28/08/2006

Last Saturday, during the Edinburgh International Film Festival awards ceremony, the jury – made up of UK actor John Hurt, Danish filmmaker Lone Scherfig, Irish writer John Banville, Scottish director Michael Caton-Jones and rock legend Chrissie Hynde – bestowed the prestigious Michael Powell Award for Best New British Feature to rock mockumentary Brothers of The Head [+see also:
trailer
film profile]by Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe.

The directorial feature debut of the duo behind the acclaimed documentary Lost in La Mancha had already garnered wide acclaim since its launch in the Panorama Section of the last Berlinale. The film, scripted by Tony Grisoni (Tideland [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) and produced by Simon Channing-Williams (The Constant Gardener [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]), tells the story of conjoined twins Tom and Barry Howe, who are thrown into the music world and quickly appropriate their status as “freaks” to become hard rock sensations.

Hanway Films is handling international sales and the UK release through Tartan Films is set for October 6.

London To Brighton, the directorial debut by Paul Andrew Williams, won the Skillset New Directors Award. The film stars newcomers Lorraine Stanley and Georgia Groome as a prostitute and a runaway girl fleeing Brighton in a desperate attempt to save their lives.

Inspired by the director’s short film Royalty, which toured several festivals in 2001, the film was produced by Wellington Films and Steel Mill Pictures with support from the UK Film Council. It will released in the UK by Vertigo Films and is being sold internationally by Independent Film Sales.

Other award winners include Jake Clennell, recipient of the Best Documentary Feature Award for The Great Happiness Space: Tale of an Osaka Love Thief, and US filmmaker Kevin Smith, winner of the Standard Life Audience Award for his raucous comedy Clerks II.