{"id":118944,"date":"2026-02-01T12:24:27","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T12:24:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/118944\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T12:24:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T12:24:27","slug":"queens-gambit-star-jacob-fortune-lloyd-leads-nfts-short-cloud-99","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/118944\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Queen’s Gambit’ Star Jacob Fortune-Lloyd Leads NFTS Short ‘Cloud 99’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tJacob Fortune-Lloyd<\/a>, known for his roles in \u201cThe Queen\u2019s Gambit\u201d and \u201cSteal,\u201d leads the cast of \u201cCloud 99<\/a>,\u201d a dystopian short from the National Film and Television School written and directed by Leila Murton Poole.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film also stars Olivia Popica (\u201cThe Wheel of Time,\u201d \u201cLiaison\u201d) and Jayda Eyles (\u201cBreeders\u201d) as Fortune-Lloyd\u2019s on-screen family, with Tim Berrington (\u201cThe Diplomat,\u201d \u201cSuccession\u201d) playing their eccentric neighbor.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe story takes place in a community where residents pay for access to sunlight. A father goes to extreme lengths to support his daughter\u2019s entry in a school competition to grow sunflowers. The narrative combines intimate character drama with satirical social commentary on inequality, environmental disaster, and survival within exclusionary systems.<\/p>\n

\n\tMilly Pope produces the project, her second collaboration with Murton Poole after their dystopian short \u201cEarth,\u201d which received a best student short nomination at the BAFTA-qualifying Norwich Film Festival and was selected for Manchester Film Festival.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019m drawn to exploring real-world issues in worlds that feel slightly askew \u2013 places that are recognisable yet unsettling,\u201d said Murton Poole.<\/p>\n

\n\tSimon Higgins handled casting. \u201cThe stories I tell live in stylized worlds that need to feel believable,\u201d Murton Poole said. \u201cSimon has an instinct for finding actors who can hold emotion and authenticity within heightened spaces.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMurton Poole called the cast \u201can absolute joy\u201d to work with, commending their ability to \u201cbring grounded performances to a world that could so easily feel abstract.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe production shot on 35mm at The Modern Appletree in Henley, where the crew converted a garden into two adjacent properties to create an outdoor set.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cShooting on film was a top priority for me,\u201d Murton Poole said. \u201cIn a world where sunlight is a character, film has an inimitable way of capturing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tCarolina Lobo Nunes served as cinematographer. \u201cThe shoot relied heavily on the Great British weather,\u201d said Murton Poole, \u201cand on our incredible cinematographer, Carolina Lobo Nunes, who somehow managed to control it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe film is completing post-production and will premiere at the NFTS 2026 graduation showcase at the British Film Institute in March before beginning its festival run.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jacob Fortune-Lloyd, known for his roles in \u201cThe Queen\u2019s Gambit\u201d and \u201cSteal,\u201d leads the cast of \u201cCloud 99,\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118945,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[52289,52290,9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":{"0":"post-118944","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-cloud-99","9":"tag-jacob-fortune-lloyd","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-city","12":"tag-nyc","13":"tag-queens","14":"tag-queens-headlines","15":"tag-queens-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118944\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}