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NEW YEAR’S DAY Making sense of tragedy
Written by actor Ralph Brown - so memorable as Danny, a slice of Sixties’ wreckage in the cult clas- sic Withnail & I - New Year’s Day is a bitter- sweet tale of contempo- rary teenagers. Directed by Suri Krishnamma (A Man Of No Importance) it follows the story of 16- year-old South Coast friends Jake (Andrew Lee Potts) and Steven (Bobby Barry) who survive a tragic school ski- ing holiday in Europe, but at an increasingly emotional personal cost.
Produced by Simon Channing- Williams, whose films include eight with Mike Leigh, New Year’s Day co- stars Marianne Jean-Baptiste, in her first film role since being Oscar nomi- nated for Leigh’s (and Channing- Williams’) Secrets And Lies, Jacqueline Bisset and Michael Kitchen. Screenwriter Brown also appears as the teacher in charge of the fateful Euro-trip.
The film’s other producer is Stephen Cleary for Alchymie, a new UK-based film finance, production and distribution entity, backed by Flashpoint (UK) where he is head of creative affairs.
According to Brown: “I wanted to do a story about two teenage boys who lived in their own world.
The fact that you could have two kids surrounded by grown-ups who actually had no idea what was going on in their lives really interested me. And if you look around now, that’s obviously what’s happening between so many kids and their parents.”
Explained Krishnamma: “I want- ed to make a film about friendship and survival; a film about characters to create their own rules, dictate their own destiny and given purpose to their own existence.
“The paradox of suicide as an affirmation of life is essential to its success, as is the often humorous way in which the story is told. Jake and Steven are teenage boys growing up in a world they didn’t choose, making sense of a tragedy they couldn’t prevent.”
New Year’s Day, showcased at the recent 2000 Sundance Film Festival, was photographed on Fuji by John de Borman BSC. He is currently lighting There’s Only One Jimmy Grimble, co-starring Robert Carlyle and Ray Winstone, on Fuji, too. ■
New Year’s Day, originated on Fujicolor Motion Picture Negative, (as well as Withnail & I and Secrets And Lies), will be released
later this year
Photos from top: Bobby Barry as Steven in New Year’s Day; DP John de Borman BSC; scenes from New Year’s Day
Producer Simon Channing-Williams, de Borman and Director Suri Krishnamma, above: Bobby Barry and Andrew Lee Potts on the beach
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