CASTING

STEPHEN

Written & Directed by Melanie Manchot

Co-Written by Leigh Cambell

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Ste Giddings comes from a family of addicts stretching back generations. At 26 he was ready to give up on life. STEPHEN is an artist’s feature film taking us on an intimate journey into two characters, one real one fictional. As Ste auditions for and takes on a role in a fiction film, he re-enacts moments from his chaotic past while transforming his life in the real world. Using his personal experience as an alcoholic/addict he takes on the role of a gambling addict, and gradually the two begin to merge. This film-within-the-film is a genre crime movie, inspired by a famous Mitchell & Kenyon film, held at BFI archive: Arrest of Goudie, 1901 - the world’s first crime-reconstruction and the first film produced in Liverpool, Ste's home-town and this film's principle location. Arrest of Goudie is based on the real-life story of a compulsive gambling addict embezzling a vast sum of money from The Bank of Liverpool, where he worked as a clerk. STEPHEN presents alternative perspectives and offers cathartic, cinematic experiences to re-think, understand and deal with urgent social questions including alcohol/drug addictions, gambling, machine/screen addictions, the fall out of austerity and economic inequalities, issues of loneliness and mental health. At this moment in time, these issues are more urgent, pressing and pertinent than ever.

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FILMING IN LIVERPOOL THIS AUTUMN

Casting is underway for Hurricane Films on a new project filming in 2021​

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