Premiere Fund films
Below is the list of feature films which have received funding through the Premiere Fund since its inception:
1939
- Producers: Martin Pope, Talkback Productions
- Writer: Stephen Poliakoff
- Director: Stephen Poliakoff
- Cast: Bill Nighy, Julie Christie, Romola Garai, Jeremy Northam, Hugh Bonneville, Juno Temple, Charlie Cox, David Tennant,
A period thriller set in the murky world of political intrigue in England just before the outbreak of the Second World War.
AND WHEN DID YOU LAST SEE YOUR FATHER?
- Producer: Stephen Woolley & Elizabeth Karlsen
- Director: Anand Tucker
- Writer: David Nicholls (based on the book by Blake Morrison)
- Cast: Colin Firth, Jim Broadbent, Juliet Stevenson, Gina McKee
Forty something family man Blake looks back on his childhood and the troubled relationship he had with his father, who now only has only days to live.
BECOMING JANE
- Producers: Graham Broadbent, Robert Bernstein
- Director: Julian Jarrold
- Writer: Kevin Hood & Sarah Williams
- Cast: Anne Hathaway, James McAvoy,Julie Walters, Maggie Smith, James Cromwell
A bio-pic following aspiring young writer Jane Austen, whose life is thrown into turmoil when she comes face-to-face with her own Mr Darcy.
BRIDESHEAD REVISITED
- Producer: Robert Bernstein, Douglas Rae, Kevin Loader
- Director: Julian Jarrold
- Writer: Andrew Davies & Jeremy Brock (based on the book by Evelyn Waugh)
- Cast: Matthew Goode, Ben Wishaw, Hayley Atwell, Emma Thompson, Michael Gambon
Charles Ryder becomes obsessed and enchanted by the beautiful, wealthy and ultimately tragic Flyte family and their ancestral home Brideshead....
CHERI
- Producers: Bill Kenwright, Tracey Seaward, Andras Hamori
- Director: Stephen Frears
- Writer: Christopher Hampton (based on the novel by Colette)
- Cast: Michelle Pfeiffer, Kathy Bates, Rupert Friend
Colette's portrait of the fated love affair between a very young man and a middle-aged Courtesan.
CLOSING THE RING
- Producers: Jo Gilbert, Richard Attenborough
- Director: Richard Attenborough
- Writer: Peter Woodward
- Cast: Shirley MacLaine,Christopher Plummer, Mischa Barton, Pete Postlethwaite
Lord Richard Attenborough's Closing The Ring is a wartime romance set in the 1940s and present day Kentucky and Belfast, during the horrific German air raids on the city and the early days of the IRA's struggle to throw out the British.
CODE 46
- Producer: Andrew Eaton
- Director: Michael Winterbottom
- Writer: Frank Cottrell-Boyce
- Cast: Tim Robbins, Samantha Morton
A futuristic 'Brief Encounter', a love story in which the romance is doomed by genetic incompatibility
Winner:
- Catalonian International Film Festival (Sitges) Best Original Soundtrack, Best Screenplay and Grand Prize of European Fantasy Film in Silver (2004)
THE CONSTANT GARDENER
- Producer: Simon Channing Williams
- Director: Fernando Meirelles
- Writer: Jeffrey Caine (based on the novel by John Le Carre)
- Cast: Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Bill Nighy, Danny Huston, Archie Panjabi
This is adapted from John le Carre's best selling novel of the same name. It is an ecological thriller about a career diplomat investigating the murder of his young activist wife.
Winner:
- Oscar® Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress – Rachel Weisz
- BAFTA for Best Editing
- BIFA - Best British Independent Film, Best Actor for Ralph Fiennes, & Best Actress for Rachel Weisz.
- Golden Globe Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Rachel Weisz
- Evening Standard Award for Best Film
- Evening Standard Award for Best Actor in a leading role for Ralph Fiennes
- Satellite Award for Outstanding Cinematography for César Charlone
- Satellite Award for Outstanding Actor in a supporting role for Danny Huston
- Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance for a Female Actor in a Supporting Role for Rachel Weisz
- Cannes Film Festival - Prix France Musique (Original Film Score)
THE COTTAGE
- Producer: Ken Marshall, Martin Pope
- Director: Paul Andrew Williams
- Writer: Paul Andrew Williams
- Cast: Reece Shearsmith, Andy Serkis, Jennifer Ellison, Steven O'Donnell
Two brothers manage to bungle the kidnapping of the most abusive young lady in the country, but at least there's not a mad axe-wielding lunatic in the woods ... or is there?
CREEP
- Producer: Julie Baines, Jason Newmark
- Director: Christopher Smith
- Writer: Christopher Smith
- Cast: Franka Potente
Trapped underground having missed the last tube, media girl Kate is pursued down the empty tunnels and sewers by a mad killer and his army of rats...
DEATH DEFYING ACTS
- Producers: Chris Curling & Marian Macgowan
- Director: Gillian Armstrong
- Writer: Brian Ward & Tony Grisoni
- Cast: Guy Pearce, Catherine Zeta Jones, Timothy Spall, Saoirse Ronan
Harry Houdini has conquered everything - except his own fear. It takes a 10-year-old girl and her mother to give him the courage and faith.
DORIAN GRAY
- Producers: Barnaby Thompson, James Spring
- Writer: Toby Finlay
- Director: Oliver Parker
- Cast: Colin Firth, Ben Barnes,
This is adaptation of Oscar Wilde's novel about a beautiful young man drawn into living a corrupt life whilst his portrait manifests his morale decline.
DRIVING LESSONS
- Producers: Julia Chasman
- Writer & Director: Jeremy Brock
- Cast: Rupert Grint, Julie Walters, Laura Linney
Driving Lessons is a film about a cloistered 17 year old boy under his pious mother's thumb, who befriends an eccentric ex-actress who shows him how to break out of his shackles and assert his personality and independence.
Winner:
- Moscow International Film Festival, Best Actress Julie Walters & Special Jury Prize Jeremy Brock.
THE ESCAPIST
- Producer: Adrian Sturges, Alan Moloney
- Director: Rupert Wyatt
- Writer: Rupert Wyatt, Daniel Hardy
- Cast: Brian Cox, Joseph Fiennes, Seu Jorge, Liam Cunningham, Dominic Cooper, Damian Lewis
Five men attempt an audacious escape from prison using the sewers and underground tunnels beneath London...
FAINTHEART (MyMovie Mashup winner)
- Director: Vito Rocco
- Writer: David Lemon
- Producers: Allan Niblo, Rupert Preston, James Richardson
- Cast: Eddie Marsan, Ewen Bremner, Jessica Hynes
A man who spends his free time reenacting Viking battles is forced to sort his life out and win back his wife after she leaves him because she finds him childish and irresponsible.
FESTIVAL
- Producer: Chris Young
- Writer & Director: Annie Griffin
- Cast: Stephen Mangan, Raquel Cassidy, Daniela Nardini, Lyndsey Marshal, Chris O'Dowd, Clive Russell, Deirdre O'Kane, Billy Carter and Megan Dodds.
Festival is an acerbic comedy satire set amongst the hopefuls and no-hopers in and around the Edinburgh Festival.
Winner:
- Scottish BAFTA for Best Film, Best Actor for Chris O'Dowd
- BIFA (Douglas Hickox Award) for Best Debut Director
- Stockholm Film Festival for Best Screenplay
FIVE CHILDREN AND IT
- Producer:Lisa Henson and Kristine Belson
- Director:John Stephenson
- Writer:David Solomons
- Cast: Tara Fitzgerald, Freddie Highmore, Eddie Izzard
Based on E Nesbitt's classic children's fantasy adventure in which five brothers and sisters find a sand fairy that can grant their every wish.
FRANKLYN
- Producer: Jeremy Thomas
- Director: Gerald McMorrow
- Writer: Gerald McMorrow
- Cast: Sam Riley, Ben Wishaw, Eva Green, Bernard Hill
The film is a split narrative set simultaneously in contemporary London and in a future metropolis ruled by religious fervor. It's the story of four lost souls, divided by two parallel worlds, on course for an explosive collision when a single bullet will decide all their fates.
FRENCH FILM
- Director: Jackie Oudney
- Writer: Aschlin Ditta
- Producers: Arvind Ethan David, Judy Counihan, Rachel Connors, Stuart le Marechal, Jonny Persey
- Cast: Hugh Bonneville, Anne-Marie Duff, Douglas Henshall, Eric Cantona
A journalist struggles to research a pretentious French film director's philosophy on love. As his own relationship falls apart, however, the journalist falls in love properly for the first time.
GOSFORD PARK
- Producers:Robert Altman, David Levy and Bob Balaban
- Co-producer: Jane Frazer
- Director: Robert Altman
- Writer: Julian Fellowes
- Cast:Kristin Scott Thomas, Ryan Phillippe, Michael Gambon, Richard E Grant, Jeremy Northam, Emily Watson, Maggie Smith, Helen Mirren, Charles Dance, James Wilby, Derek Jacobi, Kelly MacDonald, Clive Owen, Stephen Fry, Alan Bates and Eileen Atkins
Multiple storylined drama set in 1932, showing the lives of upstairs guest and downstairs servants at a party in a country house in England.
Winner:
- Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay (2002)
- The Alexander Korda BAFTA for Outstanding British Film of the Year (2002)
- BAFTA for Costume Design (2002)
- Screen Actors Guild Awards for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble Cast (2002)
- Golden Globe Award (Robert Altman) Best Director (2002)
- Evening Standard Award for Best Film (2002)
- American Film Institute Awards for Best Director and Best Supporting Actress (2002)
- National Society of Film Critics Awards for Best Screenplay (2002)
- New York Film Critics Circle Awards for Best Screenplay (2002)
- London Film Critics Circle Award for Best British Film of the Year (2002)
- Writers Guild of America for Best Screenplay (2002)
- SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by the cast of a theatrical motion picture (2002)
HAPPY-GO-LUCKY
- Producers: Simon Channing Williams, Gail Egan
- Writer & Director: Mike Leigh
- Cast:Sally Hawkins, Alexis Zegerman, Eddie Marsan, Samuel Roukin
The adventures of Poppy. Is she perhaps a little crazy and irresponsible? Or is she in fact deeply sane and sensible? Either way, everybody falls in love with her, for better or worse......
Winner:
- Berlin International Film Festival, Best Actress for Sally Hawkins
HARRY BROWN
- Producers: Keith Bell, Matthew Vaughn, Kris Thykier
- Writer: Gary Young
- Director: Daniel Barber
- Cast: Michael Caine
A pensioner, living on a crime ridden housing estate, turns vigilante when his best friend is murdered by a lawless gang of youths.
HOW TO LOSE FRIENDS AND ALIENATE PEOPLE
- Producer: Elizabeth Karlsen & Stephen Woolley
- Director: Bob Weide
- Writer: Peter Straughan (based on book by Tobey Young)
- Cast: Simon Pegg, Kirsten Dunst, Jeff Bridges, Danny Huston, Gillian Anderson, Megan Fox
An English tabloid celebrity journalist moves to a new rag in New York and reveals both a heart and a conscience...
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING ERNEST
- Producers: Barnaby Thompson, Uri Fruchtmann
- Director: Oliver Parker
- Cast:Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Frances O'Connor, Reese Witherspoon, Tom Wilkinson, Anna Massey, Edward Fox and Judi Dench.
Oliver Parker's imaginative adaptation brings Oscar Wilde's inimitable wit to life in this engaging, romantic and sparkling comedy of social manners.
LADIES IN LAVENDER
- Producer: Nik Powell, Nicholas Brown, Elizabeth Karlsen
- Director: Charles Dance
- Writer: Charles Dance (based on a story by William J. Locke)
- Cast: Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Natascha McElhone, Miriam Margolyes, Daniel Bruhl
Set in 1936, 'Ladies in Lavender' is the charming and sweetly melancholic story about two ageing spinster sisters whose peaceable existence is disrupted when they take a young stranded Polish sailor into their care...and their hearts.
L'HOMME DU TRAIN
- Producer:Philippe Carcassonne
- Co-Producer: Carl Clifton
- Director:Patrice Leconte
- Writer:Claude Klotz
- Cast:Jean Rochefort, Johnny Hallyday
A comedy about the unlikely friendship, that develops between a retired teacher who craves excitement and a disenchanted criminal who longs for a quiet life.
Winner :
- Audience Award, Venice International Film Festival (2002)
- Venice International Film Festival (Jean Rochefort) Best Actor (2002)
- Best Feature Film, Foyle Film Festival (2002)
- Prix Jean Gabin Award (Johnny Hallyday) for most Promising Actor (2003)
- Lumieres (Jean Rochefort) Best Actor (2003)
- Best Film, European Film Awards (2003)
- Best Foreign Film, LA Critics (2004)
LIFE & LYRICS
- Producers: Esther Douglas and Fiona Neilson
- Director: Richard Laxton
- Writer: Ken Williams
- Cast: Ashley Walters, Louise Rose, Chris Steward
This is a story about love, friendship and respect and is set within the multi cultural London rap scene.
LOVE + HATE
- Producers: Neris Thomas & Alison Owen
- Writer & Director: Dominic Savage
- Cast: Samina Awan, Tom Hudson, Nicola Burley, Wasim Zakir
Love + Hate, is a modern day Romeo and Juliet set in the North of England which draws inspiration from the recent conflict in Bradford.
Winner:
- Zlín International Film Festival for Children and Youth – Best European Debut film – Dominic Savage
MAGICIANS
- Producer: Ollie Madden
- Director: Andrew O'Connor
- Writer: Sam Armstrong & Jesse Bain
- Cast: David Mitchell, Robert Webb, Jessica Stevenson, Darren Boyd, Peter Capaldi
When a magician falls out with his long term partner and friend, they soon find themselves competing for the biggest prize in the eccentric world of professional magic.
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE
- Producer: Michael Cowan, Jason Piette,Cary Brokaw,Barry Navidi
- Director: Michael Radford
- Writer: Michael Radford (based on the play by William Shakespeare)
- Cast: Al Pacino, Ian Mckellen, Joseph Fiennes, Lynn Collins, Zuleakah Robinson
Money, betrayal and the art of disguise in 16th century Venice are all in evidence as love attempts to defeat the twin demons of religion and greed...
MIKE BASSETT: ENGLAND MANAGER
- Producer: Neil Peplow
- Director: Steve Barron
- Writers: Rob Sprackling and John Smith
- Cast:Ricky Tomlinson, Amanda Redman, Bradley Walsh, Phill Jupitus, Robbie Gee, Martin Bashir and Pelé
First time feature writers Rob Sprackling and John Smith deliver a hilarious mockumentary that turns English football ineptitude into box office gold.
MIRANDA
- Producer: Laurence Bowen
- Director: Marc Munden
- Writer: Rob Young
- Cast: Christina Ricci, John Simm, John Hurt and Kyle MacLachlan
Feature film first-timers Laurence Bowen, Marc Munden and Rob Young collaborate on this romantic caper about the unlikeliest of love affairs between a librarian and a beautiful con woman.
MISCHIEF NIGHT
- Producers: Willow Grylls
- Writer & Director: Penny Woolcock, Abi Bach & George Faber
- Cast: Ramon Tikaram, Kelly Hollis, Christopher Simpson
Mischief Night is a multi-strand, multi-character, multi-racial black comedy farce set in the North of England around Mischief Night - the night before Halloween - where the locals are permitted to play pranks on their neighbours without fear of retribution.
MISS POTTER
- Producers: David Thwaites
- Director: Chris Noonan
- Writer: Richard Maltby Jr
- Cast: Renee Zellwegger, Ewan McGregor, Emily Watson
A biopic of Beatrix Potter, who overcomes a domineering and unsupportive mother, the chauvinism of Victorian England, and the tragic death of her lover, to become the author of the best-selling children's story ever.
ONLY HUMAN (SERES QUERIDOS)
- Producer: Mariela Besuievsky and Gerardo Herrero, Adrian Sturges & Patrick Cassavetti
- Director: Dominic Harari & Teresa de Pelegri
- Writer: Dominic Harari & Teresa de Pelegri
- Cast: Marian Aguilera, Guillermo Toledo, Norma Aleandro, Maria Botto
This is a comedy about a Jewish woman who brings her Palestinian boyfriend home to meet the family in Madrid. As the evening spirals into chaos, a series of mishaps and misunderstandings unfold and build to crisis point for the couple.
Winner:
- Best Screenplay and Best Film at the Monte Carlo Comedy Film Festival
OPAL DREAM
- Producers: Lizie Gower & Nick Morris, Emile Sherman
- Director: Peter Cattaneo
- Cast:Vince Colosimo, Jacqueline McKenzie, Christian Byers, Sapphire Boyce
Pobby and Dingan live in Lightning Ridge, New South Wales, the opal capital of Australia. They are friends with Kellyanne Williamson, the daughter of a miner: indeed only Kellyanne can see them since Pobby and Dingan are imaginary.
THE PROPOSITION
- Producers: Chiara Menage,Cat Villiers, Jackie O'Sullivan
- Director: John Hillcoat
- Writer: Nick Cave
- Cast: Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone, Danny Huston, Emily Watson, David Wenham, John Hurt
In a style that harks back to Sam Peckinpah's great Westerns, Nick Cave's script tells the story of a local law enforcer in outback Australia who pits three notorious outlaw brothers against each other.
Winner:
- Australian Film Institute Awards: Best Cinematography, Costume Design, Original Music Score & Production Design
- Chlotrudis Awards – Best Screenplay
- Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards – Best Cinematography & Musical Score
- IF Awards – Best Feature Film, Cinematography, Music & Production Design
- San Diego film Critics Society Awards – Best Supporting Actor (Ray Winstone)
- Venice Film Festival Gucci Prize – Nick Cave
ST. TRINIAN'S
- Producer: Barnaby Thompson
- Director: Barnaby Thompson & Ol Parker
- Writer: Piers Ashworth & Nick Moorcroft
- Cast: Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Jodie Whitaker, Russell Brand, Toby Jones, Gemma Arterton, Mischa Barton
The girls of the infamous St Trinian's school hatch a plan to steal a priceless painting and sell it on the blackmarket in order to pay off enormous debts and save their beloved school from closure.
THE SECRET OF MOONACRE
- Producer: Jason Piette, Michael Cowan, Monica Penders, Meredith Garlik
- Director: Gabor Csupo
- Writer: Lucy Shuttleworth & Graham Alborough (based on novel by Elizabeth Goudge)
- Cast: Dakota Blue Richards, Ioan Gruffudd, Natascha McElhone, Tim Curry, Juliet Stevenson
An orphaned 13 year old girl discovers she is the last Moon Princess, and as such must right the wrongs of her ancestors and save Moonacre Valley from eternal destruction.
SEVERANCE
- Producers: Jason Newmark
- Director: Christopher Smith
- Writer: James Moran
- Cast: Laura Harris, Danny Dyer, Tim McInnery
Severance follows a group of arms dealer employees whose bonding weekend turns into horror when they find themselves stalked and picked off by a mystery assailant.
SEX LIVES OF THE POTATO MEN
- Producer:Anita Overland
- Writer/Director:Andy Humphries
- Cast: Johnny Vegas, Mackenzie Crook
Andy Humphries' debut feature follows the exploits of four of Birmingham's most unreconstructed males.
SNOW CAKE
- Producers: Gina Carter, Andrew Eaton, Niv Fichman, Jessica Daniel
- Director: Marc Evans
- Writer: Angela Pell
- Cast: Alan Rickman, Sigourney Weaver, Carrie Ann Moss
Snow Cake is a drama set in Canada about friendship, snow and acceptance.
STORMBREAKER
- Producers: Marc Samuelson, Peter Samuelson, Steve Christian and Andy Grosch
- Director: Geoff Sax
- Writer: Anthony Horowitz
- Cast: Alex Pettyfer, Ashley Walters, Mickey Rourke, Alicia Silverstone, Ewen McGregor
Stormbreaker is an adaptation of Anthony Horowitz's highly successful series of Alex Rider books aimed at children. This action adventure follows the exploits of Alex who transforms from schoolboy to super-spy and takes on his first mission for M16.
SYLVIA
- Producer: Alison Owen
- Director: Christine Jeffs
- Writer: John Brownlow
- Cast: Gwyneth Paltrow, Daniel Craig
First-time screenwriter John Brownlow's script charts the stormy relationship between Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes.
THE TIGER'S TAIL
- Producers: John Boorman, Keiran Corrigan
- Writer & Director: John Boorman
- Cast: Brendan Gleeson, Kim Cattrall
The Tiger's Tail is a psychological thriller that tells the story of Liam; a rich and greedy Irish property Developer, who has to face the truth about his life when his homeless but conniving identical twin steals his identity.
TRIANGLE
- Director: Christopher Smith
- Writer: Christopher Smith
- Producers: Jason Newmark
- Cast: TBC
A group of friends escape from a capsized yacht onto a mysterious abandoned liner where not everything is as it seems...
VALIANT
- Producer: John H Williams and Barnaby Thompson
- Writers: Jordan Katz, George Webster, George Melrod
- Director: Gary Chapman
- Cast: Ewan McGregor, Tim Curry, Ricky Gervais, Jim Broadbent (voices)
This CGI Animation adventure tells the story of Valiant, a young pigeon who joins the war effort by bringing coded messages back from France during WWII. Caught behind enemy lines Valiant and his cohorts struggle to survive on their limited basic training.
VENUS
- Producers: Kevin Loader
- Director: Roger Michell
- Writer: Hanif Kureishi
- Cast: Peter O'Toole, Jodie Whittaker, Lesley Phillips, Richard Griffiths
Venus is a comedy-drama from Hanif Kureishi and Roger Michell. Maurice, an ageing veteran actor who never quite made the big time, develops an unexpected, touching and humorous relationship with friend & fellow actor Ian's twenty-year old grand-niece, Jessie.
Winner:
- BIFA, Best Supporting Actor – Leslie Phillips
- Humanitas Prize – Hanif Kureishi
VERA DRAKE
- Producer: Simon Channing-Williams
- Writer & Director:Mike Leigh
- Cast: Imelda Staunton, Philip Davis, Eddie Marsan
Abortionist Vera Drake finds her beliefs and practices clash with the mores of 1950s Britain--a conflict that leads to tragedy for her family.
Winner:
- Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival (2004)
- BAFTA Awards Best Actress (Imelda Staunton), Best Direction (Mike Leigh), Best British Film
- Volpi Cup Imelda Staunton for best female performance
- BIFA Best Director (Mike Leigh), Best British Film, Best Actor (Phil Davis), Best Actress (ImeldaStaunton), Supporting Actor (Eddie Marsan) and Achievement in Production
- New York Critic Awards Best Actress (Imelda Staunton)
- European Film Awards Best Actress (Imelda Staunton)
- National Board of Review - Named as one of the Top Ten Films of the Year (2004)
- The Los Angeles Film Critic Association Best Actress (Imelda Staunton)
- The New York Film Critics Circle Online Best Actress (Imelda Staunton)
- Evening Standard Awards Best Actress (Imelda Staunton) and Best Film
- London Critics Circle Film Awards Best Actress (Imelda Staunton), Best Director (Mike Leigh), Best British Film of the Year, Best Screenwriter(Mike Leigh) and Best Supporting Actor (Phil Davies)
- National Society of Film Critics Awards (USA) for Best Actress (Imelda Staunton)
WAZ
- Producers: James Richardson, Alan Niblo
- Director: Tom Shankland
- Writer: Clive Bradley
- Cast: Stellan Skarsgaard, Melissa George, Ashley Walters, Selma Blair
Waz is a serial killer movie with a twist that follows grizzled detective Eddie Argo and his rookie partner Helen as they pursue a murderer whose victims are found with the symbol WAZ etched onto their corpses.
WILDERNESS
- Producers: Robert Bernstein
- Director: Michael J Bassett
- Writer: Dario Poloni
- Cast: Toby Kebbell, Sean Pertwee
Wilderness is a horror film which follows a group of young offenders on a nature survival course that goes horribly wrong.
YOUNG ADAM
- Producer:Jeremy Thomas
- Writer/director:David Mackenzie
- Cast:Ewan McGregor, Tilda Swinton, Peter Mullan, Emily Mortimer
Mackenzie's second feature is an adaptation of Alexander Trocchi's iconoclastic beat novel set on the canals of late 50s Glasgow.
Winner:
- Michael Powell Award - Edinburgh International Film Festival 2003
- London Critics Circle Awards for British Newcomer of the Year
