Published: 16 Nov 2016
Rising stars, Jack Lowden (War & Peace, A United Kingdom, Tommy’s Honour) and Martin McCann (The Survivalist, ‘71) are set to lead in director Matt Palmer’s debut feature, Calibre.
Filming has begun on location in Beecraigs National Park, Scotland this week, with a cast also featuring Tony Curran (Red Road, Sons of Anarchy, Gladiator) and Iain Pirie (Sunset Song, I Am Soldier).
Calibre follows two life-long friends on a weekend trip to a remote Scottish village that descends into a never-ending nightmare as they attempt to cover up a horrific hunting accident. The men wrestle with intense paranoia and escalating fear as their friendship disintegrates and the locals close in on the truth, turning a weekend hunting trip into a desperate struggle for survival.
It is the feature debut of Edinburgh based writer/director Matt Palmer and produced by Nottingham based and multi award winning, Wellington Films. Calibre is funded by Creative Scotland, Creative England – the first project to be co-developed by the two national agencies - Tip-Top Productions, Pont Neuf Productions, Head Gear Films and Scope Pictures with internationally acclaimed sales agent, Beta Cinema, controlling worldwide sales.
Producers, Alastair Clark & Anna Griffin said: “This has been seven and a half years in the making and we’ve had some incredible support to get us to this point. Having made two short films with Matt we’re now just so thrilled that Calibre is finally happening and with such a stellar cast and brilliantly talented crew.”
Natalie Usher, Director of Screen at Creative Scotland, said: ““We are proud to support this thriller set in the Scottish wilderness and are particularly pleased because Calibre is the debut feature from Scottish writer/director, Matt Palmer. This is an exciting time for Wellington Films following the success of Hope Dickson Leach’s The Levelling and we are delighted that they are continuing to work with Scottish talent.”
Paul Ashton, Senior Executive for Development & Production at Creative England, said “This has been a fruitful collaboration for Creative England and Creative Scotland. Wellington’s profile as a talent-driven English regional production company grows by the day, and this has been a great way to support Matt as a writer-director who divides his working life between England and Scotland – by allowing him to do just that throughout development and production, and not fall between the cracks sometimes created by the borders between funding regions. This project is a real celebration of film talent in the UK.”
ENDS
About Matt Palmer
A filmmaker from Edinburgh, Matt’s short films Daylight Hole, BAFTA Scotland nominated Island (which was produced as part of the Cinema Extreme scheme) and most recently, The Gas Man, were accepted into numerous international film festivals including Slamdance, Worldwide Shorts, Edinburgh International Film Festival, FrightFest and São Paulo International Film Festival. Matt also curates cult and horror film festivals including All Night Horror Madness and Psychotronic Cinema.
About Wellington Films
Wellington Films was founded in 2000 by producers Rachel Robey and Alastair Clark. In 2005 they were cited by Screen International as Stars of Tomorrow in their annual feature. They were later joined by producers Tom Wood and Anna Griffin.
Their BAFTA nominated debut feature, London to Brighton, earned them the Best Achievement in Production award at the 2006 British Independent Film Awards and a nomination at the London Critics Circle Film Awards for British Film Producers of the Year. It was released to widespread critical acclaim by Vertigo Films and has since been named by TimeOut London as one of the top 100 British films of all time.
Their most recent production, Hope Dickson Leach's debut feature, The Levelling, made through the BFI, BBC Films & Creative England's iFeatures scheme, is due for UK release next year through Peccadillo Pictures following success at Toronto Film Festival and BFI London Film Festival, earning Hope the inaugural IWC Filmmaker Bursary Award.
Other credits include Better Things, the critically acclaimed debut feature film by Duane Hopkins (Cannes Film Festival - Critics Week 2008, Toronto International Film Festival 2008); Alexis Dos Santos’ Unmade Beds, (Sundance Film Festival - World Cinema section 2009, Berlinale - Generations section 2009); Justin Molotnikov’s Crying with Laughter (SXSW 2009, Best Film at BAFTA Scotland 2009); and Varon Bonicos’ feature documentary A Man’s Story (Sheffield Doc/Fest 2011). www.wellingtonfilms.co.uk
CREATIVE SCOTLAND is the public body that supports the arts, screen and creative industries across all parts of Scotland on behalf of everyone who lives, works or visits here. We enable people and organisations to work in and experience the arts, screen and creative industries in Scotland by helping others to develop great ideas and bring them to life. We distribute funding provided by the Scottish Government and the National Lottery. For further information about Creative Scotland please visit www.creativescotland.com. Follow us @creativescots and www.facebook.com/CreativeScotland
CREATIVE ENGLAND invests in and supports creative ideas, talent and businesses in film, TV, games and digital media. We aim to grow the brightest, the best, and those with the most promise so that individuals and businesses can achieve their full creative and commercial potential. We help identify future opportunities to grow the economy and generate jobs. We support film development and production with National Lottery funding via the BFI. www.creativeengland.co.uk
TIP-TOP PRODUCTIONS is a Los Angeles based production company founded in 2011 by producers Rob McGillivray and Ben Stranahan.
TTP first made its mark becoming a driving force behind the doomsday comedy It’s A Disaster, starring Julia Stiles, America Ferrera & David Cross. IAD premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival in 2012, garnishing much critical acclaim and being described as “One of the funniest films of recent vintage” by The Hollywood Reporter and “A Triumph” by The Guardian UK. IAD was released by Oscilloscope Pictures and Maya Entertainment.
Most recently, Tip-Top Productions teamed up with Woods Entertainment to produce Nathan Morlando’s chilling coming-of-age thriller Mean Dreams, starring Bill Paxton, Colm Feore, Sophie Nelisse and Josh Wiggins. Mean Dreams gained its world premier at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, screening within the Directors Fortnight program. It went on to receive its North American premier at the Toronto International Film Festival 2016 and is being released by Vertical Entertainment in early 2017.
Other credits include Julian Pinder’s unnerving crime thriller Population Zero (Newport Film Festival 2016, FrightFest 2016) and the award winning sci-fi pilot The Midnight Anthology directed by Andrew Chan (New York Television Festival 2015 – Best Director & Starz networks Rising Star Award). www.tip-topproductions.com
SCOPE PICTURES
The production company SCOPE Pictures was established in 2005. It has some 150 feature films to its credit, which it has co-produced for Belgium in association with European producers. SCOPE Pictures hosts and manages the Belgian part of those co-productions (filming, post-production, etc.) and thus enables Belgian technicians and providers of audio-visual services to participate in artistically and/or commercially ambitious films of all sorts. www.scopepictures.com
