While Britain is being heavily bombed, women have to take up roles normally assigned exclusively to men. Thanks to her refined sense of dialogue, Catrin is given the task of working on a screenplay for a film which requires authenticity and optimism to raise the spirits of British women contributing to the war effort. A star-studded, period romance about filmmakers and the desire to inspire.
A film about filmmakers and the desire to provide inspiration in the darkest hours of British history. Like many others, Catrin sees the conditions Londoners have to face during the Blitz as a challenge to overcome hardship and show fortitude in a time of adversity. She has to take on a job that a woman would not normally have been offered during peacetime. Her sense of dialogue is noticed by the film department of the Ministry of Information and they entrust her with work on a screenplay for a film about the evacuation of soldiers from Dunkirk. Catrin and her more experienced colleague Tom keep on having to rewrite the script during its development and also during filming in order to satisfy all parties involved, whether the War Ministry or the whims of an aging actor. Not only is there upheaval in the screenplay, but also in real life; the bombing is relentless and no-one knows who will survive from one day to the next. The star-studded film, an adaptation of Lissa Evans’s novel Their Finest Hour and a Half, won the Audience Award at the festival in Göteborg.
Vít Kořínek
117 min / Color, DCP
Director Lone Scherfig
/ Screenplay Gaby Chiappe podle románu / based on the novel Their Finest Hour and a Half by Lissa Evans
/ Dir. of Photography Sebastian Blenkov
/ Music Rachel Portman
/ Editor Lucia Zucchetti
/ Art Director Alice Normington
/ Producer Stephen Woolley, Amanda Posey, Elizabeth Karlsen, Fiona Dwyer
/ Production Wildgaze Films, Number 9 Films
/ Cast Gemma Arterton, Sam Claflin, Bill Nighy
/ Sales HanWay Films
Lone Scherfig (b. 1959, Copenhagen), director and screenwriter, began her career in the 1980s working in television and advertising. In 1991 her film debut The Birthday Trip made it to Berlin and other festivals, and was awarded at the Rouen Nordic Film Festival; her second feature On Our Own (1998) won the Grand Prix at Montreal. Italian for Beginners, which respects the Dogme 95 manifesto, was a hit at the Berlinale in 2001, winning a Silver Bear for direction, the FIPRESCI Prize, and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury. Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself (2002) was her first English-language film and, beyond various festival triumphs, it was nominated for four British Independent Film Awards. The Audience Award and Cinematography Award at Sundance in 2009, plus eight BAFTA nominations, went to An Education (2009). She is currently preparing the groundwork for Secrets from the Russian Tea Room.
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Phone: +44 207 290 0750
E-mail: [email protected]
Janina Vilsmaier
Sales Agent
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