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   Landmark Salford film to play in Manchester
Writer/director/producer and actor Joe O’Byrne has a big week coming up come the 2nd week in June.
Joe has thus far written and produced several stories both for film and stage from his fictional North West community of PARADISE HEIGHTS, a fictional north west estate with a growing army of fans. On Wednesday 10th of June Joe’s first feature film from the community – LOOKIN’ FOR LUCKY - has its Manchester premiere at The Green Room, organised through John Wojowski’s KINO Film Network. Already being hailed as ‘one of the most important feature films ever to come out of Manchester’ the film was shot ‘wild’ on the estates of Bolton (where Joe grew up), Salford and Manchester for a paupers sum of £3500. The film has already been offered an international distribution deal. In addition to the film, two days later Joe’s third stage play from the community opens at The Lowry. RANK, like all the others in the series, is a stand alone story from the community but it has strong links to all the story’s to come from Paradise Heights so far, those story’s being THE BENCH, I’M FRANK MORGAN and of course LOOKIN’ FOR LUCKY. Says Joe, "I live in a community like Paradise Heights so there is a reality at the core of my writing, and it’s great to see such a positive reaction from audiences to these stories; I think there is something in each of them that strikes a chord across a wide range of age groups." "I believe in telling real issue based stories, issues that sometimes get tossed around in Parliament in between the important business of flipping homes and fiddling expense claims. "Paradise Heights is a deprived community with more than its fair share of problems, problems reflected from the issues seen in most media headlines today. Yes, these stories are hard hitting but they are shot through with a rich vein of humour, the kind of humour people find when faced with all kinds of adversity. It’s a tough area but there is a beating heart at the centre, a kinship among the chaos where people continue to fight for a better community, and ultimately a better tomorrow. "All the stories can be watched as stand alone stories; however there is a wider picture and events and characters cross back and forth and echo throughout this saga, it’s sort of like Camberwick Green with Hoodie’s or even a council estate Canterbury Tales. I’m looking for a publishing deal to get the first five scripts in one volume entitled ‘Low Tales from The Heights’ – that probably sounds a bit lofty but there’s nothing wrong with having a dream is there? When I started out 10 years ago I just wanted to act, I didn’t dream I’d have a feature film and a play showing to audiences in the same week. "I’d like to say a huge thank you to the audiences that have come to see these tales, their response has been really touching and incredibly encouraging, I’ll keep the stories coming. Finally, The Heights now has a really diverse range of characters brought to life by incredibly talented and passionate thus far ‘unknown’ actors and crew that I owe a huge debt to, ultimately this form of art is a collaborative process, without their incredible efforts the work stays on the page." Due to problems with spam only SalfordOnline members can now leave comments. Becoming a member of SalfordOnline only takes a minute, just hit the red Join Us button at the top right hand side of the page to create your Personal account. Got a news story? Need help with publicity for an event in Salford? Send it to newsdesk@salfordonline.com or call the SalfordOnline newsdesk on 0161 789 5377. |
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