A young Manchester filmmaker who ‘dreamt’ about a movie one night has managed to complete the film after being backed by Kickstarter and the composer for US hit-show Oprah Winfrey.
27 Memory Lane is a ‘whimsical but dark northern fairy tale’, written, directed and produced by Luke Hupton.
And the entire film was funded by the crowd funding initiative website Kickstarter. But that wasn’t the only help it had.
One of those interested in the project was Mark Dunnett, an LA composer who has worked on the likes of the Oprah Winfrey Show, CSI Las Vegas and Miley Cyrus’ Hannah Montana Show.
Mark liked the project so much that he composed the soundtrack for it.
Director Luke, 24, told MM just how difficult it had been to find money to produce the film, especially due to government cutbacks.
“We were lucky to get the money we had,” he confessed.
“Money is very hard to come across in the arts in generally.
“The UK film council was pretty much destroyed by the Tories, and the BFI are in control of everything now, there are still avenues to go down but it’s just that much harder to do, especially if you’re up North.
“I think there are lots of gritty thrillers coming out of the North, a lot of kitchen-sink dramas, this is a film with fantastical problems, the whole narrative is all surreal and you’re never quite sure what’s real what isn’t, I think that what makes it different.”
The idea was originally dreamed up on a flight to America and by the end of his holiday Luke had written the feature in its entirety.
Taking to the internet, Luke created a profile on Kickstarter to find funding for the film and had multiple donors within just a few months, managing to raise over £6,000 from the site.
Composer Mark said: “Everything about this film was inspiring.
“Luke is a brilliant, very talented director and when he sent me over some of the footage and I saw it for the first time, I was hooked.”
Mark believes giving help to people starting out is vital for the future of the industry as you never know how far they could go.
“New talent is the future,” he continued.
“You never know who is going to be the next Keira Knightley, Johnny Depp or Guy Ritchie for example.
“Giving people a chance to shine even if it’s their first time on film, or working in film might lead to something magical and brilliant, and that can come across in the film.”
The film is not the first Luke has produced, after his 12 Minutes film won best film at the 2008 Kino festival, before he graduated from Salford University with a degree in Television and Radio Production in 2011.
For his latest film he spent 15 grueling months making it and found it incredible how much support he received from Mark and others.
“It is incredible that so many people have seen something in the story, and this film is proof that you do get a lot for your money,” he said.
“I just hope the end product is what they expected or better.”
27 Memory Lane was filmed in Manchester and the Lake District and Luke feels he can be proud of what he has achieved, regardless of how successful the film is.
“There’s nothing else like seeing your words come to life in character,” he said.
“I’m just incredibly proud of this film as an artist it’s so hard to look at your work and be happy about, but I’ve just had such an amazing team and I’ll always believe in the story.”
The film will be show on the big screen for the first time this Saturday at Manchester Cornerhouse.
But the premiere is just the start for this feature film as it will be sent to the Lacano festival in Switzerland, a BAFTA qualifier, as well as the BFI film festival, the Portobello festival and possible the Sundance festival in January.
Image courtesy of Luke Hupton, with thanks
