STIGMA FILMS AND DIGNITY GROUP PRESENTS

KALEIDOSCOPE

DIRECTED BY RUPERT JONES STARRING TOBY JONES SINEAD MATTHEWS CECILIA NOBLE AND ANNE REID RUNNING TIME: 100 minutes

INTERNATIONAL PUBLICITY Untitled Communications Laura Pettitt – [email protected]

INTERNATIONAL SALES: Independent 195 Wardour Street, London W1F 8ZG, UK

+44 2072578734 [email protected]

SHORT SYNOPSIS

A year after being released from prison, middle-aged CARL WOODS has done well to carve out a life for himself in the outside world. Having procured some work and a flat, he now embarks on his first date in fifteen years. The event coincides with his estranged mother’s reappearance in his life, and her subsequent attempts to mend the differences that so violently drove them apart many years before. As Carl tries to withstand the insidious influences of his past, so he finds himself increasingly drawn in to the dark imaginings of his own psychological vortex.

LONG SYNOPSIS

London, present day. A sparse empty living room in a cramped flat. Frantic knocking sounds set off a dog barking. Carl Woods (TOBY JONES), an ex-prisoner with dreams of starting a gardening business, emerges from sleeping on the sofa and checks the door — there is no-one there. Exploring the house — he notices lipstick traces on a glass, an ashtray full of cigarette butts — he goes upstairs and is shocked to discover a blonde woman lying dead in the bathroom. Quick subliminal cuts reveal hands strangling the woman, then a wooden chair crashing down the stairs.

Carl returns home from shopping and begins to tidy up his flat and iron a shirt. In conversation with neighbour Monique (CECILIA NOBLE), it emerges Carl is prepping for an internet date with ‘Kittengloves35’, who will we come to know as Abby (SINEAD MATTHEWS). Dismayed by his dull white shirt, Cecilia lends Carl a sartorially colourful one (the same one he is wearing in the opening scene).

About to leave the house, the phone rings. Carl answers but a woman’s voice leads him to hang up, agitated. He leaves the house and the phone goes again. This time the answer machine kicks in. The woman leaves a message announcing she is coming to visit.

This is Aileen (ANNE REID), Carl’s mother.

Later that night, Carl and Abby return to his flat. Carl fixes a drink and the couple chat. But, as Carl goes upstairs to treat a nose bleed, Abby reveals her true colours. She starts searching the flat, looking for stuff to steal while her husband Wesley (FREDERICK SCHMIDT) texts her for the address. She discovers a child’s kaleidoscope (which she places in her handbag), fills up their glasses with booze and thumbs through prison library books.

Carl returns and Abby cajoles him into dancing and a drink. There seems to be an actual connection between the two until Abby falls and hits her head. She goes upstairs to the bathroom and vomits. In her absence, Carl picks up the blinking answer machine message. He calls Aileen back and angrily tells her he doesn’t want to see her.

On Abby’s return, the pair start to open up to each other; Abby discusses her bad marriage, Carl reveals he got out of prison about a year ago. She ultimately comes clean about her ruse to clean him out. Carl agrees she can stay the night. On his own in the kitchen, he discovers the stolen kaleidoscope and just looking through it invokes images of his father sitting at the kitchen table. We hear banging noises and begin to cycle through the images from the opening; Carl waking up, no-one at the door, lipstick on a glass, a dead blonde — Abby.

Carl wakes up in a state of shock. He imagines Abby is alive for a moment, then snaps back to the present. The phone ringing sends him to the answer machine message which goads him into action, Carl starts clearing up the evidence (glasses, her clothes, his loud shirt) and shoves it in his faulty washing machine. He disposes of Abby’s body (off-screen) on the Estate.

When he returns, he discovers his mother Aileen in his flat with a cut leg, asking Carl for a plaster. Following a frosty exchange, Carl chucks her out for putting her clothes in the washing machine, then reluctantly agrees to let her stay. After taking Abby’s clothes to the laundrette (we see flashbacks of him strangling Abby), Carl returns to hear Abby’s phone buzzing. Sending Aileen to bed, he listens to a threatening message from Wesley who then turns up at Carl’s flat. Carl says he has no knowledge of Abby, faking a conversation with an imaginary wife to substantiate his alibi.

Carl goes up stairs and sees Abby asleep. He gets into bed with her only for her to morph into Aileen. He finally throws her out in her nightdress.

In the morning, Carl awakes to find Aileen is back in the flat. She announces she is leaving to meet someone but offers Carl reconciliation in the form of lottery money and a trip to Canada. Carl rejects but his actions begin to catch up with him; Cecilia asks him about the commotion, a figure was spotted in the gardens late at night, the police arrive at his house. Spotting this, Aileen knowingly begins to taunt him about his guilty status. Carl reconsiders about Canada.

With his time running out, Carl’s relationship with his mother and the ramifications of his night with Abby now collide in dramatic, surprising, unforgettable ways.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

For quite a while I had been wanting to write a story that opened with a dead body: a big question mark. The two narratives suggested by a murder scene seemed immediately obvious - what events precipitated the murder; and what events followed? Cause and consequence. The resulting script was my attempt to structure these two time-lines so that they managed to climax with the one missing piece of the jigsaw. Namely, the middle: the murder itself.

Over several drafts, we started to find a more psychological dimension to the story, which radically transformed the existing narrative into something more layered and surprising.

At our first meeting, Matt Wilkinson, the producer, asked if I might be interested in building the flat in a studio. Until that moment, I had not thought in great detail about the visual style of the piece, imagining that the budget and location would rather force the style into a loose, ‘catch all’ realism. The idea of building a set had never crossed my mind. Once we decided on this, I understood exactly the kind of film I wanted to make.

I’ve always felt at home on film sets, an environment I visited often as a child (my father is an actor) and which always filled me with a sense of wonder. The artifice is so total. Everything has to be conjured out of nothing – light, space, colour. This allowed us to create a very deliberate and pronounced style of lighting and design that reflected the dark psychological themes of the film. Moreover, we could design a set that included camera traps and space enough to frame characters in full length as well as close-up (the size of the rooms were more generous than they might have been on location). We were keen that the light should have a clear shape to it, creating deep, hard-edged shadows in which, at times, we may lose the character’s features altogether.

We also required a number of locations, including the exterior of the flat. Seeing a picture of the Dover Estate in an early mood board, it looked unique and striking enough to match the somewhat heightened style of the interior, and take it away from a more predictable estate aesthetic. The geometric frontage also chimed with the African shirt that features heavily, the repeating patterns of the kaleidoscope, and the patterns of the kitchen walls (though I have to confess to a recurring nervousness at the visual busy-ness of all these patterns!). While we admired the outside of the building, it was not until we walked in and saw the extraordinary spiral staircase that it proved unavoidable as a location. It is in these shots of the staircase, I think, that our filmmaking influences are made obvious. And happily so.

As I was writing the film, I usually began the day by playing the Zabel harp music that accompanies the titles/credits. For me, it’s a piece that expresses sadness, regret and memory. It has something of the delicacy and haunting appeal of several Morricone themes. What was most important is that the music should evoke the sadness of Carl’s story, rather than the horror, which I think it does so beautifully. When I approached Mike Prestwood Smith to write the score, I asked that he use the Zabel as his inspiration and from it tease out a theme and variations thereof. Having put it through some software called ‘the mangle’, Mike pretty well restricted himself to four essential notes, from which all the rest of the written music is derived. Mike is a very sought after sound-mixer, but this was his first score.

Like the music, I think Toby Jones’ performance brings to Carl a vulnerability that one can’t take for granted in the script. There were several occasions during the filming when he played a scene with a boldness or subtlety that I hadn’t imagined at all. In these instances, one is witness to the degree of scrutiny that the more rigorous actor brings to a part, especially when shooting out of order. It’s amazing that even when one has toiled over the writing for so long and in such detail, the actor can still reveal so much to you about your – their – character. Anne Reid, Sinead Matthews and Cecilia Noble all seemed to approach their parts from different directions, but always with this same degree of possessiveness and insight. What joy for a writer to hear an actor declare: ‘I know who this is’.

Rupert Jones

THE MAKING OF KALEIDOSCOPE

IMAGINING KALEIDOSCOPE: “It should be unsettling and disturbing”

The initial idea for Kaleidoscope was forged out of writer-director Rupert Jones’ desire to step out of his comedic comfort zone.

“The script came about because I wanted to write something that was very contained, makeable and affordable,” says Jones. “I also wanted to write something that was outside the normal thing that I would be writing. I wanted to write something that started off with a dead body and blossomed from there.”

Yet the screenplay that emerged out of this original impetus is so much more than a simple murder mystery. Part character study of a lonely man, part familial relationship drama, part pitch-black comedy, part psychological thriller, Jones’ script for Kaleidoscope blurs genre definitions and plays with narrative expectations not letting you in on its true nature until the final frames. Actor Toby Jones, who plays Carl and is the older brother of director Rupert, realised how the flow of information — what the audience knows and when they know it — was key to the success of the story.

“Rupert would shoot me drafts and I would ask questions about it,” he says. “It’s a thriller. If it is working it should be unsettling and disturbing. A lot of the ambiguity has to be retained so it is just trying to work out in a script how much needs to be explained and how much needs to be withheld.”

Kaleidoscope began to come into focus when Rupert Jones joined forces with producer Matthew James Wilkinson at Stigma Films (The Call Up). The pair first met when Wilkinson had a first look deal at Pathe but couldn’t quite find the right project to work on The pair subsequently ran into each other at a Film4 party, with Jones promising to send Wilkinson a new idea.

“I found it an incredibly addictive, page-turning story,” says Wilkinson. “I wanted to know more about this principal character. I felt emotionally connected. I felt sorry and invested in Carl’s character. I loved this study of a downward spiral.”

The project picked up further momentum when Jones and Wilkinson took Kaleidoscope to producer Maggie Monteith (Searching For Sugar Man) at Dignity Film Finance, who was on the look-out for material to quicken the pulse.

"We had been looking for a thriller for some time and what we were reading disappointed until Kaleidoscope landed with us,” says Monteith. “Rupert and Matt very cleverly sent a suggestion as to the music that would be included in the film as a principal theme, and I played it as I read, instantly bringing the heart of the film clean off the page."

As he was crafting the story, Jones had specific filmmaking reference points in mind. The shadow of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho looms large over any story about a domineering mother and a nervy son but equally influential was Roman Polanski, the director of Knife In The Water, Repulsion and The Tenant who is a master at using confined spaces to reflect the psychological states of his characters. Kaleidoscope is mostly set in the four walls of a tiny flat and Jones was keen to explore how characters react in a pressure cooker environment. “While Kaleidoscope is tightly plotted around the shifting relationships, much of this tension also occurs when they are in separate rooms of the flat – when they are made aware of each other through sound, light and instinct,” he says. “I was keen to make sure that these moments without dialogue are just as taut and alive as those with.”

Yet, for Wilkinson, Kaleidoscope doesn’t wear its references on its sleeve in blatant references and campy pastiche. Instead, they are buried deep in the DNA of the drama.

“I think what he put on the page was a quite domestic-seeming drama that actually had all the trappings of a really interesting psychological thriller,” he says. “So what held me was this character study. I wasn’t thinking of comparable films or filmmakers. I was just thinking, ‘Wow, if I could be that hooked by this story, I think other people could be too.”

Within Kaleidoscope’s thriller framework, the relationship between Carl and his mother poses interesting, possibly unsettling questions about the way our early familial roles define us, however unhealthy they may be. As we learn the extent of Aileen’s malign influence, it also engages with notions of the difficulty of escaping patterns of destructive behaviour.

"I loved the characters, and felt that I had not met them before anywhere,” says Monteith. “So it was not only the story which intrigued, teased and messed with me, it was these apparently normal people, whose inner life was markedly different to their public personae, and who I began to long to see live onscreen."

This exploration of dark private lives and the unconventional way in which the story unspools puts an extra demand on the viewer, something unusual in today’s cinematic climate.

“I think the audience can expect they are not going to be spoon-fed,” says Sinead Matthews, who plays Abby. “It’s not a sit-back-and-have-a-nice-time type of movie. I think it really let’s you use your imagination as an audience member.”

CASTING KALEIDOSCOPE: “I don’t think I’ve played anyone so controlling and cruel. And it’s an absolute joy!”

With a small intimate band of characters informed by ever-changing relationship dynamics, casting Kaleidoscope was crucial — even more so because of the unique way the narrative unfolds

“The structure isn’t straightforward,” says Rupert Jones. “There is obviously a very big concept in the film. At the very beginning talking to Anne and Toby, it was very important to stress that you can’t play that concept. Above and beyond that, it was just playing with situations. They are both very natural intelligent actors. So, it was about them owning their parts.”

For Toby Jones, who plays Carl, the character is a very recognisable figure in any big city. “Carl lives alone and is trying to deal with that issue,” says Toby Jones about the character when we first meet him. “Like a lot of Londoners, the opportunities to meet other people are somewhat limited so he has joined an internet dating site and is having a date.” The ramifications of that hook-up, compounded by his complicated relationship with his mother, reveal different colours for Jones to expose and explore. “It felt like a good part for him,” says Rupert Jones. “I think I am really fussy about actors. There are very few that I rate really highly, who will bring a depth of detail and sympathy to a part, especially to a part like this which doesn’t generate automatic sympathy from the audience. Toby has a quality of presence that is sympathetic and vulnerable.”

One of Britain’s most versatile actors — he has run the gamut from Truman Capote in Infamous to Alfred Hitchcock in The Girl to Captain Mainwaring in Dad’s Army — Jones has carved a niche in assaying flawed awkward outsiders in the likes of Berberian Sound Studio and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Carl Woods represents another contradictory character, with oceans of tumult going on under a mostly placid surface. “I was playing a scene with Toby and he pulled out the full fireworks,” remembers Anne Reid. “I thought ‘Wow, he is very, very good’. He does have a reputation for being good but I had never seen it at such close quarters.”

For the pivotal role of Carl’s mother Aileen, Reid was the one and only choice. Perhaps best know in cinema for her role opposite Daniel Craig in (aptly enough) The Mother, Reid has been a national treasure on British television appearing in shows such as Coronation Street and Last Tango In Halifax. Yet Kaleidoscope offered a chance to break type, a sinister subversive twist on a maternal figure that plays against the warmth and empathy audiences naturally feel toward her.

“Great scripts like this don’t come along very often,” says Reid. “I’ve played a lot of mothers and lot of domesticated parts but have never played anything quite so awful. I had to think about it a lot because I hope I’ve been a good mother. To get your head around being a controlling, dreadful, sexually abusing mother is quite something.”

Says Toby Jones, “One of the things that drew me to the project as a whole was working with Anne Reid to explore this relationship of a sensitive son with his mother who is in general — like a lot of mothers — an oppressive presence in his life. What’s great about Anne is that she manages to embody this apparently physically inhibited person and yet she manages to exercise power in extraordinary ways and influence over him. The film is an exploration of that kind of relationship.”

The third point of the triangle is completed by Sinead Matthews as Abby. Matthews had been presented with the idea some three years before filming and immediately said yes before even reading the finished script. “Quite a lot of it had changed,” she says, “but I just found it intriguing and exciting.” Perhaps best known for her work with Mike Leigh on Vera Drake, Happy-Go-Lucky and Mr. Turner, she felt comfortable exploring the different sides of Abby, from swindler to party girl to abused wife.

“I feel like I know this person,” she says. “I feel like I’ve met Abby before in the past. And I’ve played quite a lot of roles where people have been in desperation situations — not the same as this but I know the world. So we meet her in a point in her life when she has had enough. I don’t think she quite realises that until through the night.

SHOOTING KALEIDOSCOPE: “‘Oh my God, that is why I love doing film.”

Given both the psychological stakes and thriller aspects of the story, Rupert Jones wanted to create “a self contained world” that that felt recognisable but off-kilter. In the world of Kaleidoscope, spiral staircases look like spider’s webs and everyday things like opening a kitchen cupboard or a blinking answering machine are filled with dread and tension. “Obviously when you say you are setting your film on a council estate there is an aesthetic that comes to mind straight away,” says Rupert Jones. “I wanted to create more of a world that didn’t exist in that tradition of British realism. I wanted almost noirish kind of lighting. That was very deliberate.”

Rather than use an existing abode, the production built Carl’s flat at Maryland Studios in East London, constructing slightly oversized spaces in order to control colour, light and camera placement. The flat was constructed as two sets — one for each floor of the flat. Working with cinematographer Phillipp Blaubach and production designer Adrian Smith, Jones ensured each room or area was lit differently to suggest a different mood; the living room is warmly lit, the bedroom has a colder light to suggest a more frigid atmosphere and the kitchen a harsh light, as it is a place of exposure where secrets are teased out. As Jones puts it, “Without the audience being consciously aware of it, I wanted each room to have its own atmosphere, its own unique temperature, so that we feel a sense of transition when moving between them.”

On a tight 3-week schedule, the speed of the shoot mirrored the intensity of the drama. “We were a lean, stripped down crew, everyone was running around all the time,” says Rupert Jones. “I remember there was a fantastic on-set props team who were saying, ‘Usually we stand around a lot.’ There was nobody standing around at any point of the day ever.” But this didn’t mean there was no time to experiment. Shooting the sequence where Abby bulldozes Carl into dancing, Toby Jones and Sinead Matthews improvised a whole new layer to the scene.

“For a brief moment, you see this lonely guy and this woman — who has plotted to steal everything from him — genuinely connecting which is not on the page,” says Sinead Matthews. “We realised at this point it is more interesting if they genuinely connect. Rupert was totally up for that and totally got it. That kind of discovery makes you realise ‘Oh my God, that is why I love doing film.’”

"It was a great joy to work with talented people who are calm and inventive,” says Monteith. “The cast and the crew came together in the most collegiate way, and as the shoot unfolded, the benefits of being engaged with real talent across all the film trades emerged quite brilliantly."

A potentially different dynamic for the Kaleidoscope crew involved having a director and actor who were also brothers. Rupert and Toby have worked together previously on the short THE SICKIE but never over the long stretch of a feature.

“They were very professional —not in a formalised way that seemed rigid or self imposed,” observes Matthew Wilkinson. “Toby takes his craft incredibly seriously. When he was on set, he was embodying the role of Carl. From Rupert’s point of view, he knew exactly what he wanted from the story and the performances. So I was watching two people who when they were on, they were very much on. And when they were off, they were friendly and fraternal.” “Yes, we have a shorthand because we have been communicating all our lives,” suggests Toby Jones, “but you also begin to realise — and you are really grateful for — the job definitions you’ve learnt over the years: where a director’s work can begin and end, where an actor’s work begins and ends. You realise you are protected by those roles. Things won’t get personal because there are conventions surrounding all of those things. Actually, he could have been anyone!”

CAST & CREW BIOGRAPHIES

MAGGIE MONTEITH – PRODUCER

Maggie first started her career in film on the media and marketing of Warner Bros Films in the UK and Europe while working at Grey Entertainment and Media.

Moving to Columbia TriStar UK and Ireland, she oversaw the marketing for films such as MEN IN BLACK, MASK OF ZORRO, GODZILLA and her personal favourite, MATILDA.

Promoted to work at Columbia TriStar in US Domestic, she moved to California, and enjoyed working on films such as CHARLIE’S ANGELS, SPIDERMAN and STUART LITTLE. Her studio-marketing career culminated in working for Lucasfilm on marketing, promotions, media and publicity worldwide for EPISODE II of STAR WARS.

Over the next few years Maggie worked in the start-up of Participant Media, and as a consultant to banks and hedge funds for Gerson Lehrman. It was at this time that she decided to move into film financing.

Since 2009 Maggie has been part of the financing for seven feature films as a Producer, including 13 and THE EXPERIMENT, and more recently, BROTHERHOOD, KALEIDOSCOPE and 3 WAY JUNCTION which filmed in South Africa. A further six features are underway.

In addition, Maggie has been part of the financing and production of four documentaries under her ‘Documentary Company’ banner, including the Oscar winning SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN.

MATTHEW JAMES WILKINSON – PRODUCER

Matthew was a Development Exec at Working Title Films. He was also a professional script editor for the BFI and EON Productions.

His production company Stigma Films signed a 1st look deal with Pathe in 2012 to develop high concept genre films, including Brit List topping sci-fi feature, THE CALL UP, which completed principal photography in 2014. Via Altitude Film Sales, the film has now sold to over 30 territories, and was released in the UK in May, premiering as the closing night film at Sci-Fi London Film Festival.

Matthew previously worked on a number of high-end shorts, most notably INSEPARABLE, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and WORM starring Tom Basden which aired on Channel 4.

His suburban thriller, SLR, won Best Short at Foyle, was nominated for an IFTA and short- listed for an Oscar.

His latest short, ERNESTINE&KIT, written and directed by actor Simon Bird, was part-funded by Creative England and premiered at this year’s SXSW Festival in Austin. It was nominated for an ITFA.

Matthew recently completed work on his last feature, KALEIDOSCOPE, starring Toby Jones and Anne Reid. The film is due to premiere at Chicago International Film Festival.

He is currently in production on his next feature film, comedy DOUBLE DATE.

Matthew is a BAFTA member and was named one of ‘Creative England’s 50’ as one of the most promising creative producers to watch.

RUPERT JONES – DIRECTOR

Rupert started out drawing storyboards and writing music for theatre. At the same time as directing countless pop promos (for artists as various as Bob Dylan, Gomez, The Streets etc.) he started making short films. These included, TRIPHONY; FIRST BIT (IN PUB) for Poetry International; SEEING THINGS for the BFI; TALES FROM THE FOYER; and JOHN CONSTABLE. For Al Gore’s Live Earth, he wrote and directed THINK, reportedly seen by an audience of a billion. His multi-award winning short, THE SICKIE, was his first collaboration with Toby Jones.

Rupert has also worked in television comedy a bit. Most notably, directing THE LIFE AND TIMES OF VIVIENNE VYLE, a six part comedy series for BBC2 written by and starring Jennifer Saunders with Miranda Richardson. He also co-wrote 12 hours of storylines for an Anglo Indian soap-opera CITY OF DREAMS. THE ANSWER TO EVERYTHING, a year- long collaboration with Streetwise Opera, was screened at the BFI in May 2014.

He also lectures in screenwriting at The London Film School; and directing and visual storytelling at Central Film School.

PHILIPP BLAUBACH – CINEMATOGRAPHER

Philipp graduated from The London International Film School in 1998. As a student he won the Eastman Kodak Commercial Award and was invited to participate in the Cinematography Masterclass in Budapest with Laszlo Kovacs and Billy Williams the following year. His graduation film was screened at the 1998 CamerImage Festival in Torun. He was invited to the Berlinale Talent Campus, where his short film ‘Funeral Etiquette’ won the Berlinale Talent Movie Award. Philipp went on to photograph numerous short films that have been shown at international festivals, including the Orange FilmFour Award winner ‘Veronique’.

His first feature film, the comedy drama ‘Little White Lies’ (2006) earned him a BAFTA nomination for Best Cinematography. Having shot several short films for director Rupert Wyatt, including ‘Get The Picture’ (ICA ‘Trick of the Eye’ Outstanding Cinematography Programme), he photographed his debut feature, the prison break drama ‘The Escapist’ which premiered at Sundance to critical acclaim, received a Kodak Award Nomination for Best Cinematography at Dinard, and won a BAFTA for lead actor Brian Cox. The same year he photographed Mark Tonderai’s thriller ‘Hush’ for Warp Films (BIFA Nomination for Best Achievement in Production). His next film was the BIFA nominated kidnap thriller ‘The Disappearance of Alice Creed’ starring Gemma Arterton and directed by J Blakeson, which opened at Toronto Film Festival.

His television credits include the British-French SkyAtlantic / Canal+ series ‘The Tunnel’ (Kudos) directed by Philip Martin, and the children’s comedy ‘Mr Stink’, directed by Declan Lowney, starring Hugh Bonneville and David Walliams. The latter was the first BBC commissioned film to be shot in stereoscopic 3D. It received a BAFTA nomination for Best Comedy.

His most recent films are the Idris Elba drama ‘100 Streets’ and upcoming action film ‘Shanghai 5’ starring Orlando Bloom.

TOMMY BOULDING – EDITOR

Tommy began editing at university while studying his BA Film course. Instantly at ease with the long hours and painstaking attention to detail, he found it a joy to edit and quickly discovered a passion for editing's power in crafting stories.

He has worked as an editor ever since. Initially working in television where he cut prime-time factual entertainment shows, documentaries, and promos.

After that he went freelance and began to work on a wide range of projects from commercials, music videos, live sporting events (including the London 2012 Olympics) and music festivals.

In 2012, he made the conscious decision to break into the film industry as an editor and quickly had success with 'Life Sentence' a hard hitting short film about London knife crime which won Best Short at the East End Film Festival.

His first feature film edit soon followed with 'Green Street 3'. It would become the first of three films in 2013 cut back-to-back with producers Mark Lane and James Harris. The other two films being 'I Am Soldier' starring Tom Hughes and Noel Clarke, and finally 'The Anomaly' a high concept sci-fi thriller directed by Noel Clarke and starring Ian Somerholder alongside Clarke in the lead role.

2014 began with 'Sword of Vengeance' a heavily stylised Anglo-Saxon revenge movie starring Stanley Weber and Annabelle Wallis. Also that year he edited two short films; 'Les Touristes' and 'Keeping Sophie'.

His fifth feature credit was for 'The Call Up' another high concept sci-fi thriller about video gamers stuck in a real life version of a shoot 'em up that turns into a fight for survival. The film was produced by Matt Wilkinson and John Giwa-Amu.

'Ernestine & Kit' followed which was a short film, again produced by Wilkinson and was the directing debut of Simon Bird (Inbetweeners).

At the end of 2015, Tommy re-united with writer/director Noel Clarke to edit 'Brotherhood' the third instalment in the Kidulthood/Adulthood franchise. It went on to outgross its predecessors at the UK box office making over £3.7million in its first 4 weeks.

His next project was the independent psychological thriller 'Kaleidoscope' starring Toby Jones and Ann Reid.

Tommy is currently in post production on 'Jamie Johnson' a TV drama about a school football team for the BBC.

MIKE PRESTWOOD SMITH - SOUND & COMPOSER

Mike is one of the most sought after sound mixers working in the world today. His long list of credits range from highly regarded titles, such as AUGUST OSAGE COUNTY, NOTES ON A SCANDAL, UNITED 93 (nominated for a BAFTA), THE JUDGE, THE CONSTANT GARDENER (nominated for a BAFTA), COLD MOUNTAIN (nominated for a BAFTA); to some of the biggest films of recent years, IRON MAN 3, HARRY POTTER, HUNGER GAMES, DIVERGENT, BILLY ELLIOT and two Bond movies, QUANTUM OF SOLACE (nominated for a BAFTA) and CASION ROYALE (won a BAFTA).

Mike has forged enduring relationships with some of the most respected directors in the industry, including Stephen Frears, Oliver Stone, Tim Burton, Mike Newell, Guillermo Del Toro and Paul Greengrass. In 2014 Mike was nominated for an Oscar for his work on CAPTAIN PHILLIPS. KALEIDOSCOPE is his first score.

TOBY JONES – CARL

Multi-award winning Toby Jones is one of the most distinguished film, television and stage actors of his generation. He studied Drama at the University of Manchester from 1986 to 1989, and at L'École Internationale de Théâtre in Paris under Jacques Lecoq in Paris from 1989 to 1991.

Toby has recently lead the British Home Guard as ‘Captain Mainwaring’ in DAD’S ARMY, directed by Oliver Parker for Universal Pictures. Featuring a cast including Bill Nighy, Michael Gambon and Catherine Zeta Jones, the story is set in 1944 as the Allies are poised to invade France and finally defeat the German army.

This year, he will also star in ANTHROPOID, director Sean Ellis new film, alongside Jamie Dornan and Cillian Murphy. Toby will also star in the sci-Fi thriller MORGAN produced by Ridley Scott for Twentieth Century Fox and costarring Kate Mara, Paul Giamatti, and Jennifer Jason Leigh. Directed by Luke Scott, the story centers on a corporate risk-management consultant who is summoned to a remote research lab to determine whether or not to terminate an at-risk artificial being. In 2017 he will also be seen in THE COLDEST CITY, directed by David Leitch starring alongside Charlize Theron, James McAvoy and John Goodman. The thriller about undercover MI6 agent is sent to Berlin during the Cold War to investigate the murder of a fellow agent and recover a missing list of double agents. Next year will also see Toby reteaming with TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY’s director Tomas Alfredson in his new thriller THE SNOWMAN.

Most recently Toby; and returned to TV in THE SECRET AGENT, a three-part drama for BBC1, adapted from Joseph Conrad’s novel. Also he recently starred in the fourth series of the multi award-winning hit SHERLOCK, produced by Hartswood Films for BBC One.

In 2015, Toby starred in CAPITAL, a three-part drama for BBC1, adapted from John Lanchester’s novel of same name. He plays the smug investment banker, ‘Roger Yount’ in this story of a street propelled into affluence by banker bonus-fuelled property prices. He was also seen reprising his role of ‘Lance’, opposite Mackenzie Crook, in the second series of the award- winning comedy series, DETECTORISTS, for which he received a Best Male Performance nomination in this year’s BAFTA Awards. Written and directed by Mackenzie, the story follows the relationship between two friends who share a passion for metal detecting.

Toby garnered huge acclaim for his performance in Matteo Garrone’s THE TALE OF TALES, which recently premiered in competition at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival to rave reviews. Guardian film critic Peter Bradshaw cited: “Tale of Tales is a treat: surely in line for a major prize here, and Toby Jones has to be in with a chance of best actor for his conceited, melancholy, ridiculous king.” released in the UK June 17th, 2016.

Early in 2015, Toby was seen as one of the leads in the FOX TV series WAYWARD PINES, where he plays Dr. Jenkins - a charismatic and mysterious psychiatrist who treats a Secret Service agent (Matt Dillon) when he arrives in a small Idaho town looking for two missing agents.

Toby previously starred in the BBC Two drama, MARVELLOUS which won the 2015 BAFTA for best single film. MARVELLOUS tells the beautiful, funny, true story of Neil Baldwin (played by Toby), a man once labelled with 'learning difficulties' who confounds expectations and whose life defies limitations. Toby won the BPG Best Actor award and was nominated for BAFTA and RTS Awards for his role. The film also won ‘Best Film’ and Toby was singled out with the ‘outstanding actor’ award in the film category at the Monte Carlo TV Festival.

Toby won both the ‘Capri European Talent Award’ and the award for ‘Best British Actor’ at the London Film Critics Circle awards for his leading role as Truman Capote in INFAMOUS. This drama tells the story of the writer who whilst researching his materpiece, develops a close relationship with convicted murderer Perry Smith. Toby starred alongside Daniel Craig, Sandra Bullock and Gwyneth Paltrow. He was also nominated for ‘British Supporting Actor of the Year’ at the 2008 London’s Critics’ Circle Film Awards for his role in THE PAINTED VEIL. Toby starred with Naomi Watts and Edward Norton.

2012 saw Toby play the lead, ‘Gilderoy’, in Peter Strickland’s multi award winning film BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO. The film received exceptional, five star reviews with The Observer naming it “one of the most remarkable British movies of the past couple of years” and commenting that Toby appears as “one of the cinema's finest character actors at work today.” For his performance, Toby won British Actor of the Year at the London Critics Circle Film Choice Awards in 2013 and won Best Actor at the British Independent Film Awards in 2012 and Best Actor at the London Evening Standard Awards in 2013. The film, set in the ‘70s, follows a naïve British sound engineer who loses his grip on reality when he takes a job on an Italian horror film. 2012 also saw Toby in the US box office hit, THE HUNGER GAMES, based on Suzanne Collins’s bestselling novel of the same name. Set in a future where the Capitol selects a boy and girl from each of the twelve districts to fight to the death on live television. Toby played the role of ‘Claudius Templesmith’ the announcer for The Hunger Games, alongside Jennifer Lawrence, Woody Harrelson and Donald Sutherland. He reprised his role in the sequel THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE.

In 2011, Toby appeared in MY WEEK WITH MARILYN alongside Michelle Williams, Kenneth Branagh and Eddie Redmayne and played ‘Percy Alleline’ in multi award winning film TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, SPY that counted Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, John Hurt, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hardy and Kathy Burke amongst its stellar cast. Toby also starred alongside Chris Evans, Hayley Atwell and Samuel L. Jackson as ‘Dr Arnim Zola’ in Paramount Pictures’ CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER and returned for THE WINTER SOLDIER.

Toby was nominated again in the ‘British Supporting Actor of the Year’ category at the London’s Critics Circle Film Awards for his role as ‘Swifty Lazar’ in Universal Pictures FROST/NIXON in 2009. A dramatic retelling of the post-Watergate television interviews between British talk-show host David Frost and former president Richard Nixon, Toby starred alongside Frank Langella and Michael Sheen. Toby is also known as the voice of ‘Dobby’ the house elf in the highest-grossing film series of all time, HARRY POTTER AND THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS and then reprised his role in HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS – PART 1 (2010), for which he was nominated for ‘Best Digital Acting Performance’ at the Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards. Toby has also voiced the character of ‘Silk’ in Stephen Spielberg’s 2011 Golden Globe winning THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN: THE SECRET OF THE UNICORN.

In 2013, he led the cast in LEAVE TO REMAIN, a film directed by BAFTA-winning documentarian Bruce Goodison. Toby’s other film credits include; RED LIGHTS with Robert de Niro, THE RITE with Anthony Hopkins, SEX, DRUGS & ROCK ‘N ROLL, CREATION, Oliver Stone’s W, CITY OF EMBER, ST TRINIANS, THE MIST, Peter Greenaway’s NIGHTWATCHING, AMAZING GRACE, MRS HENDERSON PRESENTS, LADIES IN LAVENDER, FINDING NEVERLAND, ORLANDO, SERENA and this year’s THE MAN WHO KNEW INFINITY about the life and academic career of the pioneer Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan.

In 2013 Toby also starred, opposite Sienna Miller and Imelda Staunton, as Alfred Hitchcock in THE GIRL for HBO and the BBC. The film chronicles the relationship between Hitchcock and actress Tippi Hedren whilst filming “The Birds”. For his stellar performance, Toby was nominated for a Golden Globe in 2013 for Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television, for Best Leading Actor at the 2013 BAFTAs and for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie at the 65th Primetime Emmy Awards. His other television credits include; CHRISTOPHER AND HIS KIND (BBC), GOD IN AMERICA (PBS), DOCTOR WHO (BBC), MO (C4), 10 DAYS TO WAR (BBC), THE OLD CURIOSITY SHOP (BBC), A HARLOT’S PROGRESS (C4), ELIZABETH 1 (HBO) and THE WAY WE LIVE NOW (BBC).

For theatre, Toby was seen in MIRROR CIRCLE TRANSFORMATION again opposite Imelda Staunton for the Royal Court. The play received rave reviews and Paul Taylor of the Independent stated, “Toby Jones is splendid as the pathologically awkward Schultz”. He was awarded the 2002 Laurence Olivier Theatre Award for ‘Best Actor in a Supporting Role’ for his performance in THE PLAY WHAT I WROTE, a musical farce written by Hamish McColl, Sean Foley and Eddie Braben, and directed by Kenneth Branagh. The Olivier award winning show was a celebration of the British double act Morecambe and Wise, and an irreverent and farcical exploration of the nature of double acts in general. Toby starred as ‘Arthur’ at the Wyndham Theatre, London before the play opened on Broadway, New York where it was nominated for a Tony as Best Entertainment. His other theatre credits include; THE PAINTER (Arcola Theatre), EVERY GOOD BOY DESERVES FAVOUR (Olivier Theatre), PARLOUR SONG (Almeida Theatre) and MEASURE FOR MEASURE (National Theatre with Complicite).

ANNE REID – AILEEN

BAFTA nominated ANNE REID first appeared on British TV in the early 1950s and has since carved an incredibly successful career for herself in film, television and theatre. In 2003 she appeared in Roger Michell's THE MOTHER, a performance for which she was awarded ‘British Actress of the Year’ by London Critics Circle Film Awards and various ‘Best Actress’ nominations including from BAFTA, BIFA and the European Film Awards. In 2013 she also earned a ‘Best Leading Actress’ BAFTA TV nomination for her performance as Celia in BBC's LAST TANGO IN HALIFAX, a role she has reprised for four seasons. Next year, she will be appearing in Tomas Alfredson’s THE SNOWMAN alongside Michael Fassbender and Rebecca Ferguson.

In feature film, her other credits include: Stephen Frears’ LIAM, Edgar Wright’s HOT FUZZ, Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchants' CEMETERY JUNCTION, and Vito Rocco’s FAINTHEART. She was also the voice of Wendolene Ramsbottom in Nick Park’s hugely popular WALLACE & GROMIT - A CLOSE SHAVE.

In TV, some of her numerous credits include: OUR ZOO (BBC), PRISONERS WIVES (BBC) DOC MARTIN (ITV), SHAMELESS (C4), MARCHLANDS (ITV1), LADIES OF LETTERS (ITV3), FIVE DAYS (BBC) IN LOVE WITH BARBARA (BBC4) BLEAK HOUSE (BBC), JANE EYRE (BBC), MIDSOMER MURDERS, NEW TRICKS, LIFE BEGINS, DR WHO, DINNERLADIES (BBC)

SINÉAD MATTHEWS – ABBY

Sinéad trained at RADA.

Theatre credits include: A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM (BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra Prom/Royal Albert Hall); GIVING (Hampstead Theatre); EVENING AT THE TALK HOUSE (National Theatre); THE HUDSUCKER PROXY (Nuffield Theatre/Liverpool Everyman Playhouse); WASP (Hampstead Theatre); PESTS Winner of the Best Studio Performance Award, Manchester Theatre Awards, 2014 (Royal Exchange/Royal Court/UK Tour); BLURRED LINES (National Theatre); TROUT STANLEY (Southwark Playhouse); A TIME TO REAP (Royal Court Theatre); THE CHANGELING (The Young Vic); THE WAY OF THE WORLD (Sheffield Crucible); THE MASTER AND MARGARITA (Barbican/Tour); ECSTASY (Hampstead Theatre/West End); THE GLASS MENAGERIE (Young Vic); LULU (Gate Theatre/Headlong); EIGENGRAU (Bush Theatre); OUR CLASS (National Theatre); HIS GHOSTLY HEART/LITTLE DOLLS (Bush Theatre); WOMEN OF TROY (National Theatre); THE WILD DUCK Winner of the Ian Charleson 2nd Award for Outstanding Newcomer (Donmar Warehouse); YOU CAN NEVER TELL (Bath/Tour/West End); THE BIRTHDAY PARTY (West End); THE MANDATE (Royal National); THE CRUCIBLE (Crucible Theatre); SPOONFACE STEINBERG (GBS).

Television credits include: CHEWING GUM Series 2 (Retort/E4); IN THE DARK (BBC); TOAST OF LONDON Series 3 (Objective Productions/Channel 4); INSIDE NO. 9 Series 2 (BBC); THE SMOKE (Kudos/Sky 1); WAY TO GO (BBC); BLACK MIRROR Series 2: BE RIGHT BACK (Channel 4); MEN ARE WONDERFUL (BBC); HALF BROKEN THINGS (ITV); IDEAL [5 Series] (Baby Cow/BBC2); TRIAL AND RETRIBUTION (La Plante Productions); WHO GETS THE DOG (Company Pictures); LONDON (BBC); THE HOGFATHER (Sky); VIVA LAS BLACKPOOL (BBC); HE KNEW HE WAS RIGHT (Deep Indigo).

Film credits include: KALEIDOSCOPE (Stigma Films); DAPHNE (The Bureau); FANTASTIC BEASTS (Warner Brothers); THE GIFT [Workshop] (Lonesome Pine Productions); BED TRICK (Young Vic Short Films); MR. TURNER (Thin Man Films/Film 4); WRECKERS (Wreckers Ltd); NANNY MCPHEE AND THE BIG BANG (Working Title); THE BOAT THAT ROCKED (Working Title); SPRING OF 1914 (Praxis); HAPPY GO LUCKY (Thin Man); PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (Working Title); VERA DRAKE Winner of the Golden Lion Award, Venice Film Festival, 2004 (Thin Man).