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An awesome and ridiculous film that leaves you thrilled beyond the point of your natural endurance
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After Tomorrow is surprise Palme d’Or contender
Last updated at 09:50am on 22.05.09
Director: Emma Sullivan
A London woman is Britain's surprise contender for a top prize in Cannes.
Despite having no public profile, Emma Sullivan, 39, is up for a Palme d'Or in the short film section.
Ms Sullivan, who lives in Balham and Suffolk, beat 3,000 film-makers to make the final nine.
Her 15-minute psychological thriller, After Tomorrow, will be premiered tomorrow. It stars Kika Markham, the actress married to Corin Redgrave, and Joseph Mawle, who was seen in The Passion and The Red Riding Trilogy on television.
Mawle plays a man apparently trapped in a Suffolk bed and breakfast who eventually escapes.
Ms Sullivan studied at the Royal College of Art and St Martin's and worked as a photographer and designer before pursuing her passion for film at the National Film and Television School in London.
She said: “I'm a real late starter, a really late bloomer. I've been struggling and struggling. This is really my big break.”
After Tomorrow will be seen at the London Film Festival in October.
Reader views (2)
A compact story told with the right amounts of grace and tension, the structure and denouement resonated for me for many days, I wish Ms Sullivan all the best for any future endeavour. What a shame that Brit talent wasn't given a bit more press time, seemed like an awful lot of the coverage was starstruck and jaded, hardly helpful for the people who toil in this industry producing visions that have the potential for change in society.
- Max Lorenz, Toronto, Canada
After a long progression in the media indutry myself, I found myself as a producer in Cannes viewing the premiere of this haunting and singular production. This is indeed a original and moving script! the prodiction and direction is truely an example of the British soul reflecting upon times and trial in which we meet ourselves in a moment of revelaton. I would hazzard to comment that this, for me, is the finest short film I have ever watched. I shall be paying attention to young Ms Sullivan's career.
- James Liskutin, SOUTHAMPTON Hampshire
