A new Kafka-inspired short film will begin shooting in Bolton in May this year, created by a Manchester-based filmmaker and production team.
Following the success of his Manchester-based feature film Nobody Loves You and You Don’t Deserve to Exist, writer and director Brett Gregory has written a dark screenplay based on Franz Kafka’s short story Before the Law.
Raised in Nottinghamshire, Gregory is a former lecturer in Film and Cultural Studies who has been writing, directing and producing films in Manchester since 2005.
Along with his production team, Serious Feather, Gregory intends to explore Britishness, bureaucracy and bigotry.
Gregory said: “The crises which this country and its citizens are currently involved in at home and abroad, where people are needlessly losing their lives and their livelihoods, demand to be interpreted in both creative and historical terms.”
Salford-born co-producer Jack Clarke and director of photography Gwyn Hemmings have already secured an exterior location for the film: Pigeon Tower in Rivington.
Clarke said: “Bolton and its surrounding areas are spoiled for choice with regards to cinematic architecture and landscapes.
“We’re searching the region for a dungeon-like interior which is as equally evocative as Pigeon Tower. Following this we can then start the casting process in Bolton which, as everyone knows, has an abundance of talent.”
Since its release in 2022, Nobody Loves You and You Don’t Deserve to Exist has gained over 50 international film festival awards and nominations.
The self-funded feature film, shot almost entirely in Greater Manchester, explores solitude, sanity and suffering under the British state.
Featured image by Jack Clark and Gwyn Hemmings
