Borrowed Time first UK feature to use Tugg

Borrowed Time, a cross-generational comedy starring Phil Davis and shot on a micro-budget, is to be the first UK release to use Tugg, a crowdsourcing platform that empowers individuals and organizations to host screenings in local cinemas.

Hosts are able to select the date, showtime and cinema of their choice, and are then provided an online event page through which their community can purchase tickets. Once a pre-set threshold of tickets has been booked, Tugg will reserve the cinema, manage ticketing and ensure delivery of the film, allowing the audience to sit back and enjoy the show. 

It is the latest innovative move from the production - written and directed by Jules Bishop - which secured theatrical distribution in the UK following a crowd funding campaign through Kickstarter.

Following its premiere at the 2012 Edinburgh International Film Festival, where it was selected for Best of the Fest, the producers chose to raise the P&A costs themselves.

Parkville launched its month-long Kickstarter campaign in January and raised £21,721 from 360 backers. Due for theatrical release on Sept 13, the film has gained further support from the BFI’s New Models Award.

International sales rights to the low-budget feature - the seventh to be funded by Film London’s Microwave scheme - are handled by High Point Media Group, which first saw the feature at Film London’s annual sales event LUFF (London UK Film Focus).

Produced by Olivier Kaempfer of Parkville Pictures, the film stars Phil Davis (Vera Drake) and Theo Barklem-Biggs (The Inbetweeners Movie) as a grumpy old man and teenage would-be burglar odd couple.

Borrowed Time will receive a selected London and regional cinema roll-out on Sept 13 before DVD, iTunes, Blinkbox, Sky Store and Sky Box Office releases on Sept 23 and FilmFlex on Oct 1. Screenings can be set up through Tugg from Sept 13.

Parkville’s Kaempfer said: “With such a saturated market, we quickly realised that to get Borrowed Time to the audience we believed it deserved, we were going to have to think creatively. We’re thrilled therefore to have gained so much fantastic support for our distribution approach, and to be able to deliver the film to audiences on demand both on the big screen as well as on digital platforms.”

Another partner of the scheme involved in the release is Assemble, which empowers film-makers to create a website that offers an online hub, aggregating the ways people can see the film and play an active part in its distribution.