Film Agency News
11th May 2009
A BOY CALLED DAD, the debut feature from Cardiff-based Mark John is accepted for 63rd Edinburgh International Film Festival
A BOY CALLED DAD, the debut feature from Cardiff-based producer Mark John, has been accepted by the prestigious Edinburgh International Film Festival.
The festival, whose line-up was announced today (6 May 2009) will premier A BOY CALLED DAD on the second night of its programme (18 June at 8pm).
Shot on location across North Wales, Merseyside and Nottingham for six weeks, the film stars Ian Hart (Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Backbeat, Land and Freedom) and 15-yr-old Kyle Ward, who makes his big-screen debut. A BOY CALLED DAD was written by Julie Rutterford and is directed by Brian Percival, making his feature debut, having made waves in television with North and South, Clocking Off, Much Ado About Nothing and the recent Ruby in the Smoke, with Billie Piper and Julie Walters.
A BOY CALLED DAD is co-produced by Mark John of Cardiff-based indie Vision Thing Communications and produced by Michael Knowles and Stacey Murray of Derbyshire-based Made Up North Productions, whose credits include BAFTA award-winning Talking with Angels.
Financed by the Film Agency for Wales, EM Media, North West Vision and private financiers, A BOY CALLED DAD is the darkly comic story of Robbie, a fourteen-year-old kid from Liverpool, defined by the absence of his father, who disappeared when Robbie was two-years old.
Bored and frustrated by his lack of purpose in life, Robbie's world revolves around skateboarding with his mates and trying to avoid being seen with his gimp of a little sister - until everything changes, when Robbie becomes a teenage father. After snatching his child from its violent step-father, he goes on the run to North Wales – feeding the baby boy fast food and singing him rap song lullabies.
Now there's only one thing he wants out of life…the right to be a parent to his own child… but how can you be a good dad, when you are still just a kid yourself? A BOY CALLED DAD is a film about wanting to be loved, about fatherhood and about growing up fast.
Having begun his career in broadcasting, producer Mark John is a graduate of the highly regarded European film training program EAVE and has worked across a range of output and genres in TV and radio, including music, arts, comedy and drama. He is now the Wales co-ordinator for EAVE, .
Mark John commented:
"It was great to film my first feature on home turf in Wales - our location, the Great Orme, overlooking the North Wales coast, was at its rugged, dramatic best, in challenging conditions. There are some fantastic - literally cliff-hanging - scenes, courtesy of the great talent we're working with - like Liverpudlian Ian Hart and newcomer Kyle Ward, who comes of age in this film.
"The first-rate location advice and support from the Wales Screen Commission and the constant and continuing support from the excellent team at the Film Agency for Wales has proved invaluable in helping us to get this first feature film under our belt - that first film is always the most difficult for any producer to realize - and now we're really looking forward to working again with the Film Agency on more Welsh-based and Welsh-sourced projects - using the best of Welsh talent, locations and facilities - for an international audience. On a personal level, it's very satisfying to see Wales making its voice heard out there in the wider film world and to have been selected for Edinburgh is the icing on the cake.
Pauline Burt, Chief Executive of the Film Agency for Wales, said,
"A BOY CALLED DAD has provided a great opportunity to diversify an already accomplished producer from radio and television into the field of film. Mark has been a pleasure to work with and has brought his many skills to bear in bringing this project to the marketplace. We're really delighted that the film will be shown in the Edinburgh Film Festival. "
The 63rd Edinburgh International Film Festival runs from 17 to 28 June 2009 at venues across Edinburgh.
For further information please contact Ben Hooper on 0790 873 8763 or via email
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