The Brit List: Film 2011

THE CALL UP by Charles Baker (Marjacq)

Producers: Stigma Films

Genre: Sci-fi Horror
Summary: A group of online gamers are invited to trial a state-of-the-art virtual reality sim, but what starts out like a dream encounter with cutting edge video technology – a perfect representation of soldiers in a warzone – takes a turn for the sinister when the stakes are raised to fatal. These masters of the shoot ’em up will have to fight for their lives within a game gone too far: this time it’s for real.

ORDINARY THUNDERSTORMS by William Boyd (The Agency)

Producers: Origin Pictures/BBC Films

Genre: Thriller
Summary: An innocent man on the run across London is forced to go underground in an attempt to evade his dangerous pursuers. Based on William Boyd’s internationally best-selling novel.

LILTING THE PAST (aka LILTING) by Hong Khaou (unrepresented)

Producers: Dominic Buchanan

Summary: A story about loss, memory, love and intimacy. A mothers attempt at understanding who her son is after his untimely death.

OLIVIA AND JIM by Henrietta & Jessica Ashworth (United Agents)

Producers: Forward Films

Genre: Comedy

MAN UP by Tess Morris (Julia Tyrell Management)

Producers: Big Talk Productions/Studio Canal

Genre: Romantic Comedy

TUSK TUSK by Polly Stenham (Alan Brodie Representation)

Producers: Origin Pictures/Film4

Genre: Drama
Summary: When three children are left to fend for themselves in a London flat, things start to spiral out of control. Based on Polly Stenham’s critically acclaimed stage play.

X+Y by James Graham (Curtis Brown)

Producers: Origin Pictures/BBC Films/ Minnow Films/BFI

Genre: Drama/Coming-of-age
Summary: A funny and moving rites of passage drama that charts a teenage prodigy’s journey to the Mathematics Olympiad, and his quest to find a formula for love.

SECOND IS NOWHERE by William Davies (ITG)

Producers: AL Films/BBC Films

Genre: Drama

BAD TRAFFIC by Jay Basu (ITG)

Producers: David Gerson, Nick Wechsler and Rory Gilmartin

Genre: Crime Thriller
Summary: Former Chinese cop, JIAN arrives in London seeking revenge on snakehead criminal BLACK FORT, the man he holds responsible for the murder of his daughter. British undercover cop RAY picks up his trail, and must decide whether to stop Jian or let him do his dirty work for him.

BAGHDAD WEDDING by Hassan Abdulrazzak (Knight Hall Agency) and Nick Drake (The Agency)

Producers: Focus Features

BURNTHAVEN by Sebastian Foster (United Agents)

Producers: Cloud Eight Films

Genre: Action/Western
Summary: A Federal Marshal tracks his best friend’s murderer through the Utah badlands to an outlaw stronghold. To bring his man to justice, he must first take out 23 of the most lawless fugitives in the land – and their leader, a shadowy figure from his past.

LIKE A VIRGIN by Catherine Shepherd (Curtis Brown)

Producers: Kate Ogborn/Fly Film

Genre: Coming-of-age/Comedy
Summary: Mary is off her head on a night out when she is visited by the angel Gabriel who tells her that she has been chosen by God to give birth to the next Messiah. This time the Messiah won’t be born to a virgin. What happens when a girl who isn’t ready to grow up is chosen to save the world? ‘Like a Virgin’ is a coming-of-age comedy about the search for the sublime in the ridiculous, the meaningful in the mundane and the desire to believe in something bigger than ourselves.

TESTAMENT OF YOUTH by Juliette Towhidi (Casarotto)

Producers: Heyday Films/BBC Films

Summary: An adaptation of the classic First World War memoir by Vera Brittain, which tackles youth, hope, dreams, love, and loss, and tells the personal story of how one woman faces the tragedy of war, and rises above it.

AVAILABLE LIGHT by Amber Trentham (Casarotto) and Thomas Carty (Casarotto)

Producers: Altered Image Films

Genre: Romantic Thriller
Summary: Joseph, a young ex-gardener is paralysed in a bike accident and his life seems all but over. When he is abducted by a brutal brothel owner to service the voyeurism of a perverse client Joseph’s life seems to have entered a deeper stage of hell. But Joseph and prostitute Ingrid fall in love and together plan to escape.

THE BUCCANEERS by Heidi Thomas (The Agency)

Producers: Ruby Films/BBC Films/BFI

Genre: Romantic Drama
Summary: Adapted from Edith Wharton’s classic, the story captures the adventures of three wealthy American girls. Unable to gain acceptance in the WASP-y East Coast society, they are taken by their English governess to hunt for titled husbands in her home country, where many an impoverished Duke and Earl will look fondly at an American girl with a fortune, wherever that fortune comes from…They soon find however that they may have bitten off more than they can chew, and Laura, the governess, is forced to make some hard choices to make things right.

THE CHINESE BUSKER by Trevor Preston (The Agency)

Producers: Kennedy Mellor Limited

Genre: Thriller
Summary: Dumas is a man without a history; a ghost operating in that no-man’s land between legal and criminal; a genius at providing unscrupulous corporate raiders with devastating information plucked from the air. Hirst is his final customer and becomes his nemesis.

FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD by David Nicholls (ITG)

Producers: DNA/BBC Films

Genre: Period Drama
Summary: An adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s classic novel.

THE GOOD PEOPLE by Nicholas Horwood (Berlin Associates)

Producers: Escape Films

Genre: Horror/Drama
Summary: An American writer moves to rural England to escape his demons, only to find that he is haunted by a very real danger instead.

I, MACROBANE by Ben Wheatley (ITG)

Producers: Rook Films/Big Talk Productions

Genre: Black Comedy

THE INVISIBLE WOMAN by Abi Morgan (ITG)

Producers: Headline Pictures/Magnolia Mae Films/BBC Films/BFI

Genre: Romantic Drama
Summary: The story of Victorian England’s most famous author, Charles Dickens, and his secret love affair with young actress Nelly Ternan.

MISS YOU ALREADY by Morwenna Banks (The Agency) and Paul Andrew Williams (United Agents)

Producers: Embargo Films/Salt

Summary: Miss You Already is a film about love, loss and laughter.

A MOST WANTED MAN by Andrew Bovell (HLA)

Producers: The Ink Factory/Potboiler Productions/ Film4

Genre: Thriller
Summary: Adaptation of John le Carré’s bestselling novel. An enigmatic figure arrives in Hamburg with unclear objectives and the keys to a safe deposit box containing a fortune. He sweeps an embittered spy, a British banker and an idealistic young lawyer into a thrilling and moving mystery about his identity.

OUR KIND OF TRAITOR by Hossein Amini (Curtis Brown)

Producers: The Ink Factory/Potboiler Productions

Genre: Thriller
Summary: The lives of a young couple are changed forever after a chance encounter with a charismatic Russian oligarch. The man turns out to be the number one money launderer for the Russian mob, and his days are numbered unless the couple can come to his rescue. Based on John le Carré’s bestselling novel.

THE SLACKFI PROJECT by Howard Overman (ITG)

Producers: Matt Tolmach/Sony Columbia Pictures

Genre: Comedic Thriller
Summary: A hapless and broken hearted barrista is visited by two bad-ass soldiers from the future who tell him mankind is doomed and he alone can save them.

TAKING OFF by David F Shamoon (unrepresented)

Producers: Met Film Production

Genre: Road movie/Comedy
Summary: A funny and truthful road movie about a 50-something couple whose failing marriage is driven to its limits as they cross the US to get to their son’s wedding.

WALKING ON SUNSHINE by Joshua St Johnston (Alan Brodie Representation)

Producers: Vertigo Films

Genre: Musical
Summary: Set in the sun drenched Mediterranean, mother and daughter unwittingly fall for the same guy in this contemporary musical that features the greatest tracks from the 80’s.