girl like me

LOGLINE
Lucy is young. Lucy is pretty. Lucy is damaged. Living with abusive, dysfunctional parents, her only comfort is strangers and her sidekick Becks: She wants to be a woman, older, independent, but how far will she go?

COMPETITION/AWARD SUMMARY
Official Competition - Venice International Film Festival 2009
Winner - Branchage International Film Festival 2009
In Competition "Best of British" Leeds International Film Festival 2009
Official Selection Cambridge International Film Festival 2009
In Competition "Best of British and International Film" Encounters Film Festival 2009
"Best of British" selection Cambridge International Film Festival 2009
Official Selection 16th Slamdance Short Film Festival 2010
Official Selection 7th London Short Film Festival 2010
Nomination Best European Short Film Premiers Plans d'Anger's 2010
Winner 8th Wood Green International Short Film Festival 2010
Nomination Best Film & Best Cinematography Fuji Short Film Awards 2010
In competition Tofifest International Short Film Festival 2010
Screened with BAFTA Winner and Oscar nominated 'A Prophet' at the Albany Empire 2010
In competition at Dokufest 2010
In competition Rhode Island International Film Festival 2010
In competition at the International Atlantic Film Festival 2010
In competition at the Vancouver International Film Festival 2010
In competition at the Syracuse International Short Film Festival 2010
In competition at the 54th edition of the Valladolid International Film Festival 2010

Selected in competition at the 54th edition of the Valladolid International Film Festival 2010

Selected in competition at the Syracuse International Short Film Festival 2010

Selected in competition at the Rhode Island International Film Festival @ 10-15 August 2010
Screening: Bell Street Chapel Theatre, 5 Bell Street, Providence, RI 02909. 401.273.5678.
www.bellstreetchapel.org. Tickets: $10; Thursday 12 August: 5:00 p.m.

Selected in competition at Dokufest @ 31st July-7th August 2010
Screening: 02 August, Kino Bahçe, 20:15
Category: Short Film Competition

Selected and in competition at the Tofifest International Short Film Festival@ 26th June-2nd July 2010
Selected to compete with the top 25 films in the world - Golden Angel Shortcut Short Film Competition
Screening: 29 June, 19:15 · Baj Pomorski – hall B

Screened with BAFTA Winner and Oscar nominated 'A Prophet' at the Albany Empire, 9th June 7pm.

WINNER: 8th Wood Green International Short Film Festival

I'm pleased to announce GirlLikeMe has won the Best Local Short Film prize at the 8th Wood Green International Short Film Festival.

The judges were Maggie Ellis from Film London, Philip Ilson (man of many festivals) and Tom Vaughn (Future Short).

Thanks to David W, the festival and everyone else - especially Cineworld, Haringey Council and everyone involved in making this film - this is all of our prize!

Selected and in competition for the Fujifilm Shorts 2010 in two categories - ‘Best Film’ and ‘Best Cinematography’.
The judging panel is: Tim Pope – Director, Danny Cohen BSC – Director of Photography, Trevor Forrest – Director of Photography, Robin Vidgeon BSC - Director of Photography, Nigel Walters BSC - Director of Photography, Matt Adams – Technicolor, Flemming Jetmar – Born Shorts, Jesse Vile – Future Shorts, Joe Bateman – Rushes Soho Shorts and Jerry Deeney – Fujifilm Motion Picture.

The winners will be announced at the Fujifilm Shorts awards ceremony to be held in London at the end of March.

Reviewed at Slamdance 2010
"One of the more beautifully crafted shorts of the festival, and a big-impactor, as well. This short follows a day-in-the-life account of a young teenager named Lucy who tests the waters of pedophilia with an older man. Shockingly enough, the older man’s first-date revelation that he is not the young boy the main character you were expecting is shocking enough, but the action heats up darker as they head home to his flat. The shot composition, lighting and camera movement are exceptional as is the performance from this stellar UK cast. Kudos to director Rowland Jobson for his effort, and to the festival programmers for screening it with an appropriately dark drama like urFrenz.-JP"

SCREENED JANUARY 2010
Selected and in competition for Festival D'Angers Premiers Plans 2010
Screenings: Wednesday 27 January 2010 - 19h15 - Centre de congrès/ Thursday 28 January 2010 - 10h30 - Variétés A1
http://www.premiersplans.org/festival/10/competition.php?c=2
The 22nd edition will be held January 22-31, 2010: Compétition - Courts Métrages européens.

SCREENED JANUARY 2010
Selected for: Rich Pickings presents: Lolita Syndrome
Sunday, 10 January 2010. Time: 18:00 - 21:30. Shortwave Cinema as part of the 7th London Short Film Festival 2010

SCREENED JANUARY 2010
Selected for the 7th London Short Film Festival 2010
6pm on Saturday 9th of January at the ICA.

AWARDS
***Winner of the Branchage Jersey International Film Festival "Cutting Hedge" award 2009***.

"The Cutting Hedge Award (£2,000) for the most original, boundary-breaking short went to Girl Like Me for its compelling and arresting story".

Like Cannes, without the bunfightsWith screenings in forest huts, ruined castles and wartime tunnels, and birds of prey as pre-movie entertainment, Jersey's film festival is like no other

Short Films: New Submissions 1 - Ships in the Night (Passing Relationships)
The final selection short film submission for Branchage Festival 2009
Host: Branchage Jersey International Film Festival
Date: Friday, 02 October 2009 16:15 - 18:00
Location: Old Magistrates Court, Le Marquand House

Meetings with strangers can be dangerous, serendipitous, alarming, mystifying: a selection of films that examine and ponder these fleeting relationships. People go through life randomly meeting people every day; sometimes these passing relationships have a deep meaning to us, a brief moment that stays with us forever. This powerful selection of short dramas visit some of these moments, from a wrong glance on a train to a one-night stand, from a helpful stranger to being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Quite literally, we are like ships passing in the night…

TRANSGRESS (Leanne Welham, 12 min, UK)
LAST TRAIN (David Scofield, 10 min, UK)
TOP GIRL (Rebecca Johnson, 18 min, UK)
MOLLY AND PLUM (Rupert Raby, 15 min, UK)
ROAD APART, A (Olivier Kaempfer, 21 min, UK)
O BROTHER A LITTLE VIOLENCE NEVER HURT ANYONE (João Seiça, 3 min, UK)
ECHOES (Rob Brown, 12 min, UK)
GIRL LIKE ME (Rowland Jobson, 12 min, UK)

Branchage received a record number of short film submissions in 2009, from across the UK, internationally and closer to home from the Channel Islands. This year, Branchage is giving 3 specific short film awards, of which some the films in this selection are eligible – the Branchage Cutting Hedge Award for the most original, interesting and spellbinding short film that breaks boundaries and steers off the beaten track, the Branchage Budding Talent Award for the most promising up and coming directing talent for filmmakers under 30, and the Islanders Film Award for the best film by a filmmaker from the Channel Islands.

Venice shorts section opens with Bahrani's Plastic Bag
26 shorts (18 of which are in competition) were selected out of 1,600 submissions...
The section will be judged by a three-member jury led by – US filmmaker Stuart Gordon, Russian actress and critic and festival director Sitora Alieva and American scholar Steve Ricci. The jury will assign three prizes in the section:
-Corto Cortissimo Lion for best short film
-Candidate Venice Film Festival – nomination for the European Film Awards
-Special Mention

The program of Corto Cortissimo
Includes GirlLikeMe by Rowland Jobson (a young girl is torn by the abuse she suffers in her family and her dangerous urge to become a woman too soon)

PAST SCREENINGS
Selected for Best of British - 29th Cambridge Film Festival, 2009 SHORTFUSION 17-27 September 2009
Arts Picturehouse
Saturday 19 September, 1:30PM
A chance to delve into the imagination of some of the most talented British directors. A mature selection of grit and realism from filmmakers not afraid to raise challenging questions.

PAST SCREENINGS
Selected and in competition for the 23rd Leeds International Film Festival
Screening: British Short Film Competition 2
Running Time: 100 mins
Showing 1: 14 Nov 15:30, CARR1, £6.50 / £5
Our journey round the British Isles via films of the short variety comes to a conclusion with an elegant bang thanks to this second programme of shorts. Highlights include Girl Like Me following troubled Lucy as she stumbles dangerously into an adult world she isn’t ready for. Believe is the achingly beautiful tale of a man’s inconsolable grief following the death of his wife and the poetic Kids Might Fly is an offbeat and touching portrait of young people in East London.

PAST SCREENINGS
Selected for Encounters Short Film Festival in Bristol, UK 2009
The 14th edition took place from 18th - 23rd November.
Encounters Short Film Festival - Bristol

Best of British 4
Friday 20 November 19:30 Watershed Cinema 3 - £5
Saturday 21 November 13:30 Arnolfini - £3.50 (£2.50 delegate rate)
A chance to delve into the imagination of some of the most talented British Directors…….. Spread over five programmes, a vibrant and dynamic selection of the very best short films to come out of the UK. They will challenge, inspire and amuse – but not all at the same time!

- Screening with HUNGER, WASHDAYS, BECOMING INVISIBLE, LAST TRAIN, TRANSGRESS, MARKER and WAYFARING STRANGER

DOP - Robbie Ryan - Wasp, Brick Lane, Red Road, Cubs.
Production Design - Helen Scott - Wasp, The Bill, Red Road.

Steven Elder - 39 Steps, Vanity Fair, Gallow Walker, Heartbeat.
Georgia Bourke as Lucy
Maria Burgess as Becks
Ian Rixon - Who Stole The World Cup and Casualty.
Tara Ellis - The Bill, Holby City, EastEnders.

Crew Includes:

GRIP: Rob Barlow
LIGHTING: John Walker
SOUND: David Bekkevold
DESIGNER: Helen Scott
MAKE-UP: Jenna Wrage
COSTUME: Edward Gibbon
1st AID and Ist AD: Andy Gradwell
2ND AD / UNIT MOBILE: Matteo Pizzarello

HEALTH & SAFETY: On set safety Andy Gradwell (1st AD), Electrical Safety (gaffer)
RADIOS: John Robinson - 10 x motorollas
RUSHES: Ilab, 56 Poland Street Soho, London, W1F 7NN
CATERING: Ravin J Ganatr
ADDITIONAL PERSONNEL Ajay, (Unit Base Contact)

A massive thank you to Hi sushi, Muswell Hill, who now offer delivery.
476 Muswell Hill Broadway, N10 (near post office). 020 8883 9788.

SYNOPSIS
Lucy attempts to get away from her dysfunctional family, an ever arguing stepdad, mum and her dull teenage life by meeting up with a '16 year old boy'. The boy she exchanges text messages and meets turns out to be Tony, closer to 40 than 16. Lucy's not concerned, maybe she always knew it. He's concerned, then infatuated. They flirt, she plays games, she's witty, feisty and outrageous and in control. There's no doubt they get on. He takes her back to his place. Roles change, converge and reverse as Lucy's control slips in Tony's flat....This is it. What's she going to do?

About the director and writer
Director Rowland Jobson was D&AD awarded in 2006 he has just directed Trapped a dramatic film with Patsy Palmer playing the lead for Shelter. Nick Cohen in The Evening Standard described Trapped this week in his column as 'a brilliant and harrowing short film'

Rowland has directed for Imagination, the launch film for Mazda2, C4 and numerous corporate clients. He also has a 35mm film funded in preproduction with a highly respected film production company shooting in late spring/early summer

Peter Devonald is an award winning writer who has had work shown in over 30 international film festivals and has options/ worked with Blue Zoo, MTV, Tangent, Vermilion and Soup. Awards include best drama at the New York International Film Festival, second in The End Of The Pier International Film Festival and finalist in the Super Shorts Talent Circle.

About the Production Company
Seefood have made films, for Arup, Notting Housing Trust, Paramount Comedy, Shelter, Rethink and numerous agencies. www.seefood.tv
Company: Seefood Film & TV Ltd
Director: Rowland Jobson
Location: London

Rowland Jobson is a director/writer with a strong and varied background in drama documentary, commercials, corporate films and virals/interactive media. He recently was nominated for a D&AD award for his work directing interactive films for Brahama Beer's web campaign and was short-listed for The Jerwood & First Film Foundations Development scheme for his script "You Can't Stop The Sea" in 2004/2005 (a film about a homeless illegal immigrant boy set in the South of France)

He is currently directing cinema commercial for Shelter and a 10 minute dramatic film for Shelter that revisits 'Cathy Come Home" by Ken Loach. The wondeful Tony Imi who was DOP on the original 'Cathy Come Home' is to shoot it with Rowland. He is writing for a large car commercial for cinema and the internet and developing a feature film he has just been signed to co-write and also now to direct. Rowland was also recently shot "The Wood's" a short film staring Nathalie Press.

Rowland originally trained as an actor at Manchester Metropolitan University School of Theatre and worked as an actor for several years before coming to directing.

Rowland has directed and produced for BT (corporate), a documentary for Channel 4 (24 hours in London), Scope (corporate), European Children's Trust (corporate), Eurosport, Paramount Comedy Channel (commercial), Century Films, Sony Play Station (Viral), Brahma Beer, Canon UK, Barclays Bank (corporate), Dixons PLC (viral), Community Channel, Tropicana (corporate), Canon UK (interactive), Mothercare (corporate), Media Group(corporate), Farm Communications (commercial), Xerox (corporate), Ealing Victim Support (corporate drama), Wheel Group (interactive), DNA (interactive), and more.

He also co-produced the Directors Guild of Great Britain Awards in 2004 and is a council member of the Directors Guild of Great Britain.

He directed and creatively produced some groundbreaking interactive films starting with an interactive film for Sony Playstation and interactive documentary on the river Thames with artist Rosalind Miller. He advises interactive agencies on viral campaigns. He has directed and produced numerous successful viral films for Play Station, Dixons, Piaggio, and the like.

He has just signed a contract to direct his first feature film 51, with a small London based production company which he is co writing. He is also currently writing a feature film, 'Remote' about a British soldier who goes AWOL on his return form service in IRAQ and a drama intended for an HBO series called Mini Cinema - written for Dennis Hopper - selected for the Open Pages reading at the Hospital.

Short-listed Jerwood/First Film Foundation 2004/2005 new writing and directors development scheme.

Chair of the panel for The Best Director of a Television /Cinema Commercial for the Directors Guild of Great Britain Awards 2004

Cinematographer/Director Of Photography:
Carmo (2008) (completed), Son (2008), Brick Lane (2007), Mischief Night (2006), The Silent City (2006), Cubs (2006), Red Road (2006), Tube Poker (2005), Isolation (2005), Antonio's Breakfast (2005), At Debt's Door (2005), Toz (2005), Knitting a Love Song (2004), Wasp (2003), LSD '73! (2003), This Is Not a Love Song (2002), Large (2001), Ivor the Insomniac (2001), Shadowscan (2001), Landmark (2001), The Black Suit (2000), Short (1999), The Tale of the Rat That Wrote (1999), 7th Heaven (1999), Retribution in the Year 2050 (1998)
The Farmer's Wife (1998) (lighting cameraman), Patterns (1998), How to Cheat in the Leaving Certificate (1997), Mercy (1996), Faith (1993) The Twenty Second Plastic Love Affair (1993), Undertow (1993)

BIO: HELEN SCOTT (taken from imdb) (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0779225/)
Production Designer: Red Road (2006), Wasp (2003), "The Bill" (2 episodes, 2002), "Dressing for Breakfast" (8 episodes, 1997-1998)
Art Director: Arthur's Dyke (2001), Topsy-Turvy (1999), Déjà Vu (1997) and Career Girls (1997).

CAST
Lucy: Georgia Bourke
Lucy is a pretty 13/14 year-old. She is sassy, wise, tough, feisty, witty, sarcastic and has a will of her own. She likes to scare people with the game of Russian Roulette she plays with her life. Ultimately her feisty, attention seeking and outrageous behaviour hides her vulnerability. This really is about her need for attention from her parents and a real dad.

Becks:Maria Burgess
Becks is Lucy's side kick, she is less outgoing, overweight (possibly very). A childhood friend Lucy is growing away from as she wants to be a woman.

Tony
Steven Elder: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0253097/
UK Agent: Independent Talent Group + 44 (207) 636 6565
LA Agent: The Chasin Agency + 1 310 278 7505
Demo reel: www.spotlight.com/artists
View PIN: 9616-6726-8090
Roles include Shelter (2008), Good (2008), Gallowwalker (2009), "Robin Hood", "Judge John Deed", "Afterlife", "Doctors", "Holby City", "Monarch of the Glen", "Heartbeat", "The Inspector Lynley Mysteries" Cromwell: Warts and All, EastEnders, "The Bill", "Waking the Dead", "The Vice", "Peak Practice" and "Coronation Street".

Stepfather - Ian Rixon
Once handsome, now bit overweight, working man, can be firey, had enough of life.
Roles include "Who Stole The World Cup" and "Casualty".

Mother - Tara Ellis
London, drab, had enough, drinks, once pretty but faded with stress, poverty and a bad marriage.
Roles include "The Amazing Mrs Pritchard" (2006), "The Bill" (1998-2006), "Holby City" (2005), Comfort of Strangers (2005), Paradise Grove (2003), Spider (2002), "Swallow" (2001), "EastEnders" (2001) and"In Deep" (2001).

PRODUCERS: VICTORIA WOOD, ROWLAND JOBSON, ZOE WEBSTER AND PETER DEVONALD

ESTATE ON COMMERCE ROAD:
KEATS BUILDING, THOMAS HARDY BUILDING

BROADWATER FARM ESTATE

"Teenagers, caught between a powerful emerging sexuality and hideous ignorance. Lucy (pretty-ish) and Becks (fat) arrange meetings with men from the playground. This one (Tony) is supposed to be 16 but is in fact 43. Lucy, however, is motivated by escaping a miserable home life, getting a free lunch, and telling her mate how fabulous it was. She goes home with Tony, but in the end it is his anxiety about the age gap that sends her out the door.

This is really accomplished. Good screenwriting, well paced, and feels very emotionally true.... I think there is talent to consider here"
The Script Factory

Chosen by a judging panel including Josic Cadoret (Film London, new talent co-ordinator), Philip Ilson (short film programmer), David Waterson (Film Liaison Officer, London Borough of Haringey) and Yousaf Ali-Khan (Director).