Directed by Charlotte Regan (The Love Europe Project (2019); The Buccaneers (2023, TV Series)) and starring Lola Campbell (in her first role), Harris Dickinson (Beach Rats (2017); County Lines (2019); Where the Crawdads Sing (2022); Triangle of Sandness (2022)), Cary Crankson (Silent Night (2020); Doctors (2007-2016, tv series)) and Alin Uzun (in his first role).
Drama; 84 mins; 12+
Twelve-year-old Georgie (Lola Campbell) has been living on her own in a London tower block since her mother died. She manages to evade social services by saying that her uncle is looking after her, and she scrapes by by stealing bicycles and selling them on for a few quid each time.
She sometimes hangs out with her friend Ali (Alin Uzun), but they quibble like many children of their age. She is resourceful and street-savvy, but inside she is lonely and feels unloved.
She gets into a fight with another girl from school who lives nearby; at school we are introduced to one of her teachers, Mr. Barrowclough (Cary Crankson), who appears fair but exasperated at times.
One day, out of the blue, her life is turned upside down when a young man named Jason turns up and tells her that he is her father whom she has never seen.
Having lived on Ibiza as a ticket-seller for a night-club, he has never known responsibility and seems to want to get to know his daughter, but Georgie feels he will disappear any day. Here starts a fraught relationship where both father and daughter want to become closer, but neither knows how; first they must get to know and trust one another...
A raw but engaging drama of two people who must go well beyond their comfort zones to open up and let the other into their lives.
Currently being screened at Ciné Utopia.
