- My Imprisoned Heart
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My Imprisoned Heart Produced by Louis Savy Written by Judy Upton Starring Bella Heesom, Alex Falk, Deborah Bouchard Running time 59 minutes Country United Kingdom Language English My Imprisoned Heart is a short drama-comedy film made in 2007 by the Make Your Mark in Film campaign. The screenplay was written by Judy Upton and stars Bella Heesom (Emma), Alex Falk (Jamie) and Deborah Bouchard (Avril).
Contents
Plot
The plot centres around a young woman called Emma who has just split up with her fiancé Jamie after he cheated on her. Not sure how to cope with the pain and rejection, Emma resorts to desperate measures and tricks Jamie into going into an abonded warehouse filled with his possessions. Once inside, she locks him in indefinitely.
Using her expertise as a performance artist, Emma sets up a website and broadcasts Jamie's every move over a webcam to an audience of millions. The new phenomenon sweeps the nation's media and Emma becomes scared and doesn't know how to end the now out of hand revenge.
She asks her friend Avril to help her get some money so they can leave the country, and just as they are about to let Jamie out, he tricks them and locks them back in the warehouse, broadcasting their movements over the internet.Cast and characters
The main stars of the film are Bella Heesom, who plays "Emma", and Alex Falk, who plays her ex boyfriend "Jamie". Deborah Bouchard also stars as Emma's best friend, "Avril".
- Bella Heesom is 22 years old and graduated from Cambridge University with a BA in philosophy. While at Cambridge she sat as actors' rep on the committee of the Amateur Dramatic Club; home in previous years to talents such as Sir Derek Jacobi, Sam Mendes, Miriam Margoyles and Michael Attenborough, as well as acting in eleven theatre productions and directing three. Productions ranged from Shakespeare, new comedy writing and Harold Pinter's re-working of Proust to the epic theatre of Friedrich Durrenmatt and the contemporary naturalism of Ariel Dorfman. The plays were staged in gardens, in traditional theatres, in the round, and, in one case, on four stages simultaneously! Bella’s highlight was working with friends to set up the Growling Monkey Theatre Company and raising funds to take Mark Ravenhill's Some Explicit Polaroids to the Edinburgh Fringe in 2005. Proceeds were donated to AIDS charities and the project was sponsored by Dame Judi Dench. Bella played "Nadia", a young troubled woman working as a lap dancer. Her performances were very well received by audiences, and many people came up to her on the street and in bars to tell her how moved they were by her portrayal of the character throughout the month. Bella was invited to audition for My Imprisoned Heart after being spotted by casting director, Jesse Malone. She was walking past a book shop in Bristol when Jesse approached her to find out if she was a performer. At the time Bella was preparing for LAMDA and entry to RADA.
- Bella's character, Emma, is a sensitive soul.
- Alex Falk is probably best known for his regular role - rising indie rock star "Matt" on hit series Hollyoaks: Let Loose. With his charm, sex appeal and charisma he was an instant hit with the fans. He wrote original songs for his character that were used on the show and jammed with many bands including Goldie Lookin' Chain, I am Kloot and The Twang. He trained at Arts Educational in Chiswick and has a real love of the theatre. Credits include Kafka's The Trial - Cherub Theatre Co, Wise Up - Tour 6.15 Theatre Co, Union Shorts & A Night in the Desert - Union Theatre, Ariel in Prospero's Island - Midland Touring, Mercutio in Romeo & Juliet & Mr Tenner in The Lady With A Lap Dog both at the Young Vic, London. Alex's first ever screen appearance was in an Amy Winehouse video. Alex has always been a keen motor sport enthusiast, enjoys landscape gardening, and plays the congas with up and coming singer Kelly Waters. He grew up in Hemel Hempstead. His mother, a nurse, aromatherapist and psychotherapist is from Trinidad and Tobago. His father, an orthopaedic surgeon is from Poland.
- Alex plays Jamie
- Deborah Bouchard was born in Lancaster in 1974. She graduated from The Arden School Of Theatre in 1998 with a first class honours degree and currently lives in Cheshire with her partner Manny Elias (rock and roll drummer for Tears For Fears, Julian Lennon, Dolly Parton etc). As well as acting, Deborah is a professional singer and has written and recorded music with Manny. Her first album Talk To Me with band Spankdaddi gained her and the band a publishing deal with Paul Rodriguez Music Ltd in London. Deborah has theatre experience and particularly enjoys musicals. In her first professional acting job, Barnum, a tour starring Peter Duncan, not only did she sing and dance but also embraced the technical difficulties of the trapeze routines and stilt walking. She particularly enjoys stage combat and she holds an advanced certificate in sword fighting. However, Deborah’s real passion for acting lies in front of the camera and she has appeared in the following TV shows: Emmerdale, Cold Feet, Coronation Street, Where the Heart Is, Clocking Off, and Family Affairs. She played "Sadie", a 1930’s lesbian fascist, in the feature film These Foolish Things directed by Julia Taylor-Stanley. Deborah has appeared in many commercials (most notably Walkers Crisps and Vodafone) as well as many corporate projects.
- Debs plays Emma's best friend, Avril
Make Your Mark in Film
"Make Your Mark in Film is all about young people using their business acumen, initiative and creativity to successfully shoot and produce a first class film. We want to encourage young people to be creative but business savvy at the same time – and also help them to get a foot in the door of a very competitive industry."
— Kevin Steele CEO of the Make Your Mark campaignTen teams of wannabe film-makers from across the UK won the chance to film one episode of a 50 minute film that was screened at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. The teams had access to a shooting kit and main cast but with no additional budget for filming, they needed to use their entrepreneurial skills to source the other resources required to get their episode ‘in the can’.
This exciting and unique collaborative production kicked off on 29 March 2007 when the teams met the actors, scriptwriter and each other at a launch party at the Rich Mix cultural centre in Bethnal Green, London. They also had the opportunity to meet influential individuals from the film industry including Stewart Till, Chair of UK Film Council; Senior producer for BBC Film Network, Claire Cook; and founder of the Raindance Film Festival, Elliott Grove.
"Film making is the most collaborative art form and needs enterprising people at every stage - it is all about overcoming obstacles and making it happen. I believe this is echoed by the Make Your Mark in Film initiative, it's a great idea and I look forward to seeing the final series."
The first team started shooting in Liverpool in April 2007. Each subsequent episode was filmed in a different region and the final film screened at Edinburgh International Film Festival in August 2007.
The competition, Make Your Mark in Film, was designed to encourage young people in their teens and twenties to have ideas and make them happen through their interest in film. It is run by the national Make Your Mark campaign and Cobra Beer’s short film competition, CobraVision, and backed by key players in the film industry, including UK Film Council, Lord Puttnam and the Raindance Film Festival.
To win the chance to produce one of the episodes, each team had to beat fellow competitors in their region. Now, they are competing for the accolade of ‘best episode’ in the film.
"Making your mark in film is all about working as a team. When it all comes together and the credits start to roll I know of no better experience. The actors might be the people with their name in lights but it really is a collaboration of minds which makes a film a success."
Production
The first stage of the competition, to write a 10-episode screenplay, was launched at the 2006 Edinburgh International Film Festival. The winner, chosen by a panel of judges including Quadrophenia director Franc Roddam,was Judy Upton with My Imprisoned Heart.
The second stage began in February 2007, when teams from across the UK competed to be one of ten collaborative film production teams, each producing one five-minute episode of My Imprisoned Heart. Each winning team had access to a ‘shooting kit’, main cast and, on occasion, celebrity cameos. But there was no budget provided for filming as the competition relied on teams using their enterprising skills.
Each episode was shotwithin 3 days in a different location across the UK.Locations
Due to the film's unique production, being made by ten independent teams, the film was shot across eight different UK cities (Norwich and London had two teams and were thus represented twice). Each episode was film in the following cities:
- Edinburgh
- London
- Liverpool
- Belfast
- Southampton
- Cardiff
- Nottingham
- Norwich
- Norwich
- London
Release
Despite premiering at The Edinburgh International Film Festival on August 22, 2007, the final 59 minute film is currently in post production, but should be completed in the summer of 2008. After this date, the film will be broadcast on Sky TV channel Propeller, and will be made available on LoveFilm as a DVD.
The film was the first public screening at the 2009 Norwich Film Festival, shown at the Norwich Arts Centre in September of that year.
News coverage
Articles about the film have appeared in, amongst others, the following publications:
- The Guardian: Rise (09.09.06)
- Hotdog (November 6)
- Little White Lies (November 6, October 7, November 7)
- Eastern Daily Press (08.02.07)
- Ipswich Evening Star (09.02.07)
- Norwich Advertiser (09.02.07)
- 4RFV.co.uk (09.02.07)
- Digmo.co.uk (12.02.07)
- Edinburgh Evening News (12.02.07)
- Nottingham Evening Post (13.02.07)
- LowestoftJournal.co.uk (16.02.07)
- Glasgow Herald (16.02.07)
- Northern Echo South West Durham Edition (08.03.07)
- Leicester Mercury (26.03.07)
- Norwich Evening News / EveningNews24.co.uk (28.03.07)
- BBC.co.uk/Leicester (17.04.07)
- Aesthetica Magazine (Aug/Sep 07)
- VertigoMag.co.uk (12.09.07)
- MoviescopeMag.com (September 7)
- Film Review (November 7)
External links
Categories:- Short films
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