SUMMER

By Kenny Glenaan • 2008 • 83’ • UK

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Synopsis

As kids, Shaun and Daz are inseparable, skipping school, racing bikes, knocking about down by the lake with Katy, Shaun’s first love. Full of life, Shaun runs up against an education system that cannot contain him. He is squeezed and eventually spat out, taking Daz down with him as he self-destructs.

Twenty years later, Daz is in a wheelchair and has eight weeks to live. Shaun is left to reflect on one summer that marked the end of his innocence. His memories lead him to track down Katy, in a bid for personal redemption. This is a story of bright lives unfulfilled, of hopes that are snuffed out and then finally rekindled.

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Credits

Director: Kenny Glenaan
Producers: Camilla Bray
Writer: Hugh Ellis
Cast: Robert Carlyle, Steve Evets, Rachael Blake

Sales

Buy or rent on Amazon Prime.

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REVIEWS

“SUMMER sees Robert Carlyle deliver one of the best performances of his career. He plays Shaun, a lowly petrol station attendant frustrated by life but doing his best to get on with the crappy hand he’s been dealt… With intelligent and lyrical use of flashbacks, director Kenny Glenaan builds up a thoroughly convincing and moving picture of how easily lives on the margins of society can go wrong and, thanks to some stunning visual flourishes, he also captures the way idealised childhood memories can exert a strong hold on those for whom the present is tinged with regret. But it’s Carlyle’s beautifully understated turn that really holds this together. Gruff, funny, tough and tender, he seems to instinctively negotiate a tricky, potentially showy character arc with great skill, grace and compassion.”
– The Scotsman  

“The role won Carlyle a BAFTA Scotland best actor nomination, and the PPG award for Best Performance in a British Film at this year's Edinburgh Film Festival. The jury called it a "flawless performance in a great, uncompromising film”… SUMMER's backdrop is bleak (even if the story, ultimately, is not) that of a land and people hollowed out by industrial decline. Summer’s realism and sense of fair play in dealing with emotional topics has already seen it favourably compared to the work of Ken Loach and Shane Meadows.”
– The Guardian

 
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AWARDS

Rome International Film Festival

  • Winner – Alice in the City Prize

BAFTA Scotland

  • Winner – Best Film

  • Winner – Best Director

  • Nominated for Best Performance for Robert Carlyle

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Edinburgh Film Festival

  • Winner – Best Actor for Robert Carlyle

Writers Guild GB

  • Nominated for Best Newcomer, Screenplay