BBC Picks Up Indie Drama ‘Kindling,’ The First British Pic To Play Shanghai Film Fest In Six Years

The BBC has acquired broadcast rights to the British indie drama Kindling from debut feature filmmaker Connor O’Hara, which played in Competition at the 2023 Shanghai International Film Festival.

Written and directed by O’Hara, the pic was the first British film to play in Competition at Shanghai in six years. The BBC’s license on the pic begins in November and lasts three years. Signature Entertainment released the film in the UK and Ireland and brokered the deal with the BBC. However, first contact was made with the broadcaster by Jamie Gamache, who produced the pic alongside Mark Foligno (The King’s Speech, Moon) and first approached BBC buyer Simon Chilcott with the project.

“It’s sometimes quite clear what the BBC is after, and Kindling definitely felt like it,” Gamache told Deadline.

Inspired by O’Hara’s short film Infinite, starring 1917 lead George MacKay, Kindling follows a group of young men who return to their hometown to turn their terminally ill friend Sid’s final summer into a celebration of life, love, and friendship. Facing mortality, Sid (George Somner) wants to create a legacy and be remembered forever. With his obsession with astronomy and the atmosphere, he comes up with a plan to bring everyone together and make this summer unforgettable. He gives each boy a category – love, home, friends, family, and location – and asks them to find an item that connects them all with the word they’ve been given. Also starring are Mia McKenna-Bruce (How To Have Sex), Conrad Khan (County Lines), Wilson Mbomio (The Witcher), and Tara Fitzgerald (Legend).

Kindling is the first feature from O’Hara and Gamache’s London-based production Lowkey Films. Since then, the pair have set a three-picture co-production deal with Luc Roeg’s production and sales outfit Independent Entertainment. Independent will finance, co-produce and represent sales on three forthcoming Lowkey projects.

Source: Deadline