PRODUCTIONS
Awaydays
On the Wirral in the grim early years of Margaret Thatcher’s premiership, the opportunities for thrill-seeking young men looking to escape 9 to 5 drudgery are what they’ve always been: sex, drugs, rock n’ roll, fashion, football and fighting. Paul Carty (Nicky Bell) goes to the game, chases skirt, pores over records in the racks at Probe, and gets to see Echo and the Bunnymen, but his fraught family life and dull job leave him feeling bereft. Becoming mates with the Berlin Bowie romantic Elvis (Liam Boyle), Carty is drawn to The Pack, a faction of football hooligans who own the terraces, a gang that Elvis is finding hard to distance himself from.
Endearing himself to The Pack’s General, John Godden (Stephen Graham), Carty throws himself into a world of boozy train journeys, Stanley knives and savage violence. Skillfully directed by Pat Holden, with a script adapted by Kevin Sampson from his own cult novel, Awaydays is an exuberant thrill, an outstanding rites of passage movie with intelligence and depth that is superior to any recent film dealing with hooliganism. The violence is brutal and horribly realistic; period details are impeccably recreated; and the strident, post-punk soundtrack that propels the action is superb.
POWDER
Starring Liam Boyle (Awaydays), Alfie Allen (Game Of Thrones, Soulboy) and filmed at major rock festivals in the U.K, Ibiza and Spain, Powder is a thrilling, hilarious, filthy and fascinating rock ‘n roll parable. It is also a serious examination of the nature of genius. Produced by the makers of Awaydays, Powder will delight youthful audiences worldwide.
Adapted from his novel by Kevin Sampson. Directed by Mark Elliott.