In January
2003, Victor
Film Company
was acquired
by the Caparo
Group and re-launched
as AV Pictures
Ltd with Angad
Paul as Chairman
and Vic Bateman
as Managing
Director. Since
the formation
of the company,
AV Pictures'
role has expanded
from international
film sales
agency to also
incorporate
co-financing
and production.
The company library comprises titles including School
for Seduction, a comedy drama updating the battle of the sexes and starring Kelly Brook, Emily Woof and Dervla Kirwan; End
of the Spear, an epic true-life drama which entered the Top Ten U.S. box office in 2006; and the Michael J. Bassett (Deathwatch) picture Wilderness, an action horror featuring a talented young cast including Toby Kebbell (Control) and Alex Reid (The Descent). Momentum released the film theatrically in the UK in August 2006.
At Cannes 2007, AV Pictures premiered Black
Water, a terrifying tale of death and survival in a crocodile-inhabited mangrove swamp in Northern Australia and based on true events. This new take on the themes explored in Jaws and Open Water sold exceptionally well throughout the world, including the US and UK.
On the AV current slate is Daylight
Robbery, a fast-paced
feel good heist movie shot in London
with a cast including Johnny Harris
(star of the award-winning London
to Brighton), Leo Gregory (Stoned),
Geoff Bell (Girl With A Pearl Earring)
and Vas Blackwood (Creep). Flick
is a quirky and stylistic horror
picture drawing on cultural references
from the rock 'n' roll era and
stars screen legend Faye Dunaway
and Michelle Ryan (currently starring
in the NBC remake of The Bionic
Woman).
At the 2008 European Film Market
in Berlin, AV Pictures premiered Clubbed,
from BAFTA-Award winning writer
Geoff Thompson - the feature inspired
by his Sunday Times best-selling
autobiography "Watch My Back".
The film features Colin Salmon
(The World is Not Enough, Alien
vs Predator) Shaun Parkes (Notes
on a Scandal, Human Traffic) and
Maxine Peake (Shameless, See No
Evil - The Moors Murderers) and
is a journey through family, fear
and confrontation in the violent
world of 80's clubland.
High-octane action thriller The
Tournament is currently
in post-production. The picture,
produced by Keith Bell (Dog Soldiers)
and directed by talented young
prodigy Scott Mann, was pre-sold
to Entertainment Film Distributors
in the UK. Promo screenings at
the AFM in November 2007 resulted
in the film being sold worldwide,
including The Weinstein Co for
North America. Every seven years
in an unsuspecting town, the world's
greatest assassins gather to fight
to the finish in the ultimate high-risk
Tournament. The international cast
includes Robert Carlyle (28 Weeks
Later; The World Is Not Enough),
Ving Rhames (Mission: Impossible
III, Pulp Fiction); Kelly Hu (X-Men
2) and Sebastian Foucan (Casino
Royale).
Commencing principal photography
on 19th May 2008 is L.V.K. (Lesbian
Vampire Killers), part
of the new wave of UK comedy horror
in the vein of Shaun of the Dead.
Stylistically the film will have
a glossy high-end feel and be a
glorious collision of classic horror
and dynamic youth-orientated comedy.
The leads, Matthew Horne & James
Corden, have fantastic on-screen
chemistry together are currently
riding high on the success of comedy
series "Gavin & Stacey" which
recently scooped two BAFTA Awards.
Completing the current AV line-up is The
Bet, directed by actor Mark Lee (Gallipoli), this Sydney Film Festival success is a corporate thriller redolent with themes of greed, revenge and redemption.
Due to commence shooting in Summer 2008, and from the UK Producers of the highly successful Black
Water comes Soothsayer, an atmospheric and compelling supernatural thrillers which will feature Emilia Fox (Flashbacks of a Fool), Dutch starlet Thekla Reuten and talented young actress Kate Atkinson.
