Archive of films Boat That Rocked / The Boat That Rocked

United Kingdom / Germany
2009, 129 min

Section: Official Selection - Out of Competition
Year: 2009

In 1966, in the country that gave us the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, the broadcast of rock music is restricted to two hours a week. A band of incensed deejays, in order to spite the one official radio station, the BBC, decide to launch a pirate radio station. Their Radio Rock broadcasts for 24 hours a day from a boat floating in international waters in the North Sea – and more than half the British population is all ears. After his romantic comedy Love Actually successful British screenwriter Richard Curtis offers up another star-studded directorial delight.

Synopsis

It’s 1966 – British pop music’s finest era – and the only official radio station, the BBC, plays just two hours of rock’n’roll a week. A group of incensed disc jockeys decide to set up a pirate radio station so they can play their favourite music 24/7. And 25 million people – more than half the population of Britain – start tuning in to Radio Rock, broadcasting outside British territory from a boat floating on ethereal waves in the international waters of the North Sea… In serious breach of the law, the pirates are a thorn in the side of Minister Dormandy, who is bent on shutting them down. But will the fans of Radio Rock simply take this lying down? After his romantic comedy Love Actually, successful British screenwriter Richard Curtis offers up another star-studded directorial delight. This story of a band of irate deejays has certain autobiographical traits as well: Curtis used to listen to night-time pirate rock broadcasts as a boy.

About the director

Richard Curtis (b. 1956, New Zealand) grew up in the Philippines and in Sweden, finally settling in Great Britain. He studied at Oxford University (1978) and began working as a scriptwriter for the BBC. He has worked with comedian Rowan Atkinson (comedy series "Blackadder” and "Mr. Bean”). As one of Britain’s most successful screenwriters his filmography includes the sophisticated romantic comedies The Tall Guy (1989, dir. Mel Smith), Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994, dir. Mike Newell – Oscar nomination), Notting Hill (1999, dir. Roger Michell), Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001, dir. Sharon Maguire) and its follow-up Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004, dir. Beeban Kidron). He won two Emmy awards (for production and screenplay) for his television tragicomedy The Girl in the Café (2005, dir. David Yates). In 2003 he debuted as a director with the romantic comedy based on his own script, Love Actually.

Contacts

Bontonfilm, a.s.
Na Poříčí 1047/26, 110 00, Praha 1
Czech Republic
Tel: +420 257 415 111
Fax: +420 257 415 113
E-mail: [email protected]
www: www.bontonfilm.cz

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About the film

Color, 35 mm

Section:	Official Selection - Out of Competition

Director:	Richard Curtis
Screenplay:	Richard Curtis
Dir. of Photography:	Danny Cohen
Music:	Hans Zimmer
Editor:	Emma E. Hickox
Producer:	Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Hilary Bevan Jones
Production:	Working Title
Cast:	Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Rhys Ifans, Nick Frost, Kenneth Branagh, Tom Sturridge, Chris O’Dowd, Rhys Darby, Katherine Parkinson, Talulah Riley
Contact:	Bontonfilm, a.s.
Distributor:	Bontonfilm, a.s.

www:	www.theboatthatrocked.co.uk

Guests

Aleš Danielis

Distributor

Marek Jeníček

Distributor, Producer

Petr Slavík

Distributor, PR & Marketing

Hilary Bevan Jones

Producer