The latest issue of Empire, as you might expect, is jampacked with all kinds of exclusive movie goodness, from The Avengers to American Pie: The Reunion to The Hunger Games.

But one of the things we’re most excited about doesn’t have a budget in the trillions, or capes, or a Hollywood background. Instead, it’s homegrown, low-key and very, very British. It is, of course, the first still from Sightseers, Ben Wheatley’s eagerly-awaited follow-up to Kill List.

Moody and evocative, it gives us our first glimpse of stars/co-writers Alice Lowe and Steve Oram as Tina and Chris, a caravanning couple who get mixed up in murder and mayhem (and more murder) as they embark on their first holiday together. There will be kills, and there may even be a list of some kind, but Wheatley insists that this is lighter fare than his last two outings, Down Terrace and the film that birthed the Kill List Stare. [Continue Reading]

(Via Empire Online)

The NAACP Image Awards is the (USA) nation’s premier multi-cultural awards show celebrating the outstanding achievements and performances of people of color in the arts (television, recording, literature, motion picture and writing & directing), as well as those individuals or groups who promote social justice through their creative endeavors.

Presented annually, the NAACP Image Awards is the nation’s premier event celebrating the outstanding achievements and performances of people of color in the arts as well as those individuals or groups who promote social justice.

The NAACP Image Awards is an exciting, star-studded salute to the best in entertainment. Honorees, presenters and performers have included many of the major celebrities in America as well as international political figures and dignitaries. There are 53 competitive categories in the fields of motion picture, television, recording and literature. There are also several honorary awards including the Chairman’s Award, The President’s Award and The Image Awards Hall of Fame.

The NAACP Image Awards originally aired late night for eight years in the ‘Saturday Night Live’ time slot on the NBC Network. Since 1996, the NAACP Image Awards has been shown in primetime on the FOX television network, where they have become a major programming event.

Attack The Block was nominated for Outstanding Foreign Motion Picture, the awards will be announced in a live ceremony on the 17th February, 2012.

Nominated alongside Attack The Block were:

Outstanding Debut

The BAFTA Film Awards is one of the biggest nights in the film industry calendar, renowned for welcoming and honouring an impressive line-up of stars. The 2011 BAFTA Film Awards saw the likes of Julianne Moore, Colin Firth and Jessica Alba make their way up the red carpet.

The awards ceremony, hosted by Stephen Fry, will take place at the Royal Opera House in London on 12 February.

Baftas 2012 longlist

The full list of contenders in the first round of voting for this year’s British Academy Film Awards.

Via The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/jan/06/baftas-2012-longlist).

The Guardian first film award 2012: our shortlist

On Friday, we announced the shortlist for the Guardian first album award; today it’s the turn of the first film. Previous winners have included The Arbor, Unrelated and Sleep Furiously; this year, after exhaustive polling of the Guardian’s film writing team, the 10 debut films jostling for the big one take in everything from an alien-attack thriller set in London to a Danish Afghan-war documentary. We will lock the judges – who include Guardian film team Peter Bradshaw, Xan Brooks and Catherine Shoard – in a room next week, and hammer out a result. The winner will receive a handsome piece of glass and plastic purchased, as Michael Hann revealed on Friday, from the trophy shop round the corner. Nevertheless, bragging rights will be awesome.

Via The Guardian (http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2012/jan/10/first-film-award-2012-shortlist).

December 28, 2011 (Austin, TX) – The Austin Film Critics Association today announced its 2011 awards, with Martin Scorsese’s ode to classic cinema, HUGO, winning Best Film. It lead a group of awards that AFCA Founder and President Cole Dabney called “a unique blend highlighting the best of both Hollywood and indie filmmaking.”

The hyper-stylized crime thriller DRIVE took home three awards, including Best Director for Nicolas Winding Refn, Best Adapted Screenplay for writer Hossein Amini, and Best Supporting Actor for Albert Brooks. It was also named the second best film of the year in the AFCA’s overall Top 10 List.

Michael Shannon was named Best Actor, while Jessica Chastain received Best Supporting Actress for their performances in TAKE SHELTER. Austinite Jeff Nichols was also awarded Best Austin Film for his direction and conception of the film, hailed at film festivals this year from Sundance to Cannes to Toronto.

Tilda Swinton was named Best Actress for her portrayal as a mother struggling with her first-born child’s madness and murder in WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN, while Woody Allen was awarded Best Original Screenplay for MIDNIGHT IN PARIS and Emmanuel Lubezki won his 2nd AFCA Award for Best Cinematography, this time for the Austin-made THE TREE OF LIFE.

The British film ATTACK THE BLOCK, which premiered at Austin’s own South by Southwest Film Festival, was awarded two prizes. Joe Cornish, who wrote and directed the alien invasion sci-fi/comedy, won Best First Film while composer Steven Price received Best Original Score.

Awards:

32nd London Critics’ Circle Film Awards nominations announced. Awards to be presented Thursday, 19th January, at BFI Southbank.

Voted for by over 120 UK film critics, broadcasters and writers, the nominations are lead by TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY and DRIVE, which both receive 6 nominations each. British film TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY directed by Tomas Alfredson is nominated for Film of the Year, British Film of the Year, Screenwriter of the Year, Actor of the Year, British Actor of the Year and The Sky 3D Award for Technical Achievement, whilst DRIVE – directed by fellow Scandinavian Nicolas Winding Refn – is nominated for Film of the Year, Director of the Year, Actor of the Year, Supporting Actor of the Year, The Moët & Chandon Award for British Actress of the Year and The Sky 3D Award for Technical Achievement.

Attack The Block has been nominated for two awards Breakthrough British Film-maker for director Joe Cornish & the Young British Performer Award for John Boyega’s performance as Moses.

For the full nominations announcement visit http://ow.ly/852NI.

December 14, 2011 / The Foundation for the Advancement of African-Americans in Film (FAAAF) announced its nominees Wednesday for their 12th annual Black Reel Awards.

Several actors and directors scored multiple nominations including Attack the Block’s John Boyega (Outstanding Actor and Outstanding Breakthrough), Laurence Fishburne (Outstanding Supporting Actor for Contagion and Outstanding Television Performance, Male for Thurgood), director/writer, Ava DuVernay (Outstanding Director and Outstanding Screenplay, Original or Adapted for I Will Follow), British writer/director Steve McQueen (Outstanding Director and Outstanding Screenplay), Wayans, Oduye and Spencer.

Via blackreelawards.wordpress.com (http://blackreelawards.wordpress.com/2011/12/14/pariahs-nine-noms-lead-the-black-reel-awards-field/)

British writer-director Joe Cornish’s “Attack the Block”, a thriller in which a South London gang battles an alien invasion, won Best First Feature. Cornish and executive producer Edgar Wright co-wrote this year’s Best Animated Feature, “The Adventures of Tintin”, directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by DreamWorks Animation.

(Under the TFCA’s guidelines, contenders eligible for the awards include films released in Canada in 2011 plus films that qualify for the 2011 Oscars and have Canadian distribution scheduled by the end of February 2012.)

The 2011 TFCA Awards will be presented at a gala dinner in the Round Room of Toronto’s historic Carlu on January 10, 2012, hosted by Cameron Bailey, co-director of the Toronto International Film Festival. There the TFCA will also reveal the winner of the Rogers Best Canadian Film Award, which carries a $15,000 cash prize. David Cronenberg will also be on hand to present a special award.

Via torontofilmcritics.co (http://torontofilmcritics.com/blog/2011/12/14/the-tree-of-life-named-best-picture-of-2011/)

In a day crammed with critics awards, most of which were being announced simultaneously on Twitter, the New York Film Critics Online made a couple of surprising choices but in the end went for the frontrunner, naming “The Artist” the Best Picture of 2011.

Joe Cornish was awarded for Best Debut Director…

Full article available at http://www.thewrap.com/ – (http://www.thewrap.com/awards/column-post/ny-film-critics-online-33506)

39th Annual Annie Award Nominations Announced

The International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood proudly announces the nominations and award recipients for the 38th Annual Annie Awards. Click here to see the complete list of nominees. Award recipients will claim their trophies at the 39th Annual Annie Awards scheduled for Saturday, February 4, 2012 at UCLA’s Royce Hall in Los Angeles, California.

Paul received the following nomination;

Nominations for Best Character Animation in a Live Action Production

• Andy Arnett “HOP” – Rhythm & Hues, Illumination Entertainment
• David Lowry “Paul” – Double Negative Visual Effects for Universal Productions/ Relativity Media/Working Title Films/Big Talk Productions
• Eric Reynolds “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” – 20th Century Fox
• Mike Hull “Paul” – Double Negative Visual Effects for Universal Productions/Relativity Media/Working Title Films/Big Talk Productions

… with the official Big Talk Productions Gift Guide 2011.

Here’s a list of everything in our stockings, there’s some truly brilliant gifts for all ages, sizes and shapes.

Him & Her / Series 1 DVD

Steve [Russell Tovey] and Becky [Sarah Solemani] are young, unemployed and lazy. All they want to do is eat, drink and have sex – so they do. They don’t want to get a job – so they don’t.

They’re happy to spend their days watching DVDs in Steve’s bedsit, but they’re constantly interrupted by Dan – the lonely bloke from upstairs, Laura and Paul – Becky’s sister and her fiancé or, most frighteningly for Steve, Becky’s parents.

Him & Her is an anti-romantic comedy, lifting the lid on love as it really is – warts and all – with farts, bickering and toast.

Rev. / Series 1 DVD

It’s hell being a vicar…

Meet The Rev. Adam Smallbone. He’s a Church of England Vicar, newly promoted from a sleepy rural parish to the busy, inner-city world of St Saviour’s in Hackney, East London. It’s a world he has no experience of. And it shows. It really shows.

Rev. is an authentic–albeit highly comic–portrait of the life of a modern, inner-city vicar. Heavily researched and supported by anecdotes from a number of working city vicars and church insiders it lifts the lid on how the modern church actually functions, and what life is really like in a dog collar.

Friday Night Dinner / Series 1 Pre-Order DVD

Eccentric relations, bizarre behaviour, cringing embarrassment…It’s just a family tradition.

Twenty-something brothers Adam and Jonny return to the family home each week for a Jewish Friday night dinner of soup, chicken and crumble – plus massive side-orders of wind-ups and bickering. With a Masterchef-obsessed Mum; Dad eating from the rubbish bin; Grandma wearing her new bikini around the house, and Jim the neighbour who’s terrified of his own dog, it’s a feat of endurance. And that’s before the concerns about Jonny’s ‘made-up’ girlfriend and Dad’s non-stop requests for Adam to find a “female” on the Internet. Of course, every family has its foibles, its rituals and its eccentricities. It’s just that the Goodmans have made something of an art form of theirs…

Patrick Monahan Live / Show Me The Funny Winner’s DVD

Introducing the funniest Irish-Iranian comedian – from Middlesbrough – around! The exuberant, affable Patrick Monahan was the winner of ITV’s Show Me The Funny, emerging triumphant in a hotly-contested live final in which he won the public vote and the plaudits of the judges.

This show, recorded live at London’s Bloomsbury Theatre, finds Patrick at his hyperactive, charming and freewheeling best – spinning laugh-along yarns and engaging effortlessly and hilariously with his audience.

The DVD comes packed with great extras including backstage and behind-the-scenes footage from the live Show Me The Funny final, highlights of Patrick’s performances in Show Me The Funny, a specially-shot film with Patrick and his mentor Johnny Vegas and bonus sets from Dan Mitchell and Tiffany Stevenson, Show Me The Funny’s other finalists.

Attack The Block DVD / Blu-ray

Attack the Block is a fast, funny, frightening action adventure movie that pits a teen gang against an invasion of savage alien monsters. It turns a London housing estate into a sci-fi playground. A tower block into a fortress under siege. And teenage street kids into heroes. It¹s inner city versus outer space.

Trainee nurse Sam is walking home to her flat in a scary South London tower block when she’s robbed by a gang of masked, hooded youths. She’s saved when the gang are distracted by a bright meteorite, which falls from the sky and hits a nearby parked car. Sam flees, just before the gang are attacked by a small alien creature that leaps from the wreckage. The gang chase the creature and kill it, dragging its ghoulish carcass to the top of the block, which they treat as their territory.

While Sam and the police hunt for the gang, a second wave of meteors fall. Confident of victory against such feeble invaders, the gang grab weapons, mount bikes and mopeds, and set out to defend their turf. But this time, the creatures are bigger. Much bigger. Savage, shadowy and bestial, they are hunting their fallen comrade and nothing will stand in their way. The estate is about to become a battleground. And the bunch of no-hope kids who just attacked Sam are about to become her, and the block’s, only hope.

Paul DVD / Blu-ray

Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead) reunite for the comedy adventure Paul as two sci-fi geeks whose pilgrimage takes them to America’s UFO heartland. While there, they accidentally meet an alien who brings them on an insane road trip that alters their universe forever. For the past 60 years, an alien named Paul (voiced by Seth Rogen) has been hanging out at a top-secret military base. For reasons unknown, the space-traveling smart ass decides to escape the compound and hop on the first vehicle out of town—a rented RV containing Earthlings Graeme Willy (Pegg) and Clive Collings (Frost). Chased by federal agents and the fanatical father of a young woman that they accidentally kidnap, Graeme and Clive hatch a fumbling escape plan to return Paul to his mother ship. And as two nerds struggle to help, one little green man might just take his fellow outcasts from misfits to intergalactic heroes. Paul is directed by Superbad’s Greg Mottola, from a story by Pegg & Frost. Joining the comedy’s cast are Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Blythe Danner, Joe Lo Truglio, John Carroll Lynch, David Koechner and Sigourney Weaver.

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World DVD / Blu-ray

Meet charming and jobless Scott Pilgrim (Michael Cera). A bass guitarist for totally average garage band Sex Bob-omb, the 22 year-old has just met the girl of his dreams… literally. The only catch to winning Ramona Flowers (Mary Elizabeth Winstead)? Her seven evil exes are coming to kill him.

Genre-smashing filmmaker Edgar Wright (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead) tells the amazing story of one romantic slacker’s quest to power up with love in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. Scott Pilgrim has never had a problem getting a girlfriend. It’s getting rid of them that proves difficult.

Hot Fuzz DVD / Blu-ray

When top London cop, PC Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg), is reassigned to the quiet town of Sandford, he struggles with his seemingly crime-free world… and oafish partner Danny (Nick Frost).

When several grisly accidents rock the village, it’s not long before Danny’s dreams of explosive, high-octane, car-chasing, gunfighting, all-out action become reality!

It’s time for these small-town cops to hand out big-city justice.

Shaun of the Dead DVD / Blu-ray

Life is going nowhere for Shaun (Simon Pegg). He spends his life in his local pub, The Winchester, with his best mate Ed (Nick Frost), has issues with his Mum and neglects his girlfriend Liz.

When Liz dumps him, Shaun finally decides to get his life in order. He must win back the heart of his girlfriend, repair his relationship, with his mum and face up to the responsibilities of adulthood.

Unfortunately, THE DEAD are returning to life and attempting to eat the living. For the newly inspired Shaun, this is just another obstacle. In the face of a full scale ZOMBIE EPIDEMIC, armed with a cricket bat and spade, Shaun sets out with Ed in tow, to rescue his mum and grudgingly his step-dad, his girlfriend and even more grudgingly her friends David and Dianne and take them to the safest most secure place he knows, The Winchester.

Shaun of the Dead / Hot Fuzz / Scott Pilgrim | Triple Pack DVD / Blu-Ray

The eagle eyed amongst you will realise that the synopsis for each of these films is already displayed above.

But well done for noticing Have a little extra Christmas wish on us!

Hooray to the cast & crew of Friday Night Dinner for their 2 nominations in the Best New Programme & Best Comedy Programme categories. And well done to everyone here at Big Talk for our own nomination for Best Independent Production Company.

The Broadcast Awards are at the heart of the industry calendar, shining a light on the UK’s most acclaimed TV shows and the unsung talent that made it all possible.

The shortlist for the Broadcast Awards 2012 has been announced and we would like to congratulate each finalist on their outstanding achievements. With a 20% increase on entries this year the competition was tougher than ever; with the judging day full of lively debate over the final shortlist.

Winners will be announced on 2nd February, 2012, before 1200 of the leading names in British broadcasting. With tables selling faster than ever, now is the time to guarantee your place at the most influential night in the broadcasting calendar.

The 14th annual Moët British Independent Film Award nominations were announced today in London, representing what has clearly been a landmark year for the country’s independent cinema.

Director Joe Cornish has been nominated for The Douglas Hickox Award for Best Debut Director and lead John Boyega received his nomination for Most Promising Newcomer.

Good luck to all nominees in an awards package literally stuffed with an amazing array of talent.

The winners of The Moët British Independent Film Awards are decided by an independent jury comprised of folks from the British film industry. This year’s jury includes: Josh Appignanesi (Director / Writer), Lucy Bevan (Casting Director), Edith Bowman (Broadcaster), Mike Goodridge (Editor), Ed Hogg (Actor), Neil Lamont (Art Director), Mary McCartney (Photographer), Molly Nyman (Composer), Debs Paterson (Director / Writer), Tracey Seaward (Producer), Charles Steel (Producer), David Thewlis (Actor), Ruth Wilson (Actress) and Justine Wright (Editor).
The complete list of nominations for the Moët British Independent Film Awards are listed below. The winners be announced on December 4th at Old Billingsgate in London, England.

For further updates and all nomination check out BIFA’s own site here.

Further coverage available via IndieWire here.

After a decade of thrilling audiences worldwide and nearly eight billion dollars in global box office receipts, Spike TV presented a moving tribute to the “Harry Potter” film franchise with the help of its eponymous star, Daniel Radcliffe, and Lord Voldemort himself, Ralph Fiennes at its “SCREAM Awards 2011.” Fittingly, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2” led the way with six awards, with Radcliffe accepting the night’s top honor, “The Ultimate SCREAM,” on the film’s behalf via remote surrounded by thousands of “Harry Potter” fans in New York City.

Scott Pilgrim was nominated in eight categories and walked away with two.

• FIGHT SCENE OF THE YEAR
  Final Battle: Scott Pilgrim and Knives vs. Gideon Graves, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
• BEST COMIC BOOK MOVIE
  Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

The star-studded tribute to all things fantasy, sci-fi, comic book and horror taped at Universal Studios in Los Angeles and premieres on Spike TV on Tuesday, October 19 (9:00 – 11:00 PM, ET/PT) with simulcasts on VH1 and VH1 Classic.

Attack The Block scored big this past weekend at the Sitges Film Festival 2011 (Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantàstic de Catalunya).

Sitgesis known as “… the number one fantasy film festival in the world” garnered Attack The Block with festival, jury, critic and audience prizes.

Three of Attack The Block’s awards are displayed.

PREMIS / PREMIOS / AWARDS

Millor Banda Sonora Original / Mejor Banda Sonora Original / Best Original Soundtrack
Steven Price per Attack the Block (Joe Cornish)

Premi Especial del Jurat / Premio Especial del Jurado / Special Jury Award
Attack the Block, de Joe Cornish

Millor Pel·lícula / Mejor Película / Best Motion Picture
Attack the Block, de Joe Cornish

Premi de la Crítica Jose Luis Guarner / Premio de la Crítica Jose Luis Guarner / Jose Luis Guarner Critic Award
Attack the Block, de Joe Cornish

For further information visit the film festival’s official site here (http://sitgesfilmfestival.com/eng).

Kenton Allen, the joint chief executive of Rev and Friday Night Dinner producer Big Talk, has been appointed advisory chair for the 2012 MediaGuardian Edinburgh International Television Festival.

Allen takes over from BBC Vision director George Entwistle, advisory chair of the festival for 2011.

Allen’s role for the 37th festival will involve commissioning session ideas and overseeing their production.

The producer, whose credits include The Royle Family, That Mitchell and Webb Look and Ideal, was creative head of BBC Comedy and BBC Comedy North between 2003 and 2008.

Before that he was the creative director of Elisabeth Murdoch’s Shine, which he joined from his role as head of entertainment development at Granada TV.

He said of his appointment: “I think George did a brilliant job this year, and I relish the prospect of getting stuck in and making 2012′s festival the best it can be.

“There has never been a more creative and exciting time to be working in television and no other event showcases this like the MGEITF. It’s a very special event and I haven’t missed one in 15 years. I feel very honoured to be taking on the role and I’m really looking forward to helping make it unmissable.”

Via Media Guardian | 3rd October, 2011 (http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/oct/03/kenton-allen-edinburgh-tv-festival?CMP=twt_fd)

LONDON — No one ever tried to make a movie out of “The Female Eunuch” or “The Second Sex.” But when London Times columnist Caitlin Moran published her autobiographical feminist manifesto “How to Be a Woman” this summer, it sparked a bidding war between the U.K.’s leading film companies.

Described by its publisher as “part memoir, part rant,” “How to Be a Woman” draws on Moran’s unconventional life experiences to put forward her own version of feminism, but with jokes.

This involves a frank and frequently hilarious discussion of issues, including pubic grooming, the naming of female body parts, the pleasures of masturbation, the horrors of childbirth, guilt-free abortion and the merits or otherwise of Lady Gaga and media personality Katie Price as role models.

Film4 topper Tessa Ross fended off a strong challenge from Eric Fellner at Working Title to snag the rights — not so much by offering vast amounts of cash (though Moran admits that helped), but by bribing her with cigarettes.

“Tessa is the kind of woman I love,” Moran says. “She’s brilliant, fierce, a proper feminist and a bit nuts. And when she took me to lunch at the Wolseley, she had a pack of (cigarettes) in her bag, even though she doesn’t smoke, because she thought I might like one. That’s what she had that the others didn’t.”

Moran is co-writing the script with her sister Caroline, with whom she has also written a sitcom pilot for Channel 4, titled “The Big Object.”

Now 36, Moran was a teen prodigy, the eldest of eight children brought up by hippie parents with no money in a three-bedroom house in working-class Wolverhampton.

She left school at 11 to avoid being bullied for being, in her own words, “a freak,” won a writing competition, published a novel at 15, became a music journalist, then a national newspaper columnist and TV presenter before she was 20. She has written for the London Times ever since, and was named critic of the year and interviewer of the year at the 2011 British Press Awards.

“How to Be a Woman” has sold 150,000 copies in the U.K., where many female readers greeted it with a rush of gratitude. Harper Collins will publish it next year in the U.S.
“I wasn’t surprised by its success, because there was such a massive hole where something like this should be,” Moran says. “Someone who says, ‘Bollocks to all this, I’m just going to relax, take off these uncomfortable shoes, let my belly hang over the waistline of my trousers which I bought one size too small because that’s what we do, flop down and tell you the truth about what’s it’s like to be a woman today.’?”

It’s not obvious material for a movie, but Moran says the film will draw on her adulthood, while sitcom “The Big Object” will tackle her adolescence. “I’m Woody Allen-ish, in that all I can do is write about myself,” she explains. “(The movie’s) going to be about having the worst boyfriend ever, and how you dump him. There won’t be characters called Caitlin and Caroline, but there will be a Caitlin Moran-style narrator, so you’ll get the rants that way.”

Ross allowed Moran to pick her own producer, so she went for Nira Park at Big Talk, the company behind “Attack the Block” and Edgar Wright’s fanboy comedies. Big Talk has an overall deal with Studiocanal, which is co-developing “How to Be a Woman” with Film4. Moran is repped by her film and TV agent Rachel Holroyd at Casarotto Ramsay.

Via Variety | Caitlin Moran’s ‘How To Be A Woman’ (http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118043670)

A PITCH BLACK COMEDY DIRECTED BY BEN WHEATLEY STARRING ALICE LOWE & STEVE ORAM

Monday 3 October: Principal photography begins on SIGHTSEERS, the third film from award-winning director BEN WHEATLEY (Down Terrace, Kill List). Sightseers is written by its stars, ALICE LOWE and STEVE ORAM with additional material by AMY JUMP.

To be distributed by STUDIOCANAL in the UK, the forthcoming comedy is a BIG TALK PICTURES production in association with ROOK FILMS. It is being produced by Nira Park (Big Talk Pictures) and Claire Jones and Andy Starke (Rook Films), and executive produced by Matthew Justice, Danny Perkins, Jenny Borgars and Katherine Butler. Big Talk’s development of the film was funded by Film4 and the BFI Film Fund. The film is financed by STUDIOCANAL, Film4 and the BFI Film Fund. International sales will be handled by Protagonist Pictures. Shooting will take place in Derbyshire, Yorkshire and the Lake District over the next four weeks.

Chris (Steve Oram) wants to show Tina (Alice Lowe) his world and he wants to do it his way – on a journey through this sceptred isle in his beloved Abbey Oxford Caravan. Tina’s led a sheltered life and there are things that Chris needs her to see – the Crich Tramway Museum, the Ribblehead Viaduct, the Keswick Pencil Museum and the rolling countryside that separates these wonders in his life.

But it doesn’t take long for the dream to fade. Litterbugs, noisy teenagers and pre-booked caravan sites, not to mention Tina’s meddling mother, soon conspire to shatter Chris’s dreams and send him, and anyone who rubs him up the wrong way, over a very jagged edge…

Katherine Butler, Film4 Senior Commissioning Executive, says: “We are thrilled to be going into production on the hilariously twisted Sightseers which brings together the prodigiously talented Ben Wheatley with the brilliant Big Talk Pictures and Ben’s dynamic Kill List collaborators at Rook Films. One of Film4’s big priorities is to build long-term relationships with filmmakers, so it’s fantastic to be teaming up once more with Big Talk – with whom we collaborated on Attack the Block – and Rook Films, on a project we’ve loved throughout development.”

Lizzie Francke, Senior Production Executive at BFI Film Fund, says: “Sightseers takes us on a bizarre journey through some of Britain’s most offbeat tourist destinations and in the hands of a director as talented as Ben Wheatley, it promises to be the most heady and hilarious of trips. Forget Psychogeography, this is psychotic geography. We’re delighted to once again be working with Ben and the fantastic production teams at Big Talk and Rook Films and we wish them all the best for the shoot.”

Ben Wheatley’s debut film Down Terrace and second film Kill List have both won numerous awards and played major film festivals throughout the world. Kill List opened this September to rave reviews. Ben’s internet animations, films, cartoons, comic strips and viral ads have an international audience of over 20 million people via his website www.mrandmrswheatley.blogspot.com. Wheatley has won multiple awards for his commercials and viral work including Gold, Silver and Bronze Lions at Cannes Advertising Festival and has directed many television shows including BBC3’s cult hit ‘Ideal’, Channel 4’s ‘Modern Toss’ and the BAFTA nominated ‘Wrong Door’.

Alice Lowe is a Perrier Award winning Comedy Writer / Performer. She has played leading roles in Channel 4`s ‘Garth Marenghi’s Dark Place’ and ‘My Life in film’ for the BBC. Her film credits include Hot Fuzz and Out of Water. Steve Oram is a regular on the Brit comedy scene and has been involved in TV shows such as ‘The Mighty Boosh’, ‘Tittybangbang’ as well as the film It’s All Gone Pete Tong with Paul Kaye. He starred in and directed his own film Connections which was selected for the Cannes film festival in 2008. Lowe and Oram appeared in the live UK tour with Steve Coogan playing supporting roles and covering Coogan’s changes. They are long time collaborators but Sightseers is the first feature they have worked on together. The lead characters in Sightseers were partly inspired by characters they originally performed live together on the comedy circuit.

For further information please contact Zoe Flower / Keeley Naylor at Emfoundation: Tel: 020 7247 4171 / Email: zoe@emfoundation.com / keeley@emfoundation.com

Follow Sightseers http://sightseersmovie.com
Twitter @sightseersmovie / http://twitter.com/sightseersmovie Facebook http://facebook.com/sightseersmovie

Attack The Block won the Müút Award for Best Visual Concept at the Miskolc International Film Festival, Hungary.

(Via Cinefest.hu)

Attack The Block also won the Méliès d’Argent at the Lund International Fantastic Film Festival, Sweden.

(Via FFF.se)

Attack The Block: Double Play (Blu-ray + DVD)

Attack The Block: Double Play (With Play.com Exclusive Glow-In-The-Dark Sleeve) (Blu-ray + DVD Play.com Exclusive)

DVD Tech specs: Cert: 15 / Feature Running Time: 84 min approx / Region 2 Feature Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 / Colour PAL / Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 / English language / Cat No: OPTD2013 / RRP: £17.99

BLURAY Tech specs: Cert: 15 / Feature Running Time: 87 min approx / Region B / Dual layer BD50 / Audio codec: DTS HD Master / Video codec: AVC / Feature Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 / Colour PAL / Audio: DTS HD master / English language / Cat No: OPTD2013 / RRP: £22.99

• ‘Double Play Edition’ includes the movie on 2 formats: Blu-ray & DVD!
• Junior Commentary with Joe Cornish with John Boyega, Alex Esmail, Franz Drameh, Simon Howard and Leeon Jones
• Senior Commentary with Joe Cornish with Jodie Whittaker, Luke Treadaway and Nick Frost
• Exec. Producer Commentary with Joe Cornish and Edgar Wright
• Behind The Block
• Creature Feature
• Meet The Gang
• Joe’s Massage
• It’s A Rap
• Unfilmed Action
• Trailers

You can follow all the latest Attack The Block news at the film’s official Facebook and Twitter pages: http://www.facebook.com/AttackTheBlock and http://twitter.com/AttackTheBlock