An award-winning writer and film director has said his search for two kids to star in a short movie being shot this summer shows just how much talent is on the estates of South Bristol.
Filmmaker has called on the film industry generally to ‘nurture’ that talent, as he announced the two children who are about to play the lead roles in his new film set on the estates of Whitchurch and Hartcliffe.
Mr Holbrook also announced the film, Shiney, has got big money backing now from BFI NETWORK, a part of the British Film Institute that nurtures new talent.
The film tells the story of a day in the life of a young girl and her friend on an estate in Hartcliffe, trying to protect their prize asset - a much-in-demand shiney football album sticker, while avoiding bullies and dreaming of being a rapper.
Back in the spring, Bristol Live reported a call from Mr Holbrook to cast the two main characters from local kids - and an open casting day was held which .
He and the film’s producers and team at Shunk Films have since had the unenviable task of choosing the boy and the girl who are going to play the two leads - and have now revealed that Katie Francis and Caleb Stevens have landed the parts.
Both Caleb, 11, and 12-year-old Katie said their mums were on Facebook when they saw the call for the open auditions, but they turned up to Hareclive School in Hartcliffe in the middle of April without thinking they would get the part.
“I don’t think you can really describe it,” said Katie, about being told she’d got the part.
“I was really happy. I was super-excited. I was bouncing everywhere, it was amazing.”
Mr Holbrook said he and the team noticed that all the kids of South Bristol who stepped up to go for the roles were full of self-confidence, but not self-belief - which he said he believed came from a long history of that area being neglected.
“Something we spotted throughout the whole of the audition process was that the kids had bags of self-confidence, but a lack of self-belief - there’s a difference,” said Mr Holbrook.
“They all came with all this self-confidence, but with none of them feeling that this was for them, or that this would result in any of them actually getting the role.
“In the end, we whittled 75 down to 23, and they were 23 kids with bags and bags of talent, enthusiasm and passion, we got that down to six, then down to two,” he added.
“But all the way through, what was consistent was just how willing, excited and happy these kids were to engage in something like this.
“That says everything, because that’s kind of a seed that needs to be watered, this kind of talent on the estate needs to be nurtured rather than just this be a one-off.
“It’s a short film, it’s not the biggest opportunity in the world, but it’s nice for them to get a look into this industry.
“But it’s about the industry as a collective looking at these kind of estates and saying let’s not leave these kids behind and I’m hoping that the way we auditioned for this is testament to just how much talent there is out there on the estates,” he added.
The film, Shiny, will shoot this summer in Whitchurch and Hartcliffe.
