| My Imprisoned Heart | |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Louis Savy |
| Written by | Judy Upton |
| Starring | Bella Heesom, Alex Falk, Deborah Bouchard |
| Running time | 59 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
My Imprisoned Heart is a short drama-comedy film made in 2007 by the Make Your Mark in Film campaign. The screenplay was written by Judy Upton and stars Bella Heesom (Emma), Alex Falk (Jamie) and Deborah Bouchard (Avril).
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The plot centres around a young woman called Emma who has just split up with her fiancé Jamie after he cheated on her. Not sure how to cope with the pain and rejection, Emma resorts to desperate measures and tricks Jamie into going into an abonded warehouse filled with his possessions. Once inside, she locks him in indefinitely.
Using her expertise as a performance artist, Emma sets up a website and broadcasts Jamie's every move over a webcam to an audience of millions. The new phenomenon sweeps the nation's media and Emma becomes scared and doesn't know how to end the now out of hand revenge.
She asks her friend Avril to help her get some money so they can leave the country, and just as they are about to let Jamie out, he tricks them and locks them back in the warehouse, broadcasting their movements over the internet.
The main stars of the film are Bella Heesom, who plays "Emma", and Alex Falk, who plays her ex boyfriend "Jamie". Deborah Bouchard also stars as Emma's best friend, "Avril".
"Make Your Mark in Film is all about young people using their business acumen, initiative and creativity to successfully shoot and produce a first class film. We want to encourage young people to be creative but business savvy at the same time – and also help them to get a foot in the door of a very competitive industry."
Ten teams of wannabe film-makers from across the UK won the chance to film one episode of a 50 minute film that was screened at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. The teams had access to a shooting kit and main cast but with no additional budget for filming, they needed to use their entrepreneurial skills to source the other resources required to get their episode ‘in the can’.
This exciting and unique collaborative production kicked off on 29 March 2007 when the teams met the actors, scriptwriter and each other at a launch party at the Rich Mix cultural centre in Bethnal Green, London. They also had the opportunity to meet influential individuals from the film industry including Stewart Till, Chair of UK Film Council; Senior producer for BBC Film Network, Claire Cook; and founder of the Raindance Film Festival, Elliott Grove.
"Film making is the most collaborative art form and needs enterprising people at every stage - it is all about overcoming obstacles and making it happen. I believe this is echoed by the Make Your Mark in Film initiative, it's a great idea and I look forward to seeing the final series."
The first team started shooting in Liverpool in April 2007. Each subsequent episode was filmed in a different region and the final film screened at Edinburgh International Film Festival in August 2007.
The competition, Make Your Mark in Film, was designed to encourage young people in their teens and twenties to have ideas and make them happen through their interest in film. It is run by the national Make Your Mark campaign and Cobra Beer’s short film competition, CobraVision, and backed by key players in the film industry, including UK Film Council, Lord Puttnam and the Raindance Film Festival.
To win the chance to produce one of the episodes, each team had to beat fellow competitors in their region. Now, they are competing for the accolade of ‘best episode’ in the film.
"Making your mark in film is all about working as a team. When it all comes together and the credits start to roll I know of no better experience. The actors might be the people with their name in lights but it really is a collaboration of minds which makes a film a success."
The first stage of the competition, to write a 10-episode screenplay, was launched at the 2006 Edinburgh International Film Festival. The winner, chosen by a panel of judges including Quadrophenia director Franc Roddam,was Judy Upton with My Imprisoned Heart.
The second stage began in February 2007, when teams from across the UK competed to be one of ten collaborative film production teams, each producing one five-minute episode of My Imprisoned Heart. Each winning team had access to a ‘shooting kit’, main cast and, on occasion, celebrity cameos. But there was no budget provided for filming as the competition relied on teams using their enterprising skills.
Each episode was shotwithin 3 days in a different location across the UK.
Due to the film's unique production, being made by ten independent teams, the film was shot across eight different UK cities (Norwich and London had two teams and were thus represented twice). Each episode was film in the following cities:
Despite premiering at The Edinburgh International Film Festival on August 22, 2007, the final 59 minute film is currently in post production, but should be completed in the summer of 2008. After this date, the film will be broadcast on Sky TV channel Propeller, and will be made available on LoveFilm as a DVD.
The film was the first public screening at the 2009 Norwich Film Festival, shown at the Norwich Arts Centre in September of that year.
Articles about the film have appeared in, amongst others, the following publications: