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production news
selected for Cannes. Even so, the challenges faced on Sunset Heights were still immense.
“The two films had slightly different chal- lenges really,” Figuero continues. “Sunset Heights has a far bigger budget, over £2 million. We shot it on both sides of the Irish border, and raised the finance from a number of different sources, includ- ing a bank. We also had money from the Irish Film Board, the Northern Lottery and Irish Republic.”
Learning some lessons from their first outing - and retaining much of the same crew - the produc- ers have gone for a subject somewhat in contrast to the 19th century setting of their debut feature.
“It’s a parable about the conflict in Ireland,” explains Figuero, “a film very much against vio- lence as a solution to these problems. And it’s cer- tainly light years away from Thomas Hardy.”
The Scorpio team remain fiercely proud of what they have achieved, a small but so far suc- cessful player in the very murky waters and dan- gerous world of film production and distribution.
“There is a substantial amount of money at stake here,” smiles Figuero, “not by Hollywood standards maybe, but tens of thousands of pounds are being spent by us on the theatrical release of The Scarlet Tunic. And since it’s now broken even already and we are into profit, it’s very satisfying indeed for all concerned. We have high hopes for
the London release and after that we want to go wider with a full nationwide blitz.
“So it’s great, we couldn’t have hoped for more really. It just goes to show that if you set your mind to something, you can overcome most things with, admittedly, a little obstinacy and a lot of stubborn perseverance. Team work is the name of the game and fortunately we’ve got that in buck- et loads. A lot of people did say we’d never do it, but we did eventually.” ■ ANWAR BRETT
The Scarlet Tunic was photographed by Malcolm McLean and Sunset Heights was
Photos top: Jean-Marc Barr and Emma Fielding in Scarlet Tunic: below, Sunset Heights cast on the prowl and above right, Emma Fielding in Scarlet Tunic