Duo of UK Film Council-Backed Films
in Sundance Line-Up
January 25, 2010
Source: UK Film Council
Son of Babylon and Nowhere Boy selected
for top US indie festival
Two films backed with Lottery funding through the UK Film
Council will screen at the Sundance Film Festival (21-31 January
2010), the leading showcase in the US for independent films.
Mohamed Al Daradji’s Son of Babylon and Sam Taylor Wood’s
Nowhere Boy have been selected by Sundance from a record number
of films submitted from around the world. Both films have
been supported with development and production funding by
the UK Film Council.
Son of Babylon is a UK/Iraqi film directed and written by
Mohamed Al Daradji (Ahlaam), which tells the tale of a young
Kurdish boy and his grandmother as they travel through Iraq
searching for their father/son in the wake of Saddam Hussein's
fall from power. Starring Yasser Talib, Shazda Hussein, Bashir
Al-Majid, Son of Babylon will have its international premiere
at Sundance and will compete in the World Cinema Dramatic
Competition.
Son of Babylon is a multi-national collaboration between the
Sundance Institute (US), the UK Film Council (UK), Screen
Yorkshire (UK), CNC (France), Hivos, Doen, Nederland Fond
and Rotterdam Media Fonds (Netherlands), Pyramedia and ADACH
(UAE).
Nowhere Boy is the debut feature from renowned British artist/director
Sam Taylor Wood, written by BAFTA-winner Matthew Greenhalgh
(Control). Set in Liverpool in 1955, the film sheds light
on the early years of Lennon (Aaron Johnson), who since the
age of five has been raised by his controlling Aunt Mimi (Kristin
Scott Thomas). When he learns that his mother Julia (Anne-Marie
Duff) lives only a mile away, he meets her and is instantly
bewitched by her vitality and love of rock’n’roll.
Nowhere Boy will receive its US premiere at Sundance Film
Festival.
Nowhere Boy is an Ecosse Films production in association with
Film4, the UK Film Council, NorthWest Vision and Media, Lip
Sync Productions and Aver Media. Icon Film Distribution will
release the film in the UK on 26 December 2009. HanWay Films
is selling international rights and The Weinstein Company
has US rights.
Other UK films selected for Sundance this year and having
their world premieres are: Chris Morris’s Four Lions
and Rob Lemkin and Thet Sambath’s Cambodia/UK production
Enemies of the People, both competing in the World Dramatic
Cinema Competition; and Lucy Walker’s Waste Land, which
will compete in the World Cinema Documentary Competition.
Two new films from British director Michael Winterbottom will
also have their world premieres – The Killer Inside Me
and Shock Doctrine (co-directed with Mat Whitecross).
John Woodward, the UK Film Council’s Chief Executive
Officer said; “It’s great to see that for the third
year running, UK Film Council backed films have been selected
for such a key festival for independent film in the US.
Son of Babylon and Nowhere Boy are two very different films
which the UK Film Council is proud to have backed from development
through to production and are really representative of the
exciting range of independent filmmaking in the UK.
Selection for Sundance can launch new film talent, really
boost international sales potential, seriously enhance a film’s
profile, as we saw last year with the Lottery-funded Man on
Wire for example, which went on to achieve Oscar® success.”
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