Set Against The London Riots, OBEY Sets Date for UK Premiere

We’ve got some more premiere news for you today, Beyond Fiction and Harvest Pictures have told us that its film OBEY will celebrate its UK Premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival on 27th June 2018. It will be in competition for the Michael Powell Award for Best British Feature Film.

OBEY won ‘Best Cinematography’ at the Tribeca Film Festival where it featured in the International Narrative Competition category for its World Premiere amongst rave reviews, including: “A Powerful, emotional debut” from The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw; “Absorbing…an out of this world, end-of-days feeling” Screen Daily and “A visceral experience…intense and moving…a masterful visual design” from Critical Critics.

OBEY (Kids Gang)

OBEY (Kids Gang)

OBEY is about Leon, a nineteen-year-old boy with an alcoholic mother who has grown up in and out of care. Introducing Marcus Rutherford as Leon, who plays the film’s central character, OBEY also stars Sophie Kennedy Clark (Philomena, Nymphomaniac, Black Mirror) as Twiggy and T’Nia Miller (Wagstaffe, Stud Life, Marcella, Guilt) as Leon’s mother.

OBEY is raw and uncompromising and set against the backdrop of the 2011 London riots. It is the directorial debut feature from Jamie Jones whose award-winning short film THE NEST starring Vicky McClure was recently selected for Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival and Tampere Film Festival 2017. Produced by Emily Jones of Beyond Fiction and Ross Williams of Harvest Pictures, Executive Produced by John Giwa-Amu (The Party, The Silent Storm, The Machine) of Red & Black Films, with Sound Design by Ben Baird (Lady Macbeth, The Levelling) and Cinematography by Albert Salas.

OBEY (Marcus Rutherford & Sophie Kennedy Clark)

OBEY (Marcus Rutherford & Sophie Kennedy Clark)

Finally free from adult supervision, Leon begins to rail against the injustice of his reality as his dreams become more and more unattainable and distant. Oppressed at home and hunted on the streets by local gangs, Leon’s existence is suffocating, and all too real. When he meets Twiggy, a beautiful blond girl living in a local squat something stirs inside of him. As she introduces him to her world, the weight of his past lifts. He is in love for the first time and for a moment escapes the reality of his unrelenting existence. But naïve to the affluent world supporting Twiggy’s hedonistic lifestyle, Leon is unprepared when Twiggy no longer wants him around. Leon withdraws, allowing his raw and unhampered emotions to take over in the blind fight against his unjust existence with terrifying and brutal consequences.

Director Jamie Jones said: “I’m delighted to have our UK Premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. The journey to get to this point has been long – so I am thrilled that the cast and crew who have worked so hard can bask in this glory! Without their determination and dedication, we wouldn’t have got this far. It’s been such a collaborative process every step of the way and we are such a tight team, so really this is a dream for us all.”

OBEY is a social drama – a politically driven film that highlights the tough plight and frustrations of young adults growing up in London so I am hopeful that it resonates with Scottish audiences. London and Edinburgh are both global cities with complex multi-cultural societies, and I am excited to show an aspect of London that is often unrepresented in cinema to an Edinburgh audience.”

OBEY will have its UK Premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival 2018 in the Best of British section and will be in Competition for the Michael Powell Award for Best British Feature Film.

Edinburgh International Film Festival – Public Screenings
UK Premiere: Wednesday 27 June 18:00 Cineworld 11 (Public Screening)
Friday 29 June 18:10 VUE Omni 12 (Public Screening)