The UK’s Screen Cornwall has revealed the first four recipients of its feature film development scheme for projects in the Cornish language, Kernewek, made by local creative talent.
Callum Mitchell, who was the assistant director on Mark Jenkin’s Bait and Enys Men, has written Lanow (Rising Tide). A 10-year-old and his loving father, victims of a devastating housing crisis, treasure one last summer together in a place they call home. Simon Nicholls of Spike Productions produces.
Dedhyow Tesen (Cake Days) follows a young woman is determined to help her terminally ill father complete his bucket list before it’s too late, unaware he has not been entirely honest with her. It’s written by Cornwall-based screenwriter Julie Nørgaard Jensen, whose credits include upcoming series, Amma Assante’s Smilla’s Sense Of Snow. A Cornish producer is in negotiation.
Poll Pri (Clay Pit) is a generational drama set in the clay tips and villages of mid Cornwall, and is written and directed by Cornwall’s Edward Rowe, best known for his performance in Mark Jenkin’s Bait. Rowe teams up with South West-based producer Bex Rose, through production company Delvrys.
Estren Hi (Alien She) unfurls as a 12-year-old girl discovers a dead body, and adopts his hardcore punk identity. Music video and commercials directors Mathy Tremewan and Fran Broadhurst will write and direct. It is co-produced by My Accomplice, whose credits include documentaries Nasconidno and 8 Bar-The Evolution Of Grime. The outfit is moving into scripted projects with a Film4 and BFI backed debut feature in the works.
All four projects will now be supported to detailed treatment stage. Two will then go on to receive further funding to reach script stage, with writer and producer fees covered.
Screen Cornwall was set up in 2019 to grow the screen sector economy in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. The scheme was made possible by £150,000 funding from the devolution deal for Cornwall, an agreement signed in 2023 between the government and Cornwall Council, covering shorts, factual and features. The feature film development scheme’s total pot, including some UK government shared prosperity funding, comes to £42,000.
”This scheme is all about strengthening authentic media representation for Cornwall by enabling distinctive stories to be told in Kernewek, and we look forward to working with these talented filmmaking teams,” said Laura Giles, Screen Cornwall managing director.
Denzil Monk, consulting executive producer for Screen Cornwall’s feature film development scheme and producer of Bait and Enys Men, added: “These commissions are a crucial step towards providing a more pluralist and representative public service media that recognises and celebrates Cornish distinctiveness and will have a transformative impact on our burgeoning indigenous screen sector. Splann yw!”
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