Yann Demange

On Monday 15 April, principal photography begins on ‘71, a nail-biting thriller set in a city descending into chaos. ‘71 is the debut feature from director Yann Demange (Top Boy, Dead Set), starring Jack O’Connell (300-Rise of an Empire, Eden Lake, This is England, Skins), with Paul Anderson (Sherlock Holmes, The Sweeney), Richard Dormer (Good Vibrations), Sean Harris (Prometheus, Harry Brown), Martin McCann (Shadow Dancer, Jump), Charlie Murphy (The Village,  Love/Hate), Sam Reid (Serena, Anonymous) and  David Wilmot (Anna Karenina, The Guard).

The film is written by Gregory Burke (Black Watch) and is produced by Angus Lamont (Donkey Punch) for Crab Apple Films and Robin Gutch (Hunger) for Warp Films.

‘71 is backed by Film4, BFI Film Fund, Screen Yorkshire, and Creative Scotland. International sales are being handled by Protagonist Pictures and UK distribution by STUDIOCANAL.  Shooting will take place in Yorkshire for 8 weeks. The film received development support from Northern Ireland Screen, Film4 and Creative Scotland.

A young British soldier is accidentally abandoned by his unit following a riot on the streets of Belfast in 1971. Unable to tell friend from foe, and increasingly wary of his own comrades, the raw recruit must survive the night alone and find his way to safety through a disorientating, alien and deadly landscape.

Born in Paris and raised in London, Yann Demange began his career filming live concerts and assisting on commercials and music promos. His first fiction short film Joe was accepted by the British Council as part of its festival program and was screened internationally. Other shorts followed including Incomplete, Alan and Samir and Headspace. Yann attended the National Film and Television School, and on graduating in 2006 he went on to direct comedy drama Man in a Box for Channel 4. His next project was the five part series Dead Set an acerbic satirical zombie drama, written by cult-journalist and presenter Charlie Brooker (nominated for a BAFTA for Best Drama serial). This was followed by the five part BBC series Criminal Justice (nominated for the Craft award for Best Director in the 2010 BAFTAs). Most recently he directed the critically acclaimed Top Boy written by Ronan Bennett for Channel 4. Set in Hackney, London, the drama looks beyond the headlines about youth crime and delves into the personal stories of those involved. The series was nominated for the Best Director and Best Serial BAFTAs and won Best Drama Serial at the Royal Television Society and the 2013 Broadcast awards. ’71 is Yann’s directorial debut feature film.

CRAB APPLE FILMS
Crab Apple Films is the production company of Glasgow based Producer Angus Lamont. He Co-Produced the theatrical feature film Stella Does Tricks (BFI) and produced the feature films Donkey Punch for Warp X (Film4/UKFC) and Late Night Shopping (Film4), winner of numerous awards including BIFA and Scottish BAFTAs and nominated for BAFTA Carl Foreman Award. Lamont developed and produced the mini-series The Planman for ITV starring Robbie Coltrane and has made over 30 short films. He has a slate of projects in development with a range of partners including Warp Films, Creative Scotland, The BBC, Film4, The BFI, STUDIOCANAL, and Northern Ireland Screen. This includes Destroyer, with Warp Films, which is planned to shoot late 2013.

WARP FILMS is an independent production company based in Sheffield & London. In 2003 their first film Chris Morris' My Wrongs #8245-8249 & 117 won a BAFTA for Best Short Film. They have since gone on to produce critically acclaimed features including Shane Meadows’ Dead Man’s Shoes and the BAFTA-winning This is England. Recent productions include Chris Morris’ BAFTA-winning debut feature Four Lions, Richard Ayoade's debut feature Submarine and the 2011 Warp X production Kill List, written & directed by Ben Wheatley. In 2010 & 2011, Warp Films broke through into television with the sequels This Is England '86 & '88 for Channel 4.

Recent releases have been Peter Strickland's highly acclaimed Berberian Sound Studio. Currently in post-production is Shane Meadows’ eagerly anticipated documentary The Stone Roses: Made of Stone, Paul Wright's debut feature For Those in Peril, and Southcliffe directed by Sean Durkin & written by Tony Grisoni for Channel 4.This month the BFI is celebrating Warp’s 10th anniversary with a season of films and events.

More information at the website

SCREEN YORKSHIRE
Screen Yorkshire invests in content within TV, film, video games and the digital sectors in Yorkshire and Humber through the Yorkshire Content Fund. The largest fund of its kind in the UK, the Yorkshire Content Fund is supported financially by the European Union. It has attracted £7.5m investment from the European Regional Development Fund as part of Europe’s support for the region’s economic development through the Yorkshire and Humber ERDF Programme 2007-13.

Key Screen Yorkshire investments include: Wuthering Heights; Tyrannosaur; Unforgiven; Red Riding; Lost in Austen; Kill List; The Damned United; Bunny and the Bull; This is England; A Passionate Woman; The Cottage; Brideshead Revisited; Hush; This is England ’86; Berberian Sound Studio; Peaky Blinders; The Great Train Robbery; Catch me Daddy; Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell.

More information at the website

CREATIVE SCOTLAND
Creative Scotland is the national development agency for the arts, screen and creative industries. We support emerging and established filmmaking talent. Creative Scotland provides a range of funding from development to production, to help realise films that will benefit Scotland and engage and entertain audiences at home and beyond.

STUDIOCANAL
STUDIOCANAL is a subsidiary of the CANAL+ Group. It is one of Europe’s leading companies in the market for co-production, acquisition, distribution and sale of international feature films.  STUDIOCANAL’s Production ambitions have included Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (number one at the UK box-office for 3 weeks and grossed over $85 million worldwide) and this year STUDIOCANAL financed the Coen’s Inside Llewyn Davis, with Justin Timberlake, Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan and John Goodman; Susanne Bier’s Serena, starring Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence; and Dan Mazer’s box office hit I Give It A Year with Rose Byrne and Simon Baker as well as James Griffith's feature film directorial debut Cuban Fury currently in Post Production, later this year productions will include the highly anticipated Paddington.

The STUDIOCANAL 2013 slate boasts the best of British Production with Michael Winterbottom’s The Look of Love starring Steve Coogan as Paul Raymond which had its World Premiere in Sundance together with Jeremy Lovering’s In Fear. Additional UK Productions released this year will include Cuban Fury, a passion project for Nick Frost who also stars, The Alan Partridge Movie and Hossein Amini’s Directorial debut The Two Faces of January which reunites the studio with the Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy producing team. Acquisition releases include The Last Exorcism: The Beginning and The End, Derek Cianfrance’s The Place Beyond The Pines, Evil Dead produced by Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell, Neil Jordan’s Byzantium, Robert Redford’s The Company You Keep, Michel Gondry’s Mood Indigo, Studio Ghibli’s From Up On Poppy Hill, Lasse Hallstrom’s The Hypnotist and Ron Howard’s eagerly awaited Rush starring Chris Hemsworth as F1 Racing’s notorious James Hunt. 

More information at the website

PROTAGONIST PICTURES
Commercially-minded and creatively-spirited, Protagonist Pictures is an international sales company committed to strong relationships with film-makers, investors and distributors. Company shareholders include Film4, Vertigo Films and Ingenious Media.  Launched in spring 2008, Protagonist has forged a major presence in the international marketplace with a diverse slate of films from both its shareholders and third-party producers.

Protagonist’s current slate includes Frank, Lenny Abrahamson’s new comedy featuring Michael Fassbender and Domhnall Gleeson; Kevin Macdonald’s How I Live Now, starring Saoirse Ronan; Richard Ayoade’s The Double starring Jesse Eisenberg and Mia Wasikowska, and John Michael McDonagh (The Guard)’s Calvary, with Brendan Gleeson, as well as films from Clio Barnard (The Selfish Giant) and Paul Wright (award-winning short filmmaker) – For Those In Peril.

More information at the website

FILM4
Film4, headed by Tessa Ross, is Channel 4 Television’s feature film division. Film4 develops and co-finances films and is known for working with the most innovative talent in the UK, whether new or established.

Film4 has developed and co-financed many of the most successful UK films of recent years, films like Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours, Martin McDonagh’s In Bruges, Steve McQueen’s Hunger and Shame, Mike Leigh’s Another Year, Chris Morris’ Four Lions, Richard Ayoade’s Submarine, Joe Cornish’s Attack The Block, Lone Scherfig’s One Day, Ben Wheatley’s Kill List, Paddy Considine’s Tyrannosaur and Ben Palmer’s The Inbetweeners Movie.

Recent releases include Andrea Arnold’s Wuthering Heights, Terence Davies’ The Deep Blue Sea, Phyllida Lloyd’s The Iron Lady, Bart Layton’s The Imposter, Peter Strickland’s Berberian Sound Studio, Walter Salles’ On the Road, Ben Wheatley’s Sightseers,Martin McDonagh’s Seven Psychopaths, Roger Michell’s Hyde Park on Hudson and Danny Boyle’s Trance.

Forthcoming releases include Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin, Shane Meadows’ The Stone Roses: Made of Stone, Kevin Macdonald’s How I Live Now, Sophie Fiennes’ The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology, Richard Ayoade’s The Double, Michael Winterbottom’s The Look of Love, Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave and Roger Michell’s Le Weekend.

More information at the website

BFI FILM FUND
With a strong emphasis on new voices and fresh ideas, the BFI Film Fund nurtures and invests in a diverse mix of filmmakers, aiming to enrich British film culture, increase the economic value of UK film and help define Britain and its storytellers in the 21st century. The BFI Film Fund champions creative excellence and boldness of vision, investing Lottery funding in the development, production and completion of short and long form projects and supporting filmmakers at every step of their journey to create distinctive and entertaining films.

Films recently supported by BFI Film Fund include Yann Demange’s 71, Declan Lowney’s The Alan Partridge Movie, Amma Asante’s Belle, Neil Jordan’s Byzantium, John Michael McDonagh’s Calvary, James Griffiths’ Cuban Fury, Richard Ayoade’s The Double, Destiny Ekaragha’s Gone Too Far, Kevin Macdonald’s How I Live Now, Ralph Fiennes’ The Invisible Woman, Ruairi Robinson’s The Last Days on Mars, Roger Michell’s Le Weekend, Sophie Fiennes’ The Pervert’s Guide To Ideology, Stephen Frears’ Philomena, Clio Barnard’s The Selfish Giant, Ken Loach’s Spirit of ’45, Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin.

The BFI is the lead organisation for film in the UK with the ambition to create a flourishing film environment in which innovation, opportunity and creativity can thrive by:

• Connecting audiences to the widest choice of British and World cinema

• Preserving and restoring the most significant film collection in the world for today and future generations

• Investing in creative, distinctive and entertaining work

• Promoting British film and talent to the world

• Growing the next generation of film makers and audiences

More information at the website