nominations at the 41st London Critics’ Circle Film Awards, with eight nominations including film of the year and director of the year.

The horror film is also up for British/Irish film of the year, with further nominations for Glass in screenwriter and breakthrough British/Irish filmmaker, and Morfydd Clark in both actress and British/Irish actress of the year (the latter also for her role in Eternal Beauty).

Rocks, another UK title directed by Sarah Gavron with associate director Anu Henriques, received six...

Films by writer-directors Rose Glass, Sarah Gavron, Chloé Zhao and Emerald Fennell earned the most nominations for the 41st London Critics‘ Circle Film Awards, which will be presented virtually in early February. Scroll down for full list of nominees.

Glass’ dramatic horror Saint Maud was out front with eight nominations, including Film, Director, Screenwriter, Actress (Morfydd Clark) and Supporting Actress (Jennifer Ehle). In addition, the film is nominated for British/Irish Film of the Year, and Clark is nominated for British/Irish Actress, a body-of-work award that includes her appearance in Eternal Beauty.

Other leading contenders include Sarah Gavron’s London coming-of-age story Rocks with six nominations, Chloé Zhao’s improvised American road movie Nomadland with five, and Emerald Fennell’s provocative blackly comical thriller Promising Young Woman with four.

Also earning four nominations were David Fincher’s Hollywood biopic Mank and Steve McQueen’s house-party drama Lovers Rock. McQueen...

Titles include animation ’Kensuke’s Kingdom’ and Terence Davies’ next feature, ‘Benediction’.

The 10 biggest recipients of BFI production funding in 2020 received a total of £11.6m in support.

They include additional Covid-related production awards for BFI-backed projects interrupted at the start of pandemic such as Benediction, True Things and Pirates.

Nearly all 10 titles, with the exception of Earwig, also received £20,000 as part of pilot initiative BFI Step-up, which enabled productions to provide opportunities for production crew from under-represented groups to work on BFI-funded features

1. Kensuke’s Kingdom, Jigsaw Films (£1.62m)

Sally Hawkins, Cillian Murphy and Ken Watanabe are among the English-language voice cast of this animated feature,...

To mark the release of Eternal Beauty, out now, we’ve been given 5 copies to give away on DVD.

When Jane is dumped at the altar, she has a breakdown and spirals into a chaotic world where love (both real and imagined) and family relationships collide with both touching and humorous consequences.

From writer/director Craig Roberts (Just Jim), Eternal Beauty is a BAFTA Cymru/BIFA-nominated comic and moving drama with a stylish, unconventional edge, featuring an incredible performance from Sally Hawkins and a supporting cast including David Thewlis (Naked), Billie Piper (Doctor Who), Penelope Wilton (Downton Abbey), Alice Lowe (Sightseers) and Morfydd Clark (The Personal History Of David Copperfield).

Watch our exclusive Eternal Beauty interviews here:

Please note: This competition is open to UK residents only

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The Small Print

Open to UK residents only The competition will close 10th December 2020 at 23.59 GMT The winner will be...

A good movie can do many things. When it comes to subject matter as sensitive as mental health, it can be insightful, impactful and, above all, thought-provoking. Unfortunately, Eternal Beauty is none of these things and more.

Still, the acting’s first class, but that’s the only positive in this mishmash of a psychological suck-fest.

Which is a shame because there was real potential for this to be a genuinely touching piece of filmmaking. However, because it sets its stall out to sit squarely in black comedy territory, it’s unable to handle the delicate balance that’s required to make the afflicted protagonist one we can sympathise with.

And, by the way, a black comedy that isn’t funny. There’s a few moments of note in the first fifteen minutes, and then, rather than go steadily downhill, the whole thing suddenly drives off a cliff-edge. After the stage is set,...

Lucy Prebble wrote and co-executive produced “Succession,” one of the best television shows in recent memory. Now, the writer’s latest project, the British drama “I Hate Suzie,” is nearly ready to make its American debut. HBO Max premiered the trailer for the upcoming show on Monday.

Per HBO Max, the synopsis reads: Suzie Pickles (Billie Piper), a star on the wane, has her whole life upended when her phone is hacked and a photo of her in an extremely compromising position is released for the whole world to see. This excruciatingly honest show follows the various stages of Suzie’s trauma episode by episode, through Shock, Denial, Fear, Shame, Bargaining, Guilt, Anger and Acceptance as Suzie and her best friend and manager Naomi try to hold her life, career, and marriage together in the face of being exposed for who she truly is. But who the hell even is that?...

HBO Max will be the exclusive U.S. home for drama comedy “I Hate Suzie,” originally commissioned by the U.K.’s Sky Studios, with Bad Wolf (“His Dark Materials”) producing.

The eight-part series is co-created by Lucy Prebble, creator of “Secret Diary of a Call Girl,” and who has written an episode of “Succession,” and Billie Piper (“Eternal Beauty”). It stars Piper as a person whose life changes when she is hacked and pictures of her emerge in a compromising position. She goes through the stages of shock, denial, fear, shame, bargaining, guilt, anger and acceptance as she and her best friend and manager, played by Leila Farzad (“Innocent”), try to hold her life, career and marriage together. The cast also includes Daniel Ings (“The Crown”) and Nathaniel Martello-White (“Collateral”).

It debuted on Sky in the U.K. this summer to positive reviews.

The series has been picked up...

Audience Fund awards made from May-September total over £700,000.

A £250,000 grant towards the British Independent Film Awards’ Back to the Cinemas campaign leads the BFI Audience Fund’s awards made from May to September 2020.

The award is to allow BIFA to create and implement the campaign, encouraging audiences to return to independent venues and highlight independent films as the sector begins to reopen.

Scroll down for the full list of awards.

It will also ensure BIFA can operate fully as a year-round industry partner, to highlight key titles and grow its social presence to priority audiences UK-wide.

A total of £708,003 in...

For the second weekend in a row, it’s family time at the multiplex. But that “Ft” tag is true on both levels since Love On The Rocks was an adult “dramedy” and Eternal Beauty was a dark tale of conflict and tragedy. The latter focused on sisters while the former featured a “caper” involving a father (and grandfather) and his daughter (also a mother). This new flick almost wears its “PG” rating as a beacon welcoming in “all ages”. It does concern three generations of a family, and it’s a comedy full of “gross-out” gags, slapstick pratfalls, and elaborate pranks to appeal to the tots and “pre-teens” weaned on annual holiday reruns of the Home Alone movies. Oh, but things aren’t all “tears and hugs” as the youngest lad in this household starts The War With Grandpa.

The aforementioned “son” Peter (Oakes Fegley) is pretty excited to...

Best known for his roles such as his breakout performance in “Submarine,” the television series “Red Oaks” and then supporting roles in comedies such as “Neighbors,” Craig Roberts has quietly been carving out a space for himself behind the scenes as a director. His first feature film, “Just Jim,” was loosely inspired by his own life and drew mainly positive reviews.

Continue reading Sally Hawkins & Director Craig Roberts Talk ‘Eternal Beauty’ And Its “Dream-Like” Film Influences [Interview] at The Playlist.

Unhappy-Go-Lucky: Hawkes Shines in Roberts’ Mental Illness Drama

The depiction of mental illness, particularly something like schizophrenia, a real condition often posed as a catch-all descriptor for unexplainable mental disturbances, has a propensity for exaggeration and cliché on celluloid. For his sophomore directorial effort, actor Craig Roberts presents a sobering portrait of paranoid schizophrenia in Eternal Beauty, which benefits from the faultiness of its protagonist’s worldview ensuring an uneasy ambiguity in what’s really happening and what may be a fabrication.

A commendable performance from Sally Hawkins once again employs an empathetic nuance which assists in an authentic portrayal of what it feels like from her character’s perspective instead of the usual hand-wringing associated with narratives focusing on those whom it affects.…...

Under The Skin

Welcome to this week's Stay-At-Home Seven. The nights are drawing in, so now is a good time to avoid the autumn chill and catch some quality filmmaking at home. If you're looking for more inspiration, our recent Streaming Spotlight focuses on French female filmmakers, plus you can read last week's Stay-At-Home Seve here.

Eternal Beauty, Curzon Home Cinema ongoing, with Q&a Monday at 8.30pm

It's been a while since we included an event in the Stay-at-Home Seven, but Curzon's Q&a with Eternal Beauty director Craig Roberts and its star Sally Hawkins is well worth catching if you can. They'll be talking about Roberts' heartfelt character study of paranoid schizophrenic Jane (Hawkins), based, in part, on experiences of someone in his own family, which carefully balances the mood so that black humour is employed but never at the expense of Jane. Hawkins, who proved...

To celebrate the release of Eternal Beauty, the sophomore directorial effort from Craig Roberts, we sat down with him to chat about the film and how he has been surviving in 2020.

Based on the life of a friend he had when he was growing up, Eternal Beauty tells a story of a person with schizophrenia and how they deal with the world around them and navigate their own reality. Told through his own unique lens and persona, Roberts’ tells us he wanted to pay tribute to the “superheroes” who deal with the condition as well as shine a light on it that was both touching and funny.

He also speaks of getting Sally Hawkins for the role two years ago and jokes he may have lost her had she won an Oscar for The Shape of Water, as well as how he has navigated lockdowns with reality TV and that his third film,...

This was the original release weekend for ‘Wonder Woman 1984’ before its Covid-induced delay.

France, Wednesday, September 30

French comedy My Cousin by Jan Kounen was the biggest release of the week in France on just under 700 prints for Pathé. Vincent Lindon stars as the uptight chief of a family business empire on a mission to get his wayward cousin, who owns half its shares, to sign off on a mega-deal.

Cannes 2020 label feature animation Josep was the second widest launch on 200 prints for Sophie Dulac Distribution. This was followed by Israeli-French drama The End Of Love by Keren Ben Rafael...

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options—not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves–each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

12 Hour Shift (Brea Grant)

Any professional dealing with routine levels of stress and trauma is bound to develop a morbid sense of humor–and the funny horror-comedy 12 Hour Shift might become a cult classic amongst nurses. Written and directed by Brea Grant and set in a small rural hospital in Arkansas in 1999, the film finds cynical ER nurse Mandy (Angela Bettis) about to start what she thinks is a routine twelve-hour shift. Her definition of routine involves a scheme to poison patients with bleach while shift supervisor Karen (Nikea Gamby-Turner) harvests their organs for a local black market dealer. Things don’t go as planned when Mandy’s cousin by marriage,...

The success of Eternal Beauty rests firmly on the central performance by Sally Hawkins as Jane, a woman who is a paranoid schizophrenic. She proved with her non-verbal central character in The Shape Of Water just how well she can convey emotions physically, showing the nervous energy of Jane on what might be considered her 'good' and 'bad' days without slipping into repetition or caricature. There's a volatility and a sweetness at play in what is, at heart, a character study and writer/director Craig Roberts strikes an impressive balance of mood, allowing some humour to seep into proceedings without ever making light of Jane's condition or suggesting easy resolution.

We see the world from Jane's perspective, often in non-linear fashion - including sensitively worked-in flashbacks to her disastrous wedding day (when she is played by Morfydd Clark), which occurred at about the time her mental health began to spiral down.

A fall movie season unlike any other continues this month, one absent of now-delayed blockbusters but still chock full of some of the year’s best films. With a mix of VOD, virtual cinemas, the Amazon Prime and Netflixes of the world, and limited theatrical runs, there’s a variety of how one can experience our top recommendations of the month––but rest assured, you should seek them out anyway you can.

13. Scare Me (Josh Ruben; Oct. 1)

It’s only fitting we kick off the list with a horror selection. A favorite upon its premiere at Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, Dan Mecca said in our review, “There’s an obvious love for chamber mysteries past, Ruben making a specific homage to the great Sidney Lumet thriller Deathtrap at one point. Where Scare Me distinguishes itself from standard fare is in its rendering of fear. Specifically, the fear of irrelevance that Fred cannot shake.

“What if there’s no such thing as happiness, only moments of not being depressed?” So asks Jane, the paranoid schizophrenic heroine of “Eternal Beauty,” and it’s one of the more thought-provoking lines in Craig Roberts’ earnest but ungainly sophomore feature — a film that itself stumbles upon moments of clarity without ever finding a happy or consistent groove. Making a comedy about mental illness is a tall enough order without the tricky tonal embellishments, filched from influences as disparate as Paul Thomas Anderson and Terry Gilliam, that Roberts has attempted on an otherwise slender script. With an assist from Sally Hawkins’ valiantly committed lead performance, the result occasionally summons the genuinely disoriented perspective of an unstable protagonist, but more often, it’s the filmmaking that seems to spiral out of control.

Despite an impressive best-of-British ensemble that, besides Hawkins’ go-for-broke star turn, includes support from David Thewlis, Billie Piper,...

Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” ruled the U.K. and Ireland box office for the fifth consecutive weekend, collecting £648,517 from 569 locations, according to final figures from Comscore.

The Warner Bros. release has a running total of £14,995,041 from the territory.

Shear Entertainment’s young adult romance “After We Collided” continued its robust performance, declining a marginal 14% to record £514,020 from 489 sites, for a total of £2,563,372.

Warner Bros.’ “Bill & Ted Face the Music,” starring Keanu Reeves, took £216,790 from 559 sites for a total of £834,981.

A pair of animation titles displayed resilience with a surge in numbers. Disney’s “Onward” registered a 48% increase to collect £126,355 from 426 locations. The title now has £7,308,920 from the territory. Meanwhile, Vertigo U.K.’s “100% Wolf” surged 51% to collect £89,634 from 433 sites, and now has a total of £1,281,535.

New entrant, Munro Film’s “Schemers,” debuted in tenth position with £34,474 from 208 locations.

The upcoming Thursday will see the release of Chinese fantasy...

You cannot just watch part of Craig Roberts’ latest film Eternal Beauty. You might think you could since it’s seemingly as schizophrenic as its lead character Jane (Sally Hawkins), but that chaos is premeditated so that it can find tonal and thematic sense by the end. I was about twenty minutes in when “hate” started to solidify as a reaction to what I saw because it felt like Roberts was poking fun at the disease—purely using Hawkins’ monotone delivery and erratic actions for laughs. If I had stopped then, however, I wouldn’t have been exposed to the glimpses into her past or the trauma she’s suffered or the dramatic weight that comes with realizing nothing on-screen is trustworthy. I wouldn’t have discovered exactly how empathetic Roberts’ depiction truly proves.

It’s not about laughs (at least not solely). This is a very personal project for...