News

This review of “Creation Stories” was first published on June 16, 2021 after the film’s premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Drug-fueled benders and a knack for finding promising musical acts defined several decades of Scottish producer Alan McGee‘s storied, fast-paced life. The irreverent man behind Creation Records, the fiercely independent label that launched a slew of prominent bands into international stardom, holds a treasure-trove of anecdotes.

Those accounts — from the early, no-expectations days to the downfall from his no-holds-barred lifestyle — were first poured into McGee‘s 2013 autobiography and have now been adapted for the screen by Dean Cavanagh and Irvine Welsh (“Trainspotting”) for actor-turned-director Nick Moran’s film “Creation Stories.” Danny Boyle is an executive producer.

The somewhat-successful framing device here, at least for most of the parade of memories, is McGee’s interview with a young reporter in Los Angeles. Ewen Bremner, best known for playing Spud in “Trainspotting” and its sequel,...

Some movies endure as a treasured soundtrack to which the film itself becomes a mere footnote. That seems likely to prove the case with “Creation Stories,” a biopic of Creation Records’ founder Alan McGee that duly draws sonic fuel from the stellar array of Britpop bands he was involved with. But as directed by Nick Moran in obvious imitation of executive producer Danny Boyle’s most hyperbolic style, scripted by Irvine Welsh and Dean Cavanagh, this apparently loose interpretation of the subject’s memoir becomes a hyperventilating “Behind the Music” caricature, all familiar flash and precious little substance. Rlj Entertainment is releasing on demand and digital platforms in the U.S. on Feb. 25, following openings in most other territories.

McGee’s 2013 same-titled tome is a breezy yet cogent chronicle of a whirlwind career, written in the clear-eyed retrospect of sobriety after years of chemical excess. But the film immediately lunges...

Atkins has written a book recounting his surreal experiences during his nine months at London’s Wandsworth prison.

When UK filmmaker Chris Atkins was sentenced to five years in prison for defrauding Hmrc in a film-finance tax scam in July 2016, he was immediately taken to London’s Wandsworth prison, where he began his sentence. Later transferred to Ford open prison in West Sussex, he was released in December 2018, having served just shy of 30 months.

Since his release, he has seen the publication of A Bit Of A Stretch: The Diaries Of A Prisoner, recounting his surreal experiences during his nine months at Wandsworth,...

Where others may diagnose death for a failed film, a certain cinematic surgeon endeavors to breathe new life into moribund movies through extreme and invasive procedures. Whether it be rescuing invaluable elements from train wrecks for transplant, identifying cause of symptoms or resurrecting doomed patients with wholesale rewrites, Cinematic Surgery aims to show that even the most tragic or insolvable cases can be saved in the operating/editing room.

Such is the current culture in the filmmaking world that the very notion of suggesting ‘remake’ is considered sacrilege, a soul selling throw down to the cynical moneymakers bleeding dry a stable of beloved movies of the past in pursuit of sales through nostalgia and association, all to the detriment of goodwill and creativity. But the problem isn’t in the concept, it’s in the choices.

On occasion, there has been a film put out that sells itself through the strength of its tantalizing premise,...

(Screened at the 2013 Raindance Film Festival) “Wayland’s Song” is the latest offering from Scottish director writer Richard Jobson, best known for grim, often violent tales such as “16 Years of Alcohol” and “New Town Killers”, as well as for being the frontman for punk band The Skids. The film sees him returning to familiar themes of soul searching and gritty, brutal realism, with Michael Nardone (“Intruders”) as the titular Wayland, a soldier who returns from Afghanistan, tormented by visions and fits from his experiences in battle and searching for his missing daughter after receiving a worrying message from her. Starting off with her druggy friends, he starts working his way closer to the unpleasant truth, having to deal with faces from his past, including a scheming detective (Brit television actor Alan McKenna) and the unbalanced wife he left behind a few years back. While there’s no doubting that Richard Jobson...

To mark the release of Wayland’s Song on September 30th we’ve been given 3 copies to give away on DVD. The movie stars starring Michael Nardone, Rob James-Collier.

Wayland (Michael Nardone – The Somnambulists) returns home after being badly injured in the war in Afghanistan. To compound his sense of isolation and internal struggle, he discovers his daughter has vanished without a trace. His quest becomes not only about finding her but also about discovering who and what he has become. Wayland is looking for something he left behind in the killing fields of Helmand Provence, his humanity and his soul.

Written and directed by auteur Richard Jobson (16 Years Of Alcohol, The Purifiers and New Town Killers), Wayland’s Song is a stylish, pacey revenge thriller supported by a cast of accomplished British actors including Hannah Lederer (The Look Of Love) and Rob James-Collier (Downton Abbey). Daring and invigorating, catch...

WikiLeaks founder to judge films at the 21st Raindance Film Festival; 2013 line-up unveiled.Scroll down for full line-up of films

Julian Assange has joined the jury of the 21st Raindance Film Festival (Sept 25 - Oct 6), a London-based event that celebrates independent film in the UK and around the world.

The appointment is a controversial one. The Australian editor-in-chief and founder of WikiLeaks took refuge in the Ecuadorean embassy in London in June 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning about sexual assault allegations.

It is understood that he fears Sweden would extradite him to the Us, where he believes he is wanted in relation to WikiLeaks’ disclosure of a significant amount of classified Us military and diplomatic documents.

Commenting on Assange’s appointment, Raindance founder Elliot Grove said: “Every year Raindance invites interesting people to join our jury. In the past we have had musicians like Mick Jones, Marky Ramone and [link...

Love indie cinema? Live in the London area? Neither of those things but have a diary to fill and a private jet? Well, this year's Raindance Film Festival programme has been announced and it's literally full of films.There will be features, documentaries and shorts from 50 countries on display between September 25 and October 6, with Richard Jobson's Brit thriller Wayland's Song bringing the scars of the Afghanistan conflict to the Vue Piccadilly screens and Earthbound the closest the festival will come to splicing The Man Who Fell To Earth and Pitch Black into a single Rafe Spall sci-fi.The Machine with Toby Stephens is another to look out for. The best of the Raindance line-up will be pored over by Jason Flemyng, Beth Gibbons, Sean Brosnan and Julian Assange - presumably at the Ecuadorian embassy - and garlanded at the Raindance Awards on October 5.Head over to the official Raindance website for all the details.

In our second competition of the day, and to commemorate the DVD release of Scottish director Richard Jobson's Iraq War drama The Somnambulists (2012) - featuring Skins star Jack O'Connell, Steven Robertson, Jonathan Kerrigan and Michael Nardone - on 30 April, we have Three copies of the film to give away to you know who. This is an exclusive competition for our Facebook fans, so if you haven't already, head over to facebook.com/CineVueUK, 'Like' us, and then follow the instructions below. Read more »...

The Somnambulists

Directed by Richard Jobson

UK, 2011

The title of Richard Jobson’s second film, one part political screed and one part disturbing documentary on the terrible Iraq debacle serves twin purposes – to witness the hypnotised fashion in which a sleep-walking population was seduced into supporting the war by a complacent media, and to honour the dead and wounded, both emotionally and physically, who have suffered in the appalling carnage of the past eight years. The film straddles that fine line between documentary and fiction with Jobson scribing fifteen soliloquies, some moving and some harrowing reports from the home and foreign fronts that he has culled from years of interviewing over 200 servicemen and women who served and some who have perished in a brutal war that already seems to be receding into the history books.

After a context-setting text crawl, a series of actors and actresses perform their speeches, shot...

Richard Jobson's committed, imaginative response to our collective apathy to the war in Iraq.

In 2008, Edinburgh artist Joanna Kane had an exhibition, entitled The Somnambulists, at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. Comprising new photographs of facial masks cast 150-200 years ago by the Edinburgh Phrenological Society, this collection gave a haunting sort life to the images of people who had in fact died before they could ever be photographed.

Inspired by this exhibition, and horrified by his - and a nation's - apathy towards the recent invasion and occupation of Iraq,...

Richard Jobson's committed, imaginative response to our collective apathy to the war in Iraq.

In 2008, Edinburgh artist Joanna Kane had an exhibition, entitled The Somnambulists, at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery. Comprising new photographs of facial masks cast 150-200 years ago by the Edinburgh Phrenological Society, this collection gave a haunting sort life to the images of people who had in fact died before they could ever be photographed.

Inspired by this exhibition, and horrified by his - and a nation's - apathy towards the recent invasion and occupation of Iraq,...

After Sandra Hebron's nine years as artistic director, the BFI London film festival is enjoying record attendance and international acclaim. She tells Adam Dawtrey how it was done

For someone who describes her own taste in movies as "austere", Sandra Hebron certainly knows how to give audiences at the BFI London film festival a good time. Her nine-year reign as artistic director, which ends with the 55th edition, has coincided with the rising popularity of the event, an increase in glitz and red carpet glamour without ever compromising its commitment to serious cinema, and its transformation into a festival of genuine international stature.

Hebron, an elfin figure whose trademark knee-high black leather boots have their own fans, is leaving the festival on an all-time high, with last year's attendance a record 132,000, up 20% from when she took over in 2003. No wonder that the British Film Institute made sure to protect the...

In an article about former Tartan head Hamish McAlpine and his current endeavor to get into production with his latest label, Generation, a few genre projects were announced. Screen Daily says Generation will team with Rankin (John Rankin Waddell), famous UK photographer and sometimes filmmaker, for a ghost story entitled Lost Girl . Unfortunately, that's about all of the details Screen Daily has. Shooting is expected to begin in 2012. You'll find samples of Rankin's works via his website . Also chugging along at McAlpine's Generation: A thriller called Helter Skelter by Richard Jobson. Again, more details on that one as they come in.

9 new British films funded by the Lottery Film Fund

selected for the BFI London Film Festival

including the Opening and Closing night Galas

London - Wednesday 7 September 2011. This year.s 55th BFI London Film Festival, in partnership with American Express, will showcase 9 new British feature films funded by the UK Film Council.s Film Fund, now with the BFI, including the Opening and Closing night UK Gala premieres of Fernando Meirelles. 360, written by Peter Morgan, and Terence Davies. The Deep Blue Sea.

The line-up of British films which have been developed and/or production funded by the Film Fund at the BFI London Film festival also includes:

Shame, directed by Steve McQueen and co-written with Abi Morgan; We Need To Talk About Kevin, directed by Lynne Ramsay and co-written with Rory Stewart Kinnear; Wuthering Heights, directed by Andrea Arnold and co-written with Olivia Hetreed; Trishna, written and directed by Michael Winterbottom; A Dangerous Method,...

The programme for the 55th BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express launched today by Artistic Director Sandra Hebron, celebrates the imagination and excellence of international filmmaking from both established and emerging talent. Over 16 days the Festival will screen a total of 204 fiction and documentary features, including 13 World Premieres, 18 International Premieres and 22 European Premieres . There will also be screenings of 110 live action and animated shorts. Many of the films will be presented by their directors, cast members and crew, some of whom will also take part in career interviews, masterclasses, and other special events. The 55th BFI London Film Festival will run from 12-27 October.

Special Screenings

Opening the festival is Fernando Meirelles’ 360, written by Peter Morgan, and starring Sir Anthony Hopkins, Jude Law and Rachel Weisz. Weisz is also the star of Terence Davies’ closing night film, The Deep Blue Sea, alongside a cast which includes Simon Russell Beale and Tom Hiddleston.

From the 12th to the 27th of October the 55th BFI London Film Festival brings its annual box of delights to the capital. Earlier today the full programme was announced, and it look like being another fine year.

We already know that Fernando Meirelles’ latest 360 will open proceedings on the 12th and fifteen days later Terence Davies’ The Deep Blue Sea will bring the festival to a close but there are many more great films to come and see in London this October.

There was a familiar feeling creeping across the audience this morning that a lot of the films had, like last year, already played elsewhere but this is only a small consideration when you consider the scope of the festival’s remit. To bring a vital, fresh and horizon-expanding series of features, shorts and documentaries is no easy task, and while the more well known films have played...

Artistic director Sandra Hebron has announced the line-up for the 55th BFI London Film Festival this morning where they will screen “a total of 204 fiction and documentary features, including 13 World Premieres, 18 International Premieres and 22 European Premieres” plus “110 live action and animated shorts”.

We are already knew Fernando Meirelles’ adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler’s erotic drama play 360 written by Peter Morgan and starring Anthony Hopkins, Jude Law and Rachel Weisz would open the festival and that The Deep Blue Sea, which incidentally is another adaptation of a play (Terence Rattigan’s) and also stars Rachel Weisz, will close it. Of Time and City’s Terrence Davies directed that movie which also stars Tom Hiddleston and Simon Russell Beale.

Now we know the in-between stuff from the Gala & Special Screenings and there’s a wide selection of extremely interesting films;

George Clooney is bringing his political thriller The Ides of March that...

Some say the magic number of years to wait before making a film about a youth culture is 13. Others say you just need a good script. Jane Graham asks the people who've made them

No British youth subculture worth its drugs has gone unnoticed by film-makers, but the 90s rave culture has proved notoriously difficult to pin down with any degree of artistic or box-office success. There was much to enjoy in 1999's Human Traffic, Justin Kerrigan's portrayal of a bunch of clubbers going through the highs and comedowns of an E-enhanced night out in early-90s Cardiff. Yet Kerrigan's vision, though it noted the melancholy in the air, offered little in the way of thoughtful analysis of the scene and its legacy.

It seemed likely that might be down to the haste with which Kerrigan tackled his subject; released during the same decade it was evoking, there simply...

British audiences are being spoiled by a stream of innovative native films – and they're from industry outsiders with little or no formal training in cinema

It must be a combination of delight and relief that film-makers feel when the work they've slaved over starts picking up buzz – even before release, when the chat on messageboards and social networking sites is positive. The fear of failure must diminish, replaced by the hope the film might become a cult hit, maybe even a bona fide commercial success.

Think how much more delighted and relieved the film-makers must be if they're not really, well, film-makers.

That's the situation Attack the Block and its director are in. A streetwise, genre-bending rocket of a film, powered by pounding hip-hop and grime beats, and peppered with teen gangsta patois, Attack the Block is knowing and authentic enough to deserve its likely success. But what has really...

Musician and model turned filmmaker Richard Jobson is set to direct "The Somnambulists" for No Bad Films says The Hollywood Reporter.

The story explores the impact of war both on the front line and back home, and will utilise testimonials of British servicemen and women who saw action in Basra, Iraq. The works of photographer Joanna Kane are also a big influence on the project.

Jobson and Alan McKenna will produce. Shooting kicks off in May.

Grey's Anatomy star Kevin McKidd has been pining for his native Scotland since moving to America, so the actor plans to return to his homeland soon to shoot three movies.

The Scottish actor has been based in Los Angeles with his wife Jane and their two children since he landed a role as Dr. Owen Hunt in the medical drama in 2008.

But he feels increasingly homesick, and is planning to head back to Scotland soon to helm three projects after he fell in love with directing while taking charge of an episode of Grey's Anatomy earlier this year.

McKidd tells the Daily Record newspaper, "I'm hoping to do a low budget film for Sigma Films with (Scottish screenwriter/actress) Andrea Gibb, who I did (2003 film) Afterlife with and who had written an amazing script - like (1983 American drama) The Big Chill but set in Scotland. And (Scottish rocker/filmmaker) Richard Jobson is also trying to get a project off the ground that would be shooting in Grampian, so hopefully they can both come off.

"I'd love to come back to direct some kind of independent film. I'm not sure what that would be yet but I definitely want to do that. Next year there's a Shakespeare play in Scotland I'm working to get made as a movie."

McKidd has also hinted he is eyeing a future behind the camera because his directorial debut for Grey's Anatomy was such a hit, producers have invited him to helm more episodes.

He adds, "I think I did a good job and I was delighted to get the opportunity. They have also asked me back to direct a couple of episodes in season eight, which starts later this year."...

The Scottish actor, Kevin McKidd has been based in Los Angeles with his wife Jane and their two children since he landed a role as Dr. Owen Hunt in the medical drama, "Grey's Anatomy" in 2008.

But he feels increasingly homesick, and is planning to head back to Scotland soon to helm three projects after he fell in love with directing while taking charge of an episode of "Grey's Anatomy" earlier this year.

Kevin McKidd tells the Daily Record newspaper, "I'm hoping to do a low budget film for Sigma Films with (Scottish screenwriter/actress) Andrea Gibb, who I did (2003 film) Afterlife with and who had written an amazing script - like (1983 American drama) The Big Chill but set in Scotland. And (Scottish rocker/filmmaker) Richard Jobson is also trying to get a project off the ground that would be shooting in Grampian, so hopefully they can both come off."

"I'd...

We’ve waited all week for the Sorcerer’s Apprentice star, Nicolas Cage, to get his own special poster. Each day there’s been a different one for each of the stars. But none are bigger than the man film-critic-turned-director Richard Jobson once called ‘Jimmy Stewart on speed’.

Yes, Nicolas Cage is famous for his eccentric performances, but here he’s playing a wizard, sorry, sorcerer who happens to be over 1,000 years old…and studied magic not at Hogwarts (that place is for wimps!) but with Merlin. That’s a fine education.

Balthazar Blake (Nicolas Cage) is a student of Merlin and a Sorcerer. More than 1,000 years old, Balthazar has been searching the globe until he finds the Prime Merlinean, the descendent of Merlin and inheritor of his great powers. When Balthazar finally discovers him in 10-year-old Dave Stutler, he finds himself with a very reluctant sorcerer’s apprentice.

Us...

John Rhys-Davies, Sammi Rotibi and Jimmy Jean-Louis are in negotiations to join the cast of the environmental actioner "The Lion Inside," which Eco Films will shoot this summer in Africa.

Billy Boyd and Peter Mullan are starring in the film, set against the backdrop of illegal logging and wildlife poaching in Central Africa, written by Jim Branchflower and directed by Richard Jobson. Eco Films' Branchflower and Jeff Rodgers, Kalahari Pictures' Michael Murphey and Marker Entertainment's Paul Emami and Chad Hawkins are producing.

Billy Boyd and Peter Mullan, who previously worked together in "On a Clear Day", are in talks to join the environmentally-themed auctioneer "The Lion Inside" for Eco Films says The Hollywood Reporter.

The story is set against the backdrop of illegal logging and wildlife poaching in Central Africa.

Richard Jobson directs from a script by Jim Branchflower. Shooting kicks off in South Africa, Kenya and Cameroon this Summer.

Billy Boyd and Peter Mullan are in negotiations to star in Eco Films' ensemble environmental actioner "The Lion Inside," which Richard Jobson will direct this summer in South Africa, Kenya and Cameroon.

Penned by first-time screenwriter Jim Branchflower, the feature is set against the backdrop of illegal logging and wildlife poaching in Central Africa.

Eco Films' Jim Branchflower and Jeff Rodgers and Kalahari Pictures' Michael Murphey are producing, with Marker Entertainment's Paul Emami and Chad Hawkins as exec producers.

Actor and screenwriter Emma Thompson explains how rage fuelled her role as the voice of conscience in The Journey, Richard Jobson's violent and powerful short film about the experiences of one sex worker

To buy Richard Ashcroft's theme music to The Journey click here. All proceeds from the sale of the single go to the Helen Bamber foundation

Warning: The video in this article contains strong sexual and violent images that viewers may find disturbing

How did you become involved in The Journey?

I've known Helen Bamber for about 25 years. When I was still a comedian, and doing stand-up, I would do a lot of benefits for the various foundations she was involved in. And when she started this new foundation, campaigning for the victims of human-rights abuse, she asked me to get involved - so I became chair.

The reason I've become particularly involved in this campaign...

Here are the gongs they didn't give out on the night

In France, the Césars honour the best of French cinema; in Spain, the Goyas do so for their Spanish counterpart; and in Germany, the Lolas do likewise for German films. In the UK, we do things differently: the Baftas celebrate achievements in film regardless of national origin, making them uncomfortably similar to, and highly predictive of, the Oscars.

Which is all very well, unless you are British film-maker or actor who would, quite frankly, enjoy your moment in the spotlight once in while. Hence last night's British independent film awards, which have emerged over their 12 years of existence as the premier event celebrating British film.

The organisers of the Bifas would probably acknowledge that their awards are only as good as the British movies produced in any given year. Ever so slightly embarrassing, in other words, when a picture...

Year: 2009

Directors: Conor Horgan

Writers: Conor Horgan

IMDb: link

Trailer: N/A

Review by: Alan Maxwell

Rating: 9 out of 10

At a recent screening of Richard Jobson's recession-tinged Scottish chase thriller New Town Killers, the director had to point out that since people all over the world losing their livelihoods was a bad thing, there was nothing "lucky" about the seemingly providential timing of the film's release. One suspects that if Irishman Conor Horgan's new feature gets a wide release he may have to make a similar statement as, with the recession in full swing and now accompanied by a global flu pandemic, he delivers us an uncomfortably realistic vision of the breakdown of society.

The worst seems to have already happened when the film opens. We don't know when (though it has obviously happened recently) or how but there is no doubt that this is not a pleasant future.

Dumb as a bag of rocks and plagued with plot and logic holes you could drive a truck through, not to mention a wildly cliche and simplistic ‘rich man bad, poor kid good’ ethos, Richard Jobson squanders some solid technical work in his New Town Killers with a script that should never have been allowed to see the light of day and ends up with a film rendered watchable only thanks to a scenery-chewing performance from Dougray Scott as the lead baddie.  New Town Killers is a film that defies any sort of internal logic whatsoever simply because if anybody behaved in a manner that made any sense at all the film could never reach it’s allotted feature length run time.  Examples follow.

Based on this trailer we just got our hands on I'd say it's a safe bet that Scottish director Richard Jobson's upcoming thriller, New Town Killers, will be a frenetically paced and twisted little chase film. To quote Cyberhal; "it looks well good."

Two private bankers, Alistair and Jamie, who have the world at their feet get their kicks from playing a 12 hour game of hunt, hide and seek with people from the margins of society. Their next target is Sean Macdonald a parentless teenager who lives with his sister on a housing estate on the outskirts of Edinburgh. She's in debt, he's going nowhere fast. Sean agrees to play for cash. He soon realizes he's walked into twelve hours of hell where survival is the name of the game.

New Town Killers is currently in post-production and is skedded to premiere in the UK sometime in 2009. It stars Dougray Scott (Hitman,...

London -- Oliver Stone's "W." and Rian Johnson's "The Brothers Bloom" will both premiere in gala slots during next month's 52nd edition of the BFI London Film Festival, organizers said Wednesday.

Just a short clip of Stone's much anticipated "fair, true portrait" of outgoing President George W. Bush had a packed theater auditorium for the press launch braying for more.

Other gala highlights include Marc Forster's outing as a Bond director with "Quantum Of Solace" and Stephan Elliot's period romp "Easy Virtue," based on Noel Coward's 1920s social comedy.

Artistic director Sandra Hebron said that despite all the negative press and downbeat reaction coming out of the recently wrapped Venice Film Festival, cinema was in rude health and her event had plenty of quality to choose from for its lineup.

Hebron said this year's event had an "unprecedented" number of premieres and that London benefited...

LONDON -- Alastair Mackenzie, James Pearson and Charles Mnene have joined Dougray Scott in the cast of writer-director Richard Jobson's Scottish-set thriller New Town Killers.

Mackenzie (The Edge Of Love), Pearson (Control) and Mnene (Chromophobia) appear alongside Scott in the tale of two high-flying financial whiz kids who get their kicks hunting people on the margins of society.

Jobson, whose directorial debut, 16 Years of Alcohol, garnered plaudits on the international film festival circuit, has begun shooting in Edinburgh. He is producing with Luc Roeg of Independent.

Executive producers are Michael Robinson and Andrew Orr of Independent, Paul Martin and his banner Str8jacket Creations, Carole Sheridan at Scottish Screen and Sheryl Crown at government-backed agency Screen East

The film is backed by Independent, Str8jacket Creations, Scottish Screen and the Screen East Content Investment Fund in association with LipSync and the Glasgow Film Office.

Independent is handling worldwide sales.

ROTTERDAM, The Netherlands -- Scottish moviemaker Richard Jobson has secured £392,200 ($740,193) from the U.K. Film Council's new cinema fund for his next film, A Woman in Winter, the council announced here Thursday. Written and directed by Jobson, Winter stars British newcomer Jamie Sives (Mean Machine), French actress Julie Gayet (Clara et Moi), Jason Flemyng (The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) and Brian Cox (The Bourne Supremacy). The script tells the story of an astronomer in Edinburgh, Scotland, who embarks on a passionate and destructive love affair with a French photographer. The movie will be shot using HD digital technology and will be produced by longtime Jobson collaborator Chris Atkins (Sixteen Years) and Tartan Films chief Hamish McAlpine. No further budget details were available.

LONDON -- Films by Ken Loach, Shane Meadows, Antonia Bird and Richard Eyre are among the 12 entries listed Wednesday to compete in the Edinburgh International Film Festival for the Michael Powell Award for best new British feature film. The festival runs Aug. 18-29. In an inventory of films by established and up-and-coming directors, Loach's "Ae Fond Kiss", Meadows' "Dead Man's Shoes", Bird's "Hamburg Cell" and Eyre's "Stage Beauty" will go head-to-head with eight other titles for the award. They include Eleanor Yule's "Blinded", Shona Auerbach's "Dear Frankie", Terry Loane's "Mickybo and Me", Pawel Pawlikowski's "My Summer of Love", C.S. Leigh's "Process", Richard Jobson's "The Purifiers", Marc Evans' "Trauma" and Kenny Glenaan's "Yasmin".

Edinburgh International Film Festival

EDINBURGH, Scotland -- "16 Years of Alcohol" is a full-flavored, absorbing tragedy of a young man's life of booze-driven violence. Told in flashback with a searching and often poetic narrative voice-over, it is a grim tale that has many evocative treasures along the way. Written and directed by Richard Jobson and starring Kevin McKidd in a memorably vital performance, the film tells the tale of one individual confronting traits both inherited and taught.

Unlikely to please a wide audience, "16 Years of Alcohol", which was awarded a special commendation by the Edinburgh jury, should do very well on the festival and art house circuit. It also establishes first-timer Jobson as a filmmaker who will have a substantial contribution to make.

Making full use of Edinburgh locations, the film shows the city's ancient stone buildings, steeply stepped alleyways and cobbled streets in a way that become part of the fabric of the story. We first meet Frankie (McKidd) as he is being chased down one of those alleys by three men who quickly put the boot in. As Frankie lies on the ground kicked, pummeled and bleeding, we hear him in voice-over: "Sometimes for some people things don't work out the way they might have hoped."

That's an understatement as we soon see from three extended flashbacks that make up almost the entire movie. First, there's Frankie as a kid Iain De Caestecker), watching his adored father as he romances his mother. He joins Frankie playing cowboy shoot-ups and sings handsomely in the local pub. Then Frankie spies his dad (Lewis Macleod) leaving a pub with a pretty blonde and discovers them rutting against a wall. His home becomes a place of fighting, screaming and broken dishes. At the pub, his dad buys him whisky.

By the time Frankie is a teenager, he's a thug, bullying and fighting with a trio of other thugs, including the resentful, nasty Miller Stuart Sinclair Blyth). He has a poster of "A Clockwork Orange" on his wall. Only when he meets a pretty record-shop girl named Helen (Laura Fraser) does he begin to question his life of violence and alcohol.

Things improve until an encounter with patronizing snobs at an art gallery provokes a response in him that is primitive and brutal. This causes Helen to flee from him. "The more familiar you are with hope, the less beautiful it becomes," Frankie the narrator says.

Still, he determines to change: "You can't escape who you are. You can only try to be a better person." He attends Alcoholics Anonymous and meets a similarly bruised woman, Mary (Susan Lynch). They join an amateur acting group. While he has to fight his hostility, Frankie appears to be gaining on his fate. Then a misunderstanding leads him down a false path and another encounter with the vengeful Miller and his cronies.

Jobson's work is deeply involving with beautifully framed images, haunting montages and a soundtrack that enhances the impact. The players have been well cast, especially Macleod's charming rogue of a father and the two women in Frankie's life.

McKidd carries the weight of the leading role squarely and delivers the narration in rich Scottish tones that bring an added power and depth to lines about love being "a place where people lost and lost badly" and about life being where "someone always has to pay that's the rule, the only rule."

16 YEARS OF ALCOHOL

A Tartan Works production with backing from Scottish Screen and the Fortissimo Film Sales Group

Credits: Director-writer: Richard Jobson

Producers: Hamish McAlpine, Mark Burton

Executive producers: Steve McIntyre, Michael J. Werner, Wouter Barendrecht

Director of photography: John Rhodes

Production designer: Adam Squires

Music: Keith Ateck

Costume designer: Carole Millar

Editor: Ioannis Chalkiadakis

Cast:

Frankie (teenager/man): Kevin McKidd

Helen: Laura Fraser

Mary: Susan Lynch

Miller: Stuart Sinclair Blyth

Budgie: Michael Moreland

Kill: Russell Anderson

Frankie (boy): Iain De Caestecker

Frankie's Father: Lewis Macleod

Frankie's Mother: Lisa May Cooper

Running time -- 102 minutes

No MPAA rating...

LONDON -- Dirty Pretty Things, which centers on an illegal Nigerian immigrant working as a night porter in a London hotel, walked off with the lion's share of this year's British Independent Film Awards. Things, directed by Stephen Frears, scooped up four nods at Tuesday night at London's Hammersmith Palais. The film picked up gongs for best British film and best director, screenplay (Steve Knight) and actor (Chiwetel Ejiofor). Olivia Williams received the best actress award for her role in The Heart of Me, beating out competition from her co-star Helena Bonham Carter, Kate Ashfield (This Little Life), Samantha Morton (In America) and Tilda Swinton (Young Adam). In the supporting actor category, Susan Lynch scored an award for her role in Richard Jobson's directorial debut, 16 Years of Alcohol.

LONDON -- The Heart of Me co-stars Helena Bonham Carter and Olivia Williams will compete against each other for the best actress nod at the sixth annual British Independent Film Awards. Also nominated in the category, according to organizers Tuesday, are Kate Ashfield for This Little Life, Samantha Morton for In America, and Tilda Swinton for Young Adam. The prize is one of 17 awards to be presented Nov. 4 in a ceremony at the Hammersmith Palais. Stephen Frears' Dirty Pretty Things leads the charge with seven nominations while 16 Years of Alcohol, directed by first-timer Richard Jobson and Gregor Jordan's Buffalo Soldiers picked up five nominations each. Dirty Pretty Things and Buffalo Soldiers will compete with 28 Days Later, Magdalene Sisters and Young Adam for this year's best British independent film crown.

Edinburgh International Film Festival

EDINBURGH, Scotland -- "16 Years of Alcohol" is a full-flavored, absorbing tragedy of a young man's life of booze-driven violence. Told in flashback with a searching and often poetic narrative voice-over, it is a grim tale that has many evocative treasures along the way. Written and directed by Richard Jobson and starring Kevin McKidd in a memorably vital performance, the film tells the tale of one individual confronting traits both inherited and taught.

Unlikely to please a wide audience, "16 Years of Alcohol", which was awarded a special commendation by the Edinburgh jury, should do very well on the festival and art house circuit. It also establishes first-timer Jobson as a filmmaker who will have a substantial contribution to make.

Making full use of Edinburgh locations, the film shows the city's ancient stone buildings, steeply stepped alleyways and cobbled streets in a way that become part of the fabric of the story. We first meet Frankie (McKidd) as he is being chased down one of those alleys by three men who quickly put the boot in. As Frankie lies on the ground kicked, pummeled and bleeding, we hear him in voice-over: "Sometimes for some people things don't work out the way they might have hoped."

That's an understatement as we soon see from three extended flashbacks that make up almost the entire movie. First, there's Frankie as a kid Iain De Caestecker), watching his adored father as he romances his mother. He joins Frankie playing cowboy shoot-ups and sings handsomely in the local pub. Then Frankie spies his dad (Lewis Macleod) leaving a pub with a pretty blonde and discovers them rutting against a wall. His home becomes a place of fighting, screaming and broken dishes. At the pub, his dad buys him whisky.

By the time Frankie is a teenager, he's a thug, bullying and fighting with a trio of other thugs, including the resentful, nasty Miller Stuart Sinclair Blyth). He has a poster of "A Clockwork Orange" on his wall. Only when he meets a pretty record-shop girl named Helen (Laura Fraser) does he begin to question his life of violence and alcohol.

Things improve until an encounter with patronizing snobs at an art gallery provokes a response in him that is primitive and brutal. This causes Helen to flee from him. "The more familiar you are with hope, the less beautiful it becomes," Frankie the narrator says.

Still, he determines to change: "You can't escape who you are. You can only try to be a better person." He attends Alcoholics Anonymous and meets a similarly bruised woman, Mary (Susan Lynch). They join an amateur acting group. While he has to fight his hostility, Frankie appears to be gaining on his fate. Then a misunderstanding leads him down a false path and another encounter with the vengeful Miller and his cronies.

Jobson's work is deeply involving with beautifully framed images, haunting montages and a soundtrack that enhances the impact. The players have been well cast, especially Macleod's charming rogue of a father and the two women in Frankie's life.

McKidd carries the weight of the leading role squarely and delivers the narration in rich Scottish tones that bring an added power and depth to lines about love being "a place where people lost and lost badly" and about life being where "someone always has to pay that's the rule, the only rule."

16 YEARS OF ALCOHOL

A Tartan Works production with backing from Scottish Screen and the Fortissimo Film Sales Group

Credits: Director-writer: Richard Jobson

Producers: Hamish McAlpine, Mark Burton

Executive producers: Steve McIntyre, Michael J. Werner, Wouter Barendrecht

Director of photography: John Rhodes

Production designer: Adam Squires

Music: Keith Ateck

Costume designer: Carole Millar

Editor: Ioannis Chalkiadakis

Cast:

Frankie (teenager/man): Kevin McKidd

Helen: Laura Fraser

Mary: Susan Lynch

Miller: Stuart Sinclair Blyth

Budgie: Michael Moreland

Kill: Russell Anderson

Frankie (boy): Iain De Caestecker

Frankie's Father: Lewis Macleod

Frankie's Mother: Lisa May Cooper

Running time -- 102 minutes

No MPAA rating...

EDINBURGH, Scotland -- "Young Adam", directed by David McKenzie and starring Ewan McGregor, won the Michael Powell Award for best new British feature as the 57th Edinburgh International Film Festival came to an end Sunday. The jury, chaired by British producer and former BAFTA chairman Simon Relph, said the decision was unanimous, citing "outstanding craftsmanship, high-quality screenwriting and the understated intensity of the performances." Co-star Tilda Swinton accepted the award for the film, which was a Cannes favorite and was the Edinburgh opener on Aug. 13. The jury also gave a special commendation to Tartan Films' "16 Years of Alcohol", written and directed by Richard Jobson.

LOCARNO, Switzerland -- Scottish director-producer-writer Richard Jobson plans to put on his producer hat for The Night Before Christmas as his next film project. Jobson, who on Thursday jetted into Locarno for the film festival here to support the world premiere of Sixteen Years of Alcohol, said Christmas was written by Edinburgh-born playwright Anthony Neilson, who will also direct the movie. Neilson last directed the popular festival title The Debt Collector, starring Billy Connolly. Jobson said the project's £400,000 ($647,061) budget is fully financed, but he remained tight-lipped on the details because "it is like a jigsaw puzzle, and I don't want any of the pieces to fall out."...