Film Agency News
11 th October 2010
Film Agency for Wales to fund Owen Sheers' first feature film 'Resistance'
Andrea Riseborough, Tom Wlaschiha and Michael Sheen have signed up to star in Resistance to be directed by Amit Gupta.
BAFTA-nominated Andrea Riseborough, star of Made in Dagenham, Brighton Rock, Never Let Me Go and the up-coming W.E., will play Sarah, alongside Tom Wlaschia (Brideshead Revisited and The Deep) playing Albrecht.
BAFTA-nominated Michael Sheen plays Tommy Atkins, a secret service agent in this adaptation of the debut novel of one of Wales’ most celebrated authors and poets Owen Sheers.
Due to be shot around Abergavenny, South East Wales (Sheers’ home town), the film is set in an alternative-history when a German counter-attack lands on British soil. Within a month, half of Britain is occupied.
Sheers wrote the movie with writer/director Amit Gupta (Love Story). Richard Holmes (Waking Ned and Eden Lake) will produce alongside Amanda Faber, with BAFTA Cymru Award winner Richard Staniforth as executive producer. Oscar-winning Rachel Portman is attached to score the film.
The Story
Sarah Lewis, a 26-year old farmer’s wife, wakes to find her husband Tom has disappeared. She is not alone. All the other women in the isolated Welsh border valley of Olchon have also found their husbands gone. They must have left to join the resistance. The women regroup as an isolated, all-female community and wait, hoping for news.
A German patrol arrives in the valley, the purpose of their mission a mystery. When a severe winter forces the two groups into co-operation, a fragile mutual dependency develops. Sarah begins a faltering acquaintance with the patrol’s commanding officer, Albrecht Wolfram. But as the pressure of the war beyond presses in on them, the valley’s delicate state of harmony is increasingly threatened, before being broken completely, with devastating consequences.
The Production
Development support for the project was led by Film Agency Wales, the Munich-based distributor, Square One and the MEDIA fund in Europe – Film Agency Wales have also followed through with an equity investment in the production.
Gupta, Sheers, Faber & Holmes commented, “We’re delighted with the consistent, intelligent and focused support we’ve had from the team at the Film Agency. From script to casting they’ve been truly helpful partners.”
Pauline Burt, Chief Executive of the Film Agency for Wales comments: “We are genuinely very excited to be working with Owen on his first feature film. Resistance is a beautiful novel with clear cinematic potential. The material’s in very capable hands with the experience and credentials of the producer team, a director with real vision and a fantastic cast.
This terrific project presented a great opportunity for us to facilitate key Welsh talent, helping to build the film infrastructure for Wales, at the same time as showcasing Wales on-screen.”
