Dozens of new UK Film Council funding awards announced

New features from Peter Mullan, Paul Andrew Williams, Hideo 'the Ring' Nakata, Stephen Frears, Mike Leigh, artist Gillian Wearing, Neil Marshall and James 'Man on a Wire' Marsh have all received production finance from the UK Film Council.

The latest details of production and development finance has been released with perhaps its strongest slate of productions since inception. Other production highlights include the sequel to East is East (West is West), a doc on the life of cinematographer Jack Cardiff (interviewed here by Stephen Applebaum), a reworking of Graham Greene's Brighton Rock and Morag MacKinnon's second feature in Lars von Trier's Scottish Advance Party Trilogy, Donkeys (the first being Andrea Arnold's acclaimed Red Road).

The development awards include new work from Lynne Ramsay, Andrea Arnold, Lee Hall, Nick Hornby, Conor McPherson, Jeanette Winterton, Hanif Kureishi, Noel Clarke, Simon Beaufoy, Danny Huston, Paddy Considine, Frank Cotrell-Boyce, Michael Winterbottom, Christopher Hampton, Matt Greenhalgh, Stephen Fry and Tony Grisoni.

Africa United

Marking the feature film directorial debut of Debs Gardner-Paterson, Africa United is the extraordinary story of three Rwandan children who run away from home in a bid to take part in the opening ceremony of the 2010 Football World Cup in Johannesburg. On their epic 3000 mile journey they gather a "dream team" of displaced kids through whose eyes we witness an Africa few have ever seen. Written by Rhidian Brook. A UK/Rwanda/South African co-production produced by Mark Blaney, Jackie Sheppard and Eric Kabera alongside co-producers Mark Hubbard and Lance Samuels.
Funding awarded: £500,000 (production)

Attack the Block

The writer-directorial debut of Joe 'Adam and Joe' Cornish, about a gang of south London teenagers defending their tower block against an alien attack. Produced by Nira Park, James Wilson and executive produced by Matthew Justice, all for Big Talk Pictures.
Funding awarded: development (Big Talk slate); £1,094,239 (production)

A Man’s Story

Directed by Varon Bonicos, A Man’s Story documents ten years in the life of fashion icon Ozwald Boateng, profiling his design, his business and his personal life. Starring Boateng as himself. Produced by Rachel Robey and Alastair Clark, Wellington Films.
Funding awarded: £13,500 (development); £190,000 (production)

Another Year

The latest film from established director Mike Leigh (Happy Go Lucky), featuring Michele Austin, David Bradley, Jim Broadbent, Phil Davis, Karina Fernandez, Oliver Maltman, Lesley Manville, Stuart McQuarrie, Martin Savage, Ruth Sheen, Imelda Staunton and Peter Wight. Produced by Georgina Lowe, and executive produced by Gail Egan, Thin Man Films.
Funding awarded: £1.2m (production)

Brighton Rock

Writer/director Rowan Joffe’s debut feature, adapted from Graham Greene’s 1939 novel about the fall of Pinkie, a razor-wielding disadvantaged teenager with a religious death wish. Starring Sam Riley, Andrea Riseborough, Helen Mirren and John Hurt. Produced by Paul Webster, Kudos Pictures/Brighton Rock Productions.¦nbsp;
Funding awarded: development (Optimum/Big Talk slate); £1,052,083 (production)

CAMERAMAN: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff

A 90 minute feature documentary illuminating the incomparable life and work of cinematographer Jack Cardiff. Craig McCall’s passionate and detailed film reveals a unique figure in British and international cinema whose career was inextricably interwoven with the history of cinema itself - incredibly spanning nine of moving picture’s first ten decades. His story is told by Jack himself and twenty leading actors, directors and producers (including Martin Scorsese, Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall, Charlton Heston, Alan Parker, Sir John Mills and Sir Richard Attenborough) and includes unique behind-the scenes footage from Jack's own personal archive. Produced by Craig McCall and Richard McGill, Modus Operandi Films.
Funding awarded: £150,000 (production)

Centurion

A gripping survival thriller written and directed by Neil Marshall (The Descent, Dog Soldiers), set against a background of conquest and invasion, based on the legend of the 9th Legion of the Roman Army in AD 117 who mysteriously vanished. Cast includes Michael Fassbender, Noel Clarke, Dominic West and Olga Kurylenko. Produced by Oscar®-winning Christian Colson (Slumdog Millionaire) and Robert Jones, Celador Films.
Funding awarded: £1.2m (production)

Chatroom

Thriller by acclaimed writer Enda Walsh (Hunger) directed by Hideo Nakata (The Ring, Dark Water). When five teenagers meet online in a chatroom they form innocent friendships, but soon one dysfunctional member of the group singles out the most vulnerable, seizing the chance to erase his own past. Cast includes Aaron Johnson, Imogen Poots and Daniel Kaluuya. Produced by Alison Owen and Paul Trijbits at Ruby Films and Laura Hastings-Smith.
Funding awarded: £39,860 (development); £700,000 (production)

Cherry Tree Lane

Written and directed by Paul Andrew Williams (London to Brighton). An urban thriller about a couple who are terrorised by a gang of youths hunting their son. Cast includes Rachael Blake and Tom Butcher. Produced by Ken Marshall, Steel Mill Pictures.
Funding awarded: £155,000 (production)

Cirkus Columbia

Danis Tanovic’s Cirkus Columbia, set in former Yugoslavia, is the story of a man who returns to his native Herzegovina from Germany, with plenty of cash and a great revenge to take. Things start off quite well for him, but soon old passions and the threat of war disrupt his schemes... Produced by Cedomir Kolar, Marc Baschet, Mirsad Purivatra and Amra Baksic-Camo. Co-produced by Cat Villiers, Gerhard Meixner, Roman Paul, Dunja Klemenc and Marion Hänsel.
Funding awarded: £20,800 (development); £435,000 (production)

Donkeys

Directed by Morag McKinnon, and written by Colin Mclaren, Donkeys is a bittersweet, tragi-comic tale. When Alfred learns of his impending death he realises it's time to make amends with his estranged family. However, before things get better they get a whole lot worse and a blast from the past injects calamity, comedy and confusion into Alfred's efforts. Cast includes James Cosmo, Brian Pettifer, Kate Dickie, Martin Compston, Natasha Watson, Natalie Press, Tony Curran. Produced by Anna Duffield, Gillian Berrie, Sigma Films.
Funding awarded: £18,375 (development); £350,000 (production)

First Grader

Directed by Justin Chadwick (The Other Boleyn Girl) and written by Emmy-winner Ann Peacock. The true story of an 84 year-old Kenyan villager and ex Mau Mau freedom fighter who fights for his right to go to school for the first time to get the education he could never afford. Cast includes Oliver Litondo and Naomie Harris. The first feature from David Thompson's new production company, Origin Pictures, who is producing alongside Richard Harding and Sam Feuer for Sixth Sense Productions.
Funding awarded: £35,500 (development); £600,000 (production)

Neds

Written and directed by Peter Mullan. Neds (Non Educated Delinquents) is the story of a young man’s journey from prize winning schoolboy to knife carrying teenager. Struggling against the low expectations of those around him, John McGill changes from victim to avenger, scholar to Ned, altar boy to glue sniffer. When he attempts to revert back again, his new reality and recent past makes conformity near impossible and violent self determination near inevitable. Cast includes Peter Mullan, Louise Goodall, Marianna Palka, Conor McCarron and Gregg Forrest. Produced by Alain de la Mata, Marc Missonnier and Olivier Delbosc and co-produced by Conchita Airoldi, Peter Mullan, Lucinda Van Rie.¦nbsp; Production companies; blueLight, Fidelite and Studio Urania.
Funding awarded: £650,000 (production)

Project Nim (working title)

The new film from Oscar®-winning team, director James Marsh and producer Simon Chinn (Man on Wire).¦nbsp; Produced by Red Box Films in association with John Battsek's Passion Pictures. Funding awarded: £49,900 (development); £510,095 (production)

Self Made

Directed by Turner Prize-winning artist Gillian Wearing, and co-written by Gillian Wearing and playwright Leo Butler. Based on an idea by Gillian, Self Made follows seven participants discovering their invented selves through a method workshop. Produced by Lisa Marie Russo.
Funding awarded: £35,000 (development); £250,000 (production)

Son of Babylon

Directed by Mohamed Al Daradji (Ahlaam). A UK/Iraqi film 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. Screenplay by Jennifer Norridge, Mohamed al-Daradji and Mithal Ghazi. Produced by Isabelle Stead, Atia Al-Daradji, Mohamed Al-Daradji and Dimitri de Clercq. Production companies: Human Film and Iraq Al-Rafidain. Winner of the Amnesty International Film Award and the Peace Film Award at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival.
Funding awarded: £17,750 (development); £150,000 (production)

StreetDance 3D

Directed by Max Giwa and Diana Pasquini and written by Jane English (Sugar Rush). The first ever fiction 3D film to be produced in the UK, following the exploits of a London dance crew training for the UK Street Dance Championships who are forced to work with ballet dancers from the Royal Dance School in return for rehearsal space. Cast includes Charlotte Rampling, Nichola Burley, Richard Winsor, and Britain’s Got Talent dance sensations George Sampson, Diversity and Flawless. Produced by James Richardson and Allan Niblo, Vertigo Films.
Funding awarded: £1,003,300 (production)

Submarine

The feature film debut from writer/director Richard Ayoade. A coming of age comedy set in Swansea following 15 year old Oliver Tate through the impending break-up of his parents’ marriage and his first relationship. Cast includes Sally Hawkins, Noah Taylor, Paddy Considine, Craig Roberts and Yasmin Paige. A Warp Films production in association with Red Box Films, produced by Andy Stebbing, Mark Herbert and Mary Burke.
Funding awarded: £700,000 (production)

Tamara Drewe

Directed by Stephen Frears (The Queen) and adapted by Moira Buffini from Posy Simmonds’ graphic novel and Saturday Guardian strip. A modern-day take on the Hardy classic, Far From The Madding Crowd starring Gemma Arterton – a story of love and lust in a rural idyll. Cast also includes Dominic Cooper, Roger Allam, Luke Evans, Bill Camp and Tamsin Greig. A Ruby Films production produced by Alison Owen and Tracey Seaward.
Funding awarded: £102,625 (development); £780,000 (production)

The Arbor

Directed by artist Clio Barnard. A feature documentary about the Buttershaw Estate, the setting for Andrea Dunbar’s autobiographical stage plays and Alan Clark’s film adaptation Rita, Sue and Bob Too (1987), as well as A State Affair (2000) by Robin Soans.¦nbsp; Cast includes Manjinder Virk, Christine Bottomley, Neil Dudgeon, Jimi Mistry, Kathryn Pogson, Natalie Gavin, Danny Webb, George Costigan. Exec-produced by Michael Morris for Artangel, and produced by Tracy O’Riordan for the Jerwood Artangel OPEN.
Funding awarded: £25,000 (development); £128,885 (production)

The Guard

Written and directed by John Michael McDonagh. An unorthodox Irish policeman joins forces with a straitlaced FBI agent, to take on an international drug-smuggling gang. Cast includes Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Mark Strong, Liam Cunningham, Fionnuala Flanagan, David Wilmot, Rory Keenan, Pat Shortt and newcomer Katarina Cas. Produced by Reprisal Films’ Chris Clark and Flora Fernandez Marengo and Element Pictures’ Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe.
Funding awarded: £250,000 (production)

The King's Speech

Directed by Tom Hooper (The Damned United) and written by David Seidler. The true story of the unorthodox relationship between England’s reluctant King George VI, plagued by a nervous stammer, and the irreverent Australian speech therapist who cures him. Starring Colin Firth, Geoffrey Rush, Helena Bonham Carter and Timothy Spall. Produced by See-Saw’s Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Bedlam’s Gareth Unwin.
Funding awarded: £21,080 (development); £1m (production)

Tracker

Directed by Ian Sharp (Tess of the D'Urbervilles, TV) and written by Nicolas van Pallandt. A manhunt thriller starring Ray Winstone and Temuera Morrison about a Boer War veteran who is promised a bounty to capture a Maori seafarer accused of killing a British soldier. A UK/NZ co-production and produced by David Burns and Trevor Haysom. Production companies: Eden Films, T.H.E. Film in association with Phoenix Wiley and Liberty Films.
Funding awarded: £971,291 (production)

Untitled, Gabriel Range

Writer Jeremy Brock and producer Andrea Calderwood collaborate for the first time since the Oscar®-winning The Last King of Scotland.¦nbsp; They are joined by director Gabriel Range (Death of a President) on the currently untitled project, which, inspired by real life events, is an extraordinary story about one woman’s fight for freedom from modern day slavery. Cast includes upcoming international talent, Wunmi Mosaku (Moses Jones), Lubna Azabal (Occupation, Body of Lies), Igal Naor (The House of Saddam) and Nonso Anozie (Occupation, Atonement). Produced by Slate Films/Potboiler Productions and the Borough Picture Company.
Funding awarded: £55,600 (development); £632,500 (production)

We Want Sex

Directed by Nigel Cole (Calendar Girls). Sally Hawkins stars as Rita O’Grady, the catalyst for the 1968 Ford Dagenham strike by 187 sewing machinists which led to the advent of the Equal Pay Act.¦nbsp; Cast also includes Andrea Riseborough, Bob Hoskins, Daniel Mays, Geraldine James, Jaime Winstone, Kenneth Cranham, Miranda Richardson, Roger Lloyd-Pack, Rosamund Pike, Rupert Graves and Richard Schiff. Screenplay by Billy Ivory. Produced by Stephen Woolley and Elizabeth Karlsen, Number 9 Films.
Funding awarded: development (Number 9 Films slate); £903,077 (production)

West is West

Directed by Andy De Emmony and written by Ayub Khan Din, West is West is the sequel to the internationally acclaimed and successful East is East, which takes the Khan family on a journey from Salford, England to rural Pakistan. Cast includes Om Puri, Linda Bassett, Aqib Khan, Emil Marwa, Jimi Mistry, Veejay Raaz, Lesley Nicol and Ila Arun. Produced by Leslee Udwin, Assassin Films.
Funding awarded: £106,956 (development)

PROJECTS IN DEVELOPMENT

The UK Film Council is also supporting the development of new projects from a range of talent, including:

• Award-winning director Lynne Ramsay (Morvern Callar, Ratcatcher), who is currently developing her upcoming feature We Need To Talk About Kevin;
• Oscar® and Cannes winning director Andrea Arnold (Fish Tank, Red Road), who is working on an original idea called The Cleaner;
• Bestselling author Nick Hornby, Oscar®-nominated for An Education, who is co-writing family animation The Babymakers with Giles Smith;
• Award-winning author Sadie Jones who is adapting her debut novel The Outcast for John Madden (Shakespeare in Love) to direct;
• Lee Hall, award-winning writer of Billy Elliot, currently working on For The End of Time about French musical genius, Olivier Messiaen;
• Oliver Hirschbiegel, director of Five Minutes of Heaven, currently working with the Bond writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade on mafia thriller Corsica 72;
• Conor McPherson (The Eclipse), who is writing a ghost story Strangers to be directed by Oscar®-winning director James Marsh;
• Leading British author Jeanette Winterson (Oranges are Not the Only Fruit), writing her screen debut Gertrude and Alice about Gertrude Stein and Alice B Tokles;
• Hanif Kureishi, the renowned novelist, playwright, screenwriter and filmmaker, who is adapting Aravind Adiga’s Man Booker Prize-winning novel The White Tiger;
• John Crowley (Boy A, Is Anybody There?), developing his new project Iggy, about the Jamaica-based Sister Iggy, the nun who nurtured reggae;
• Actor Paddy Considine, (Dead Man’s Shoes, My Summer of Love), who is writing and directing his first feature The Journeyman;
• BAFTA-winning screenwriter Jeremy Brock (The Last King of Scotland), currently writing The Spare about Prince Harry, to be directed by Peter Kosminsky, and also working on How I Live Now, based on the novel by Meg Rosoff;
• James Watkins, breakthrough director of BIFA award-winning film Eden Lake, who is developing his next, as yet untitled, project;
• Noel Clarke, 2009 BAFTA Rising Star and actor/writer/director (Adulthood, Kidulthood), who is currently co-writing his new Olympics film Fast Girls¦nbsp; with Jay Basu, and working with Kidulthood director Menhaj Huda on new film Despatched;
• Enda Walsh (Hunger, Chatroom), writing an adaptation of Dancing with Demons, the authorised biography of Dusty Springfield;
• BAFTA award winning writer Matt Greenhalgh (Control, Nowhere Boy), who is developing his new project Xcalibre;
• Stephen Fry, the writer, actor, and film director, who is developing Hallelujah!, a film about Handel's Messiah, co-written with Nick Adams;
• John Maybury (The Edge of Love), developing Lee Miller, about the American model, muse, photographer and war reporter;
• Director Peter Strickland (Katalin Varga), who is developing The Berberian Sound Studio, a horror set in Italy;
• Actor Danny Huston (21 Grams, The Constant Gardener), currently writing and directing Mexican thriller Day of the Dead;
• Tony Grisoni (Death Defying Acts) and Terry Gilliam (The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus) co-writing The Man Who Killed Don Quixote for Gilliam to direct;
• Roger Michell (Venus, Enduring Love), directing Hyde Park on Hudson, written by Richard Nelson;
• Frank Cottrell-Boyce (Grow Your Own, 24 Hour Party People) who is adapting Michael Morpugo’s award-winning novel Kensuke’s Kingdom, for Anand Tucker (And When Did You Last See Your Father) to direct;
• Oscar®-winning writer Simon Beaufoy, (Slumdog Millionaire, The Full Monty), who is adapting The Raw Shark Texts from the novel by Steven Hall, and Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, from the novel by Paul Torday, to be directed by Bill Condon (Dreamgirls);
• Michael Winterbottom (The Shock Doctrine), co-writing The Promised Land with Laurence Coriat (Genova), a drama set in Palestine;
• Oscar®-winning writer Christopher Hampton (Atonement, Dangerous Liaisons), who is adapting the bestselling novel The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield;
• Zam Salim, the BAFTA Scotland-nominated newcomer is developing his short film Laid Off, into his first feature.