HOPE GAP completed

The final sound mix has just been finished, the picture is graded, and the film is done. I’ve now seen it in its various forms so many times I no longer have much reaction to it, but dimly through the layers of familiarity I’m aware that it has emerged as everything I had ever hoped for it. The whole film-making experience has been unexpectedly free from grief. I keep pinching myself, expecting something to go wrong, but so far so good. Almost the last element to be added, the music (by Alex Heffes), is deeply gratifying. The end of the film in particular is made doubly powerful by the score.

We’ve already sold HOPE GAP on the basis of script, cast, and a five-minute promo, to all territories worldwide except US and UK. These we’re holding back to sell following a screening of the finished film, which will happen in the new year. Once we have the distributors in place for these lead territories we’ll know the release plan.

As for me, I’ve so loved directing my own work that I now want to do it again. I have a screenplay lined up, but I plan to wait to see how HOPE GAP is received before taking the next step, in the hope that my hand will be strengthened. Having just seen Alfonso Cuaron’s work in ROMA and Steve McQueen’s work in WIDOWS I know I’m not at their level as a director, but I also know that I can enable powerful emotional performances from fine actors, within a directorial frame that supports them. In its quiet way HOPE GAP is a beautiful film.