**Buy Festival Passes Here**
Name of Film:
Miles Away
Name and Position of Filmmakers:
Brendan McNamee writer / director
Total Runtime:
82 minutes
Genre:
surreal
Synopsis:
1987, BSE spreads across the country, a mystical ‘Harmonic
Convergence’ is predicted and two bagmen travel to the country to
bury their loot and lay low for a while. What transpires blurs every
line of reality, character and narrative.
Website:
www.bluntfilms.co.uk
Country of Production:
UK
Country of Filmming:
UK
Date of Completion:
10/09/2009
Other Festivals:
NJiFF, Raindance, Honolulu
Awards:
NJiFF, best feature, Hon0lulu - golden kahuna
What is the Premiere Status of the Film?
Florida Premiere
Is there profanity, nudity, violence, gore, etc? If so, please explain
in detail and give your opinion of an acceptable age limit.
A little profanity - 15 rating.
Medium Synopsis
Rokit and Gill two ordinary bagmen arrive in tiny village of
‘Daeri’. Are they hiding, holidaying? With them is a sack of valuable
loot likened to a ‘golden fleece’.
Daeri, no ordinary farming community, famous for its prize winning
bulls, and the finest head of cattle in Britain, could be in trouble
with the outbreak of a new disease: ‘B.S.E.’ that seems to be sending
the livestock of Britain, mad.
Hope, a young girl who sings the song of sirens, with the guile of a
goddess a young priestess with a pure bloodline stretching back
centuries to ancient Greece, tto a time when beasts and gods roamed the
earth side by side. She is the lynchpin between earth and the heavens,
its sickness and its health, she is a vessel through which the ancient
gods can do their healing and they, the bagmen, are the catalyst to do
so.
Long Synopsis
It’s 1987, a new disease that is affecting cattle livestock
has been discovered a year earlier, as the scientists try to find out
how and why it is attacking the bovine community, sending them as the
media calls ‘mad’. A small village in the middle of nowhere have been
expecting this for 18 years. Daeri is a tiny town, but an important one.
Famous for prize winning bulls whose seed is more valuable than gold,
the livelihood of the local community and the future of the British beef
industry is at stake.
In Daeri are descendents from the mythological union of Zeus, king of
the gods and Queen Pasiphae, mother to the monster minotaur. Hope is a
young girl who sings the song of sirens, a young priestess with the same
pure bloodline stretching back centuries to ancient Greece, to a time
when beasts and gods roamed the earth side by side. She is the lynchpin
between earth and the heavens, its sickness and its health, she is a
vessel through which the ancient gods can do their healing and they, the
bagmen, are the catalyst to do so.
Rokit and Gill laying low in the countryside arrive with a brimming sack
more valuable than the ‘golden fleece’. After burying the loot they
settle down to wait. To wait for what? They’ll never find out, before
they know whether they are off to the shops or coming back with change,
they are manipulated, paranoid, seeing inanimate objects become animate
and hearing the local herd speak to them let alone sleeping out the
night with them.
Gill a Taurus and pale as milk, is the living embodiment of the ‘bull
from the sea’ his is the seed that will help purify the next generation
in the bloodline but with it he will have to make a sacrifice. Give up
one life for the next and settle down miles away from anywhere and
anything he has been to or done before. Gill sees truth anew and beauty
all around him, where once he followed orders without question in the
underbelly of the city now in Daeri he finds contentment in something so
simple as being submersed in the darkness of a washing trough. Rokit is
not so taken, he cannot help but hate the boredom of the fields and a
blacker side manifests itself when he becomes trapped in the hole whilst
burying the swag. His mind wanders, his thoughts darken. Is it all a
dream? Is he still stuck alive and delirious in a coffin dug by his
partner? Murderous thoughts and madness overtake him and at a time where
there should be harmony all events converge and fate splits the
partnership. A new beginning and a time when many planets in our solar
system align with each other, a new era of spiritual enlightenment, a
change in global perspective of man from one of conflict to one of
cooperation is ushered in. A gangster film this is not.
Director Statement
It has taken two years to complete the production on Miles Away and
in that time i have met and been lucky enough to receive support from
literally hundreds of people. Without these people giving up their time,
money, homes and in some cases clothes I would never have been able to
realise my dream. Miles Away, as a story is a metaphor i suppose for
changing something in your life, for going with the flow and for being
flexible enough to let things happen differently to how you had imagined
them and still being just as good. We had to shoot Miles Away in a very
disparate and creative manner. From financial constraints come creative
solutions such as shooting partly in HD, and partly in Film.
Structuring the script so as the characters go 'madder' the film becomes
more lush, shooting in daylight and painstakingly rotoscoping it for
night because we could not afford the lights. Camping in a field for the
duration of the shoot and in so doing making a holiday of the
experience. Every problem was only another creative decision, the point
of the film, beyond the mythology and the madness was to make a film,
every person gave me there time because they wanted to make a film.
There was no talk of money at any time from anyone, it never ever seemed
to cloud the point. To make the film. This is the first feature length
film I have made and I knew before i had shot a frame that I would never
make a film like it again, I knew that it would be my favorite film i
would ever make and that the creativity and freedom I have enjoyed will
unlikely ever be so innocent again. Making the film, but more so
shooting the film in a field miles from anywhere, with a tiny crew, many
of whom had never met before, has been the single most profound
experience of my life.
Production Notes
“Scouting for accommodation”
Three weeks from principal photography and we still didn’t
have any accommodation. There was zero chance of being able to
afford hotels / motels for the cast and crew and the last thing
we wanted to do was drive three hours everyday to the location and back,
it would never have worked and the crew would clearly have revolted,
let alone afford the fuel costs for on average 18 people to travel every day.
Trying to find accommodation for the actors and crew was not proving to be an easy
task. We tried to gain sponsorship from one of many hotels and motels without success,
before Rob (Lindsay, Line producer) hit upon the idea of speaking to the local
scout group and trying to get some help from them. Lo and behold the ‘Pulborough’
scouts lent us 10 x 4 man tents, 2 x chemical toilets (not nice) cookers, pots, pans,
crockery, and gas bottles. Not only did they lend them to us, they came to our campsite
and put the whole lot up. We supplied a small marquee, to fit our kitchen in and some
other friends lent us a mini bus, an equipment van and a camper van. We had our base camp
set up right in the middle of our location, thanks to Mark our kindly farmer and apart
from showers this was a luxury home.
That night, before the first days photography, 8 of us prepared for the day ahead
drinking by candle light and working out where to start. That evening set the tone
for the next 13 days of shooting and 13 nights of partying and apart from 2
exceptionally wet days, the weather was very, very kind to us.
**Buy Festival Passes Here** Name of Film: Miles Away Name and Position of Filmmakers: Brendan McNamee writer / director Total Runtime: 82 minutes Genre: surreal Synopsis: 1987, BSE spreads across the country, a mystical ‘Harmonic Convergence’ is predicted and two bagmen travel to the country to bury their loot and lay low for a while. What transpires blurs every line of reality, character and narrative. Website: www.bluntfilms.co.uk Country of Production: UK Country of Filmming: UK Date of Completion: 10/09/2009 Other Festivals: NJiFF, Raindance, Honolulu Awards: NJiFF, best feature, Hon0lulu - golden kahuna What is the Premiere Status of the Film? Florida Premiere Is there profanity, nudity, violence, gore, etc? If so, please explain in detail and give your opinion of an acceptable age limit. A little profanity - 15 rating. Medium Synopsis Rokit and Gill two ordinary bagmen arrive in tiny village of ‘Daeri’. Are they hiding, holidaying? With them is a sack of valuable loot likened to a ‘golden fleece’. Daeri, no ordinary farming community, famous for its prize winning bulls, and the finest head of cattle in Britain, could be in trouble with the outbreak of a new disease: ‘B.S.E.’ that seems to be sending the livestock of Britain, mad. Hope, a young girl who sings the song of sirens, with the guile of a goddess a young priestess with a pure bloodline stretching back centuries to ancient Greece, tto a time when beasts and gods roamed the earth side by side. She is the lynchpin between earth and the heavens, its sickness and its health, she is a vessel through which the ancient gods can do their healing and they, the bagmen, are the catalyst to do so.Long Synopsis It’s 1987, a new disease that is affecting cattle livestock has been discovered a year earlier, as the scientists try to find out how and why it is attacking the bovine community, sending them as the media calls ‘mad’. A small village in the middle of nowhere have been expecting this for 18 years. Daeri is a tiny town, but an important one. Famous for prize winning bulls whose seed is more valuable than gold, the livelihood of the local community and the future of the British beef industry is at stake. In Daeri are descendents from the mythological union of Zeus, king of the gods and Queen Pasiphae, mother to the monster minotaur. Hope is a young girl who sings the song of sirens, a young priestess with the same pure bloodline stretching back centuries to ancient Greece, to a time when beasts and gods roamed the earth side by side. She is the lynchpin between earth and the heavens, its sickness and its health, she is a vessel through which the ancient gods can do their healing and they, the bagmen, are the catalyst to do so. Rokit and Gill laying low in the countryside arrive with a brimming sack more valuable than the ‘golden fleece’. After burying the loot they settle down to wait. To wait for what? They’ll never find out, before they know whether they are off to the shops or coming back with change, they are manipulated, paranoid, seeing inanimate objects become animate and hearing the local herd speak to them let alone sleeping out the night with them. Gill a Taurus and pale as milk, is the living embodiment of the ‘bull from the sea’ his is the seed that will help purify the next generation in the bloodline but with it he will have to make a sacrifice. Give up one life for the next and settle down miles away from anywhere and anything he has been to or done before. Gill sees truth anew and beauty all around him, where once he followed orders without question in the underbelly of the city now in Daeri he finds contentment in something so simple as being submersed in the darkness of a washing trough. Rokit is not so taken, he cannot help but hate the boredom of the fields and a blacker side manifests itself when he becomes trapped in the hole whilst burying the swag. His mind wanders, his thoughts darken. Is it all a dream? Is he still stuck alive and delirious in a coffin dug by his partner? Murderous thoughts and madness overtake him and at a time where there should be harmony all events converge and fate splits the partnership. A new beginning and a time when many planets in our solar system align with each other, a new era of spiritual enlightenment, a change in global perspective of man from one of conflict to one of cooperation is ushered in. A gangster film this is not. Director Statement It has taken two years to complete the production on Miles Away and in that time i have met and been lucky enough to receive support from literally hundreds of people. Without these people giving up their time, money, homes and in some cases clothes I would never have been able to realise my dream. Miles Away, as a story is a metaphor i suppose for changing something in your life, for going with the flow and for being flexible enough to let things happen differently to how you had imagined them and still being just as good. We had to shoot Miles Away in a very disparate and creative manner. From financial constraints come creative solutions such as shooting partly in HD, and partly in Film. Structuring the script so as the characters go 'madder' the film becomes more lush, shooting in daylight and painstakingly rotoscoping it for night because we could not afford the lights. Camping in a field for the duration of the shoot and in so doing making a holiday of the experience. Every problem was only another creative decision, the point of the film, beyond the mythology and the madness was to make a film, every person gave me there time because they wanted to make a film. There was no talk of money at any time from anyone, it never ever seemed to cloud the point. To make the film. This is the first feature length film I have made and I knew before i had shot a frame that I would never make a film like it again, I knew that it would be my favorite film i would ever make and that the creativity and freedom I have enjoyed will unlikely ever be so innocent again. Making the film, but more so shooting the film in a field miles from anywhere, with a tiny crew, many of whom had never met before, has been the single most profound experience of my life.
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