Wave of Brit films unfurls at Dinard

by Fabien Lemercier

05/10/2010 - Tomorrow, Sam Taylor-Wood’s Nowhere Boy [trailer] will open, out of competition, the 21st Dinard British Film Festival, which will run until October 10.

Six features will vie for the Golden Hitchcock. These include Bernard Rose’s Mr. Nice [trailer], starring David Thewlis as an astonishing international drug dealer; Nick Whitfield’s Skeleton (Michael Powell Award for Best New British Film at the latest Edinburgh Film Festival); Mat Whitecross’s Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll [trailer] (which was unveiled in the Berlinale Panorama 2010 and earned Andy Serkis a 2010 BAFTA nomination for Best Actor); Shimmy Marcus’s Soulboy [trailer]; Jamie Thraves’s Treacle Jr.; and Nigel Cole’s We Want Sex.

These titles will be judged by a jury presided by Etienne Chatiliez and comprising actresses Anne Consigny, Sienna Miller and Elsa Zylberstein, producers Alyson Owen and Sylvie Pialat, actors Pascal Elbé and Nick Moran, and distributor Stéphane Célérier.

The line-up of avant-premieres is headed by Mike Leigh’s former Cannes contender Another Year [trailer, film focus] and Neds [trailer] by recent San Sebastian winner Peter Mullan (who will be the subject of a homage at Dinard).

Also to be shown are Kay Mellor’s A Passionate Woman, Christopher Smith’s Black Death [trailer], Craig McCall’s Cameraman, Paul Andrew Williams’s Cherry Tree Lane [trailer], Stuart Hazeldine’s Exam, Banksy’s Exit Through the Gift Shop [trailer], Chris Morris’s Four Lions [trailer], Phil Mulloy’s Goodbye Mr Christie, Philippe Baron’s First Passion, Clio Barnard’s The Arbor, Nick Moran’s The Kid [trailer] and Michael Hoffman’s The Last Station [trailer].

Finally, as part of a Close-up on Irish Cinema at Dinard, the Irish Film Board will present avant-premieres of Alicia Duffy’s All Good Children, Finola Geraghty’s Come On Eileen, Connor McPherson’s The Eclipse and Carmel Winters’s Snap.

(Translated from French)