Dateline Cardiff, Wales: 18/01/08 Welsh-funded film chosen for top US festival
Robert Redford’s world-renowned Sundance Film Festival has selected a film backed by the Wales Creative IP Fund to screen in competition in its premiere documentary strand next week.
‘In Prison My Whole Life’, directed by Cardiff film director Marc Evans and part-financed by the Wales Creative IP Fund, will be shown to a key audience at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah.
In Prison My Whole Life - New Trailer
The docu-film focuses on William Francome and his investigation into the trial of radical journalist and former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Abu-Jamal claims to have been wrongly convicted of the murder of a police officer and remains on Pennsylvania’s death row awaiting re-trial or the death sentence.
Colin Firth & Marc Evans at Sundance Festival 2008
Twenty-five year old Francome, who was born on the same night Abu-Jamal was arrested, interviews key people involved in the events leading up to the murder, including Mumia himself, along with Snoop Dog, Mos Def, Noam Chomsky and Steve Earle.
The production was produced by Livia Firth, alongside her husband, the actor Colin Firth, as executive producer. The film was launched simultaneously at the London and Rome film festivals in October last year.
[Pictured above: Robert Redford, Sundance Institute president and founder, at BAM in Brooklyn today. Photo by Eugene Hernandez/indieWIRE]The £7 million Wales Creative IP Fund, managed by Finance Wales on behalf of the Welsh Assembly Government, provides equity investment for feature films, television productions, new media and music projects.
£7 million Wales Creative IP Fund
“To have a film chosen to be screened at the Sundance Film Festival is a wonderful accolade,” said Linda James, Wales Creative IP Fund Manager.“The production has already received praise following its joint premiere in London and Rome and we can expect further acclaim at Sundance.
[Pictured above: Welsh Film Director Marc Evans]
More importantly for us, it will showcase the work of the IP Fund and the strength of Wales’ creative industries to a high profile audience in the US.”
The IP Fund has now invested more than £5million into nine films, three television productions, a new media project and two factual documentaries since its inception in May 2005.
The IP Fund has invested £1.3million into its three latest deals which include two feature films and a TV production.
'Abraham’s Point', a drama feature starring Mackenzie Crook of ‘The Office’ and ‘The Pirates of the Caribbean’ fame.
The film was written by Welsh director Wyndham Price and produced by his company, Spinning Head Films which was the first company to spin out of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in April 2005.
Abraham’s Point was filmed in west Wales, the Brecon Beacons and Cardiff.
The IP Fund has also invested in a second series of the popular S4C animation series, ‘Hana’s Helpline’.
'Hana’s Helpine 2' is produced by Cardiff-based Calon and will be co-financed by S4C, Channel Five and the Gaelic Media Service.
The third recent investment is into the feature horror ‘The Daisy Chain’ directed by Aisling Walsh and starring Samantha Morton, who starred in ‘Minority Report’ opposite Tom Cruise, and Woody Allen’s ‘Sweet and Low Down’.
Steven Mackintosh stars alongside Samantha, and his accolades include a string of film and television productions, including ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’ and ‘The Land Girls’.
For more information, please e-mail: communications[at]financewales[dot]co[dot]uk
Or for additional info please contact Dr. Mark Leslie Woods at mwoods[at]glam.ac.uk
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