Focus on British Film (2000-2005) 2006 / Bullet Boy / United Kingdom 2004
A strong talented cast headed by Ashley Walters and authentic dialogues characterise this tragic drama about machismo, weapons and the experiences of poor “black” London.
Documentary-maker Saul Dibb and his co-scriptwriter Catherine R. Johnson, a former writer-in-residence at London’s Holloway Women’s Prison, bring an authentic edge to gritty drama Bullet Boy. Ashley Walters, who in real life served seven months at an offenders’ institute for gun possession, plays Ricky, 19, who is determined not to fall back into destructive patterns having returned fresh from custody to his home in east London’s Hackney. But when his best friend Wisdom hands him a gun and draws him into a conflict with some local youths, a break with the past looks an ever more dim prospect. His long-suffering mum despairs for his future, and is determined that her impressionable 12-year-old son Curtis (non-professional actor Luke Fraser) follow a different path to Ricky. Strong performances and authentic dialogue elevate this tragedy-tinged drama about machismo, gun crime and the impoverished black London experience.
89 min / Color, 35 mm
Director Saul Dibb
/ Screenplay Saul Dibb, Catherine R. Johnson
/ Dir. of Photography Marcel Zyskind
/ Music Robert Del Naja, Neil Davidge
/ Editor Masahiro Hirakubo, John Mister
/ Producer Marc Boothe, Ruth Caleb
/ Production Shine Entertainment Ltd.
/ Cast Ashley Walters, Luke Fraser, Leon Black, Claire Perkins, Curtis Walker
/ Contact British Council, Portman Film and Television
www: www.bulletboy.net
Saul Dibb (b. 1968, London) followed in the footsteps of his father, TV documentary filmmaker Mike Dibb, carving out his own reputation with factual films tackling gritty, controversial subjects: shoplifters (Lifters), life on the streets of inner-city London (Electric Avenue), a porn actress and her manager-partner (Easy Money), and a notorious British Islamic fundamentalist (Tottenham Ayatollah). Dibb followed Bullet Boy, his debut feature, with the three-part TV series The Line of Beauty, adapted from Alan Hollinghurst’s Booker Prize-winning novel of the same name, in which the worlds of gay hedonism and the Conservative establishment collide in Thatcher-era west London.
British Council
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 207 389 3067
Fax: +44 207 389 3175
E-mail: [email protected]
Portman Film and Television
21-25 St. Anne's Court, W1F 0BJ, London
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 207 494 8024
Fax: +44 207 494 2046
E-mail: [email protected]
Geraldine Higgins
Ruth Caleb
Producer
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