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Showcase Spotlights Emerging British Talent
The British Film Institute and the British Council have showcased eight U.K. films from emerging filmmakers.

Showcase Spotlights Emerging British Talent

In the run-up to Cannes, the British Film Institute and the British Council held the Great8 showcase, which presented eight U.K. films from emerging filmmakers. Here are the films selected:

“Aftersun” (drama)
Director/writer: Charlotte Wells
Cast: Paul Mescal, Frankie Corio, Celia Rowlson-Hall
Sales: Charades
Sophie reflects on the shared joy and private melancholy of a holiday she took with her father 20 years earlier. Memories real and imagined fill the gaps between miniDV footage as she tries to reconcile the father she knew with the man she didn’t.

“Birchanger Green” (sci-fi)
Director/writer: Moin Hussain
Cast: Faraz Ayub, Natalie Gavin, Claire Rushbrook, Simon Nagra
Sales: Bankside Films
Adam lives a solitary life. Upon hearing that his estranged father has died, he finds himself in search of answers. Piecing together a complicated image of a man he never knew, Adam starts to become convinced he is descended from an alien race.

“Blue Jean” (drama)
Director/writer: Georgia Oakley
Cast: Rosy McEwen, Kerrie Hayes, Lucy Halliday
Sales: Film Constellation
In an intolerant climate, Jean is forced to lead a double life. During the week, she’s a respected teacher; at the weekend she slips into the gay scene. But when a student confronts her in a lesbian bar, Jean is pushed to extreme lengths to save her job and her sanity.

“Enys Men” (horror)
Director/writer: Mark Jenkin
Cast: Mary Woodvine, Edward Rowe, Flo Crowe, John Woodvine
Sales: Protagonist Pictures
On an uninhabited island in the Celtic Sea, a wildlife volunteer’s daily observations of a rare flower takes a dark turn into the strange and metaphysical.

“A Gaza Weekend” (comedy)
Director: Basil Khalil
Writers: Basil Khalil, Daniel Chan
Cast: Loai Noufi, Stephen Mangan, Mouna Hawa, Maria Zreik
Sales: Protagonist Pictures
Israel is sealed off after the outbreak of a deadly virus and Gaza has become the safest place in the region, leaving a British journalist and his Israeli girlfriend trapped on the wrong side of the border. Two Palestinian street merchants promise a way out.

“Kensuke’s Kingdom” (animated family adventure)
Directors: Kirk Hendry, Neil Boyle
Writer: Frank Cottrell-Boyce
Cast: Sally Hawkins, Cillian Murphy, Raffey Cassidy, Aaron MacGregor, Ken Wanatabe
Sales: Bankside Films
A young boy, shipwrecked on a remote island, discovers he is not alone when he clashes with an old Japanese soldier marooned there since World War II. But as dangerous invaders appear on the horizon, they join forces to save their fragile island paradise.

“Scrapper” (comedy drama)
Director/writer: Charlotte Regan
Cast: Harris Dickinson, Olivia Brady, Lola Campbell, Ambreen Razia
Sales: Charades
Georgie is a 12-year-old girl who lives on her own. Her apartment is filled with magic — the resident spiders are constantly making snarky comments and she seems to be building a strange tower into the sky from her mom’s bedroom. When her estranged father turns up out of blue, she’s forced to confront what’s really going on.

“Sweet Sue” (comedy-drama)
Director/writer: Leo Leigh
Cast: Maggie O’Neill, Tony Pitts, Harry Trevaldwyn
Sales: Hanway Films
Sue meets a mysterious biker called Ron at a funeral and sparks fly. But when Ron introduces her to his social-media influencer son, Anthony, Sue finds herself in an increasingly surreal battle of wills with this ambitious teenager.