Partner Article

North East film company nominated for 'European Oscars'

A North East film production company have learnt this week that they are to be honoured in a pan-European movie awards. The European Film Awards, sometimes referred to as the ‘European Oscars’, have announced that Newcastle-based Ipso Facto Film’s spring 2007 release Irina Palm has been selected to compete alongside some of the UK’s most notable films of the past year, among them the critically acclaimed This Is England, The Last King of Scotland and The Queen.

Starring Marianne Faithful (Marie Antoinette, Paris I Love You) and Miki Manojlovic (Underground, When Father Was Away On Business) Irina Palm tells the story of a 50-year-old widow who becomes a Soho sex worker to pay for the medical treatment of her critically ill grandson.

Written by North East writer Martin Herron, the film has proved to be popular across Europe and has drawn favourable reviews from the international press. Already a winner of the Reader Jury award and a nominee for the Golden Berlin Bear at its premiere at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival, it seems that Irina Palm may be able to hold its own.

The company will find out at this year’s Seville Film Festival in early November for which of the award categories the members of the European Film Academy (including Sir Ben Kingsley) have nominated the film. The Ipso team will have to hold their breath until December to see whether the independent offering will outshine The Queen at the awards ceremony itself.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .