{"id":151955,"date":"2025-11-25T11:25:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-25T11:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/151955\/"},"modified":"2025-11-25T11:25:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T11:25:12","slug":"atomic-people-harvest-grand-theft-hamlet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/151955\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Atomic People,’ ‘Harvest,’ ‘Grand Theft Hamlet’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe 2025 BAFTA Breakthrough<\/a> cohort of rising U.K. talent across film, TV, and gaming, supported by Netflix<\/a>, has been unveiled, and it represents creatives from across such craft areas as producing, writing, directing, editing, acting, and more.<\/p>\n

\n\tAmong the 20 \u201cmust-watch\u201d creatives highlighted in the latest year of the BAFTA<\/a> Breakthrough\u00a0initiative are Grand Theft Hamlet<\/a> writer-director Pinny Grylls, whose feature documentary focuses on two out-of- work actors attempting to mount a production of Hamlet inside the world of Grand Theft Auto that was shot in game, Mr Loverman<\/a> series writer and associate producer Nathaniel Price, Scottish Highlands period drama Harvest<\/a> producer Marie-Elena Dyche, and Megumi \u201cMeg\u201d Inman (Black Box Diaries<\/a>), the co-director and producer of Atomic People, which gives voice to survivors of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan.<\/p>\n

\n\tTHR caught up with them to discuss their hopes for the BAFTA Breakthrough<\/a> experience, the works that have gotten them into it, and future plans.<\/p>\n

\n\tMarie-Elena Dyche<\/p>\n

\n\tHaving worked as a producer on such successes as Blue Jean, How to Have Sex, and Harvest, starring Caleb Landry Jones, Harry Melling, Rosy McEwen, Frank Dillane, and others, her latest films are Dragonfly and Mission, starring George MacKay<\/a> and Rosy McEwen, which was selected for the Cannes Great8 showcase 2025.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tMarie-Elena Dyche, courtesy of BAFTA\/Hollie Fernando<\/p>\n

\n\tIt sounds like a super-busy year for you, with Harvest and more recently Dragonfly, starring Andrea Riseborough and Brenda Blethyn\u2026<\/p>\n

\n\tAbsolutely. It\u2019s been a really amazing year. We\u2019re jumping between different screenings and juggling loads of stuff. It\u2019s really fun, and there\u2019s a lot of stuff going on, but I really love that. It\u2019s these types of films that I\u2019m really proud of, particularly Dragonfly. It\u2019s a very simple, kind of wholesome story about connection and loneliness, and we\u2019ve got these amazing actresses who I feel like are at the top of their game, and it\u2019s just come all together in a very simple way, but also just lets them flourish and lets these themes of loneliness and connection just speak for themselves. And I think that\u2019s the reason why it\u2019s been doing so well recently, winning awards and stuff.<\/p>\n

\n\tHarvest was more of a genre film, but also touched on serious social issues. How do you approach genre?<\/p>\n

\n\tHarvest was more like trippy, dreamy, and it just looks beautiful and stunning. But at the core of it and its heart, it does have some really important social impact themes. It is about the Highland Clearances [the evictions of many tenants in the Scottish\u00a0Highlands\u00a0and Islands from 1750 to 1860] and about what happens to villages and communities that get moved along and the unfairness of it. I think there are links between all of the projects I\u2019ve done so far in that I want them to be defying and pushing boundaries. But also, it\u2019s really, really important for me that there is this important human value of social impact, or making people come away with a message, or starting a discussion.<\/p>\n

\n\tHarvest also featured Rosy McEwen, who starred in Blue Jean. You two must enjoy working together!<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s really funny. I\u2019ve done two films with her previously, and I\u2019ve got one coming out, on which we\u2019re just in post-production. It\u2019s a film by director Paul Wright, called Mission. I just love working with her. And I think that when you\u2019ve got really interesting subjects and material, actors want that stuff. So it\u2019s really nice to be able to go back to particular actors I have worked with in the past, like Rosy, and be like: \u201cLook, there\u2019s something really special here.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tIs there anything else you can share on Mission?<\/p>\n

\n\tWe have been on a very long post-production journey with it, and so it\u2019s changed and shifted over the course of the process. I\u2019m really excited to finally introduce it into the festival world and get people\u2019s reactions. It\u2019s been another really special project, and working with another wonderful director and an amazing cast.<\/p>\n

\n\tPinny Grylls <\/p>\n

\n\tLast year, Grylls won the BFI Chanel Filmmaker Award for her debut feature Grand Theft Hamlet, a doc shot entirely inside video game Grand Theft Auto, which also won the SXSW jury award for best feature doc, and 2 BIFAs, namely the Raindance Maverick honor and the Outstanding Debut Documentary Director honor.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cA deaf filmmaker who learned BSL after losing her hearing in 2016, Grylls has also created documentaries for major U.K. broadcasters and institutions, including the BBC, Channel 4, The National Theatre, and The Guardian,\u201d BAFTA notes.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tPinny Grylls, courtesy of BAFTA\/Hollie Fernando<\/p>\n

\n\tHow does it feel to be part of the latest BAFTA Breakthrough group?<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s super exciting. To be honest with you, I thought my career was over about 10 years ago because I lost my hearing. I thought, \u201cMy God, how am I going to make films when half of filmmaking is sound-based?\u201d I didn\u2019t go completely deaf, but I\u2019m profoundly deaf in this ear and moderately deaf in that ear. And it happened quite quickly, and I was obviously an adult. I wasn\u2019t born deaf, so it was a shock, and I didn\u2019t know how to navigate that. I thought I was going to get a different job \u2013 Uber driver or something. I was really struggling to understand what I was going to do. So to be in this position is extraordinary for me, and really quite unbelievable. It\u2019s a dream come true.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat was the inspiration for Grand Theft Hamlet?<\/p>\n

\n\tWith COVID, we were in a moment of crisis, and we didn\u2019t know how we were going to make films or do theater ever again. So, it was just out of desperation, really. I guess it was like when I lost my hearing, and I thought, what can we do to kind of look at this from a different perspective? My route out of my hearing loss was learning sign language and entering a deaf community, and thinking about myself as that person. My route out of the COVID pandemic was thinking how can we do something really fun and new and innovative and learn a new skill? I learned about gaming for the first time. My husband [Sam Crane] was like, \u201cI\u2019ve always been a stage actor. I just want to try and do this, do classical theater inside Grand Theft Auto.\u201d And we just came together and worked together on this new thing.<\/p>\n

\n\tDo you have any new ideas you are working on?<\/p>\n

\n\tWell, I am developing a rom-com coming-of-age drama called Signs of Life. It\u2019s a fiction film, and I want it to be mainstream. It\u2019s about a woman who\u2019s in her 30s, who loses her hearing, and then gets a bit lost, and then finds the deaf community in a Deaf Comedy Club and falls in love with the guy who runs it, and then ends up transforming her life through joining this deaf community. And I guess what I want to do is [address] questions around why sign language wasn\u2019t offered to me when I lost my hearing. Why was I given medical fixes when actually it was the lifeline I needed to bring me back to life? I want to make a film that has an impact on how we see sign language.<\/p>\n

\n\tNathaniel Price<\/p>\n

\n\tPrice\u2019s eight-part adaptation of Bernadine Evaristo\u2019s novel Mr Loverman, starring Lennie James, aired on the BBC in 2024 to critical acclaim.\u00a0His earlier credits include Noughts & Crosses for the BBC, Tin Star seasons 2 and 3 for Sky, and The Outlaws season 2 and 3 for the BBC and Amazon. <\/p>\n

\n\tAccording to BAFTA, he has \u201ca number of television dramas in development \u2013 adaptations and originals,\u201d and he is working on feature screenplays.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tNathaniel Price, courtesy of BAFTA\/Hollie Fernando<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat\u2019s your hope for the BAFTA Breakthrough experience?<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s like a huge honor and privilege to be selected. I\u2019ve watched the past participants of the program with keen interest over the years and seen some of the fantastic projects and things they\u2019ve done. And so to be included in that is a real honor. Having the opportunity to speak to people who\u2019ve been there and done it, and just trying to take things, maybe their process or their experience, and utilizing it in your own career, is just a fantastic opportunity.<\/p>\n

\n\tIs there anybody whose brain you would love to pick?<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019m a huge fan of [screenwriter] Peter Straughan. I think Wolf Hall is one of the best things that\u2019s ever been on TV. He\u2019s a master of his craft, a brilliant writer, so he would be at the top of the list, along with, Michaela Cole. I think she is a fearless storyteller, and I just really admire her career and her tenacity and just the confidence that she has in her storytelling ability and how she subverts expectations and stereotypes.<\/p>\n

\n\tMr Loverman has been so well received. Did you ever have doubts that you were the right person to adapt this story about a man (played by Lennie James) whose marriage collapses after a decades-long affair with his male best friend is revealed for TV?<\/p>\n

\n\tI did, actually. I\u2019m quite a slow reader, but I read the book really quickly when it first came to me, and I just love the world, I love the characters. It\u2019s exactly the type of story that I want to tell. It\u2019s challenging, it has complex characters, and it\u2019s a beautiful story. At the same time, I was like, \u201cThis is not my lived experience. So am I the right person to tell the story?\u201d That was a big conversation that I had, first of all, with my agent and then the production company, and we came to a collective decision that I was the right person because of other aspects of my life, such as becoming a father and all these other things that connected me to this world. It was this fantastic writing opportunity, it was also a chance for me to meet diverse people. It was such a life-changing experience for me.<\/p>\n

\n\tAre you working on anything new?<\/p>\n

\n\tI\u2019ve got a film with Idris Elba that\u2019s currently filming for Apple TV in the U.S. It\u2019s an adaptation of the Neil LaBute play This Is How It Goes. Idris is starring and directing, so that\u2019s exciting. And also have another film, Khadijah, that Ashley Walters is set to direct. It\u2019s about a young female jockey, the first hijabi female jockey to win a race in Europe. It\u2019s a really, really exciting story. She\u2019s from Brixton, South London, and, yeah. It\u2019s just a really beautiful underdog story.<\/p>\n

\n\tMegumi Inman <\/p>\n

\n\tThe documentary director has earned plaudits for Atomic People and the BAFTA-nominated Black Box Diaries, which tells the story of the face of Japan\u2019s #MeToo movement, among others. She is currently working on a feature documentary film about the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant accident for HBO.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\tMeg Inman, courtesy of BAFTA\/Hollie Fernando<\/p>\n

\n\tHow does it feel to be included in BAFTA Breakthrough?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tIt was a real shock It\u2019s really wonderful and exciting. I was so pleasantly surprised, because working in this industry, you don\u2019t have a company that\u2019s supporting you as a free freelance director. You\u2019re really on your own, just moving from project to project. To be recognized by BAFTA, one of the most prestigious film organizations in the world, just took my breath away.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat kind of themes and narratives interest you? I have seen Atomic People and Black Box Diaries, which both tell stories about Japan.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tYes, both are Japanese stories that are known in Japan, but aren\u2019t that well known outside of Japan. I\u2019m mixed British-Japanese and am fluent in both languages and was brought up in both. So, for this part of my career, I\u2019ve really felt like using that to my advantage, using my understanding of both cultures and languages to bring out those Japanese stories. That has been my mission. Atomic People, in many ways, is a historical, very pure documentary about the experiences of people who survived the atomic bomb. But again, it is something that\u2019s not that discussed or talked about or understood out in the west, strangely. Black Box Diaries is a more modern story about an incredibly brave young woman who was raped and then goes to investigate her own rape, because no one else in her country is going to do it for her or is going to support her. So, again, it\u2019s a film that touches on society in Japan today and how women are treated today, and what sexual abuse means in Japan. They\u2019re extremely important topics that relate to and tie into each other.<\/p>\n

\n\tHas Black Box Diaries been screened in Japan?<\/p>\n

\n\tIt\u2019s been a controversial film, but finally, it\u2019s going to be shown in Japan in December, so we\u2019re all very excited for its success.<\/p>\n

\n\tYou have an HBO project in the works. What can you tell us about it?<\/p>\n

\n\tYes, the current project I\u2019m working on is for HBO, but it\u2019s about the Fukushima nuclear power plant accident that happened in 2011, so it\u2019s another extremely harrowing, serious story, which has so many different levels of understanding that are needed. But what I would really like to get out of this Breakthrough program the most is maybe branching out of just telling Japanese stories. I\u2019m just as British as I am Japanese, so I would like to use this as an opportunity to tell even broader, wider stories as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tDo you ever think about potentially doing fiction?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tI absolutely love fiction filmmaking. And I think what\u2019s so interesting about the documentary space right now that is that there\u2019s a lot of fiction and documentary merging and bringing together the best elements of both. Essentially, it\u2019s storytelling. Documentary is so powerful because you\u2019re right there talking to the person who experienced that thing. It\u2019s so direct. But then what fiction can do is help you really bring the emotion. And it\u2019s not just facts that you\u2019re trying to tell in a story, it\u2019s feelings. And so I would love to work across genres, and steal and borrow from other genres, whether it\u2019s gaming or fiction, film or comedy or music. You got to be a magpie and sort of borrow things from everywhere to tell your story in the best way.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2025 BAFTA Breakthrough cohort of rising U.K. talent across film, TV, and gaming, supported by Netflix, has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":151956,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[74327,92520,146,85,399,46,400],"class_list":["post-151955","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-bafta","tag-bafta-breakthrough","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-international","tag-israel","tag-netflix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151955","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151955"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151955\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}