A new film from South Bristol director Paul Holbrook is causing a stir on both sides of the Atlantic after it premiered at an Oscar-qualifying film festival in the US.
And the film, Boys Like You, is getting its Bristol premiere this weekend as the headline film of the Watershed’s Bristol Short Film Showcase, alongside films from movie-makers from across the city.
Boys Like You has received praise from the critics since it had its world premiere at the Rhode Island International Film Festival, which has put it in the running for an Oscar nomination, and writer-director Paul Holbrook said he was ‘absolutely buzzing’ after his film-making hero Shane Meadows, the creator of This is England, gave a glowing endorsement of the new film.
Boys Like You was written by Holbrook and Lindsay Bennett-Thompson, who stars in the intense film as a depressed housewife who seeks out an encounter with a dodgy young man in a pub in Manchester, before the story takes a strange turn.
Shane Meadows described it as ‘a sawn-off shotgun of a short that leaves you craving more’, and the film’s striking sound and cinematography – the first half is set in a dingy Manchester pub as the tension builds – has already won awards on the film festival circuit.
“I’m absolutely buzzing to know Shane Meadows has watched my work, and liked it enough to throw some kind words at it,” said Paul. “The man is my hero, and has been a massive inspiration for me, and a huge influence on my work.”
Boys Like You headlines the Watershed’s Short Film Showcase, which starts on Sunday afternoon at 2.30pm.