John Maclean‘s survival thriller Tornado featuring Tim Roth, Slow Horses’ Jack Lowden and Japanese star Kōki will close this year’s Sands Film Festival.
Set in the rugged landscape of 1790’s Britain, the film follows Tornado (Kōki,) who finds herself caught in a perilous situation when she and her father’s travelling puppet show crosses paths with a ruthless criminal gang led by Sugarman (Roth) and his ambitious son Little Sugar (Lowden).
In an attempt to create a new life, Tornado seizes the opportunity to steal the gold from the gang’s most recent heist; what follows is a thrilling tale of adrenaline-fueled action as Tornado fights to escape a violent demise. Lionsgate UK will release the film on May 23.
“It’s a great pleasure to play Sands Film Festival in St Andrews Fife, the closest I’ll get to a home game as I went to high school in St Andrews and sneaked into the Student Union disco every Friday night,” Maclean said in a statement. “It’s so fantastic that North East Fife has a film festival. The area was always such an outsider creative hub of art music and film when I was growing up. Songs in the key of Fife.”
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The film is produced by Leonora Darby, James Harris, and Mark Lane for Tea Shop Productions, and is based on a story by Maclean and Kate Leys. Executive producers include Ashland Hill’s Joe Simpson, Simon Williams, Andy Wang and Matthew Chausse with financing from Screen Scotland and Ashland Hill. HanWay Films negotiated the deal on behalf of the filmmakers, with Shooman representing IFC Films and Shudder.
This year, Sands runs from April 25th to 27th. The festival opens with a screening of the indie British comedy The Ballad of Wallis Island starring Carey Mulligan and Sian Clifford (Fleabag).
The comedy arrives at Sands after its debut at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The film follows a lottery winner who pays his favorite folk duo to reunite and perform a concert on his remote island. Focus will release the pic on March 28.
Elsewhere, the festival will screen the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, which tells the story of an unlikely friendship between a Palestinian filmmaker and an Israeli journalist, and Two Strangers Trying Not To Kill Each Other, a buzzy doc about a married couple as they reflect on their lives together and navigate ageing and the changes it brings. The film’s co-director and producer, Manon Ouimet, will attend the fest and take part in a post-screening Q&A.
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