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Exclusive: Kaleidoscope Film Distribution (Kfd) is headed to Cannes next week with three new titles on its slate, including Irvine Welsh: Reality is not Enough.

The Irvine Welsh documentary explores the Scottish author’s influence and the themes of class, mortality, creativity and identity in his work. Directed by Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché and Tish filmmaker Paul Sng, it features readings by Liam Neeson, Stephen Graham, Nick Cave and Ruth Negga. Kfd holds world rights; the film is produced by Natasha Dack, and was previously titled I Am Irvine Welsh with Noah Media Group then handling sales.

A squadron of fighter pilots is depicted over 24 hours in 1940 in Callum Burn’s stripped-down-to-the-rivets tale

This unabashedly retro war story, set over 24 hours in August 1940, strips the action down to the rivets with a small cast and a handful of locations, including the cockpits of several Spitfire planes (or perhaps one plane used to stand in for several). You’d think it might have cost no more than a tin of biscuits and few packets of tea to make – except that the aerial photography, never a cheap component, looks authentic and presumably special effects were required to create the dogfights in which our heroic fly-boys duke it out in the skies against the Luftwaffe.

Directed by Callum Burn and co-written by him and his father Andrew, it’s of a piece with the previous features from their Lincolnshire production company Tin Hat, specialists in second world war tales of heroism and aerial derring-do.

To mark the release of Altitude Film’s Lancaster on Digital, Blu-ray and DVD May 29 we have been given 3 aviation bundles any enthusiast will love! We have an original Lancaster film poster, an Airfix model of the iconic aircraft plus a copy of the Blu-ray. The filmmakers were also behind another soaring success – Spitfire, so we are throwing in a DVD copy of this incredible documentary too.

Lancaster, a stunning feature documentary, is told through the words of the last surviving crew members, re-mastered archive material and extraordinary aerial footage of the Raf’s last airworthy Lancaster. Directed by Callum Burn.

Responsible for some of the most famous and infamous missions in WW2 history, from the Dambuster raids to the controversial bombing of Dresden, the Lancaster would help turn the tide of war. But there was a deadly price to be paid. 55,000 young men – half of all Bomber Command’s...

The second weekend of ‘Doctor Strange 2’ will dominate cinema screens.

Independent arthouse titles including The Quiet Girl and Vortex are competing for screen space with the second weekend of Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness at the UK-Ireland box office this weekend.

Irish filmmaker Colm Bairéad’s debut feature The Quiet Girl (Irish title: An Cailín Ciúin) will play in 29 sites across England, Scotland and Wales through Curzon, with 60 in Ireland and Northern Ireland through Breakout Pictures. It launched to acclaim in the Generation section at the 2022 Berlinale.

Set in rural Ireland in 1981, the film centres on a neglected...

This second world war aviation drama is a film of laudable ambition but limited means, too little invention and a cliched script

Attempting to do a second world war aviation picture on a microbudget certainly meets the definition of underdog British pluck. But unlike the Raf in the Battle of Britain, Spitfire Over Berlin can’t surmount overwhelming odds. It’s somewhat frustrating because it’s not the visuals that let Callum Burn’s film down (though some of the CGI used for the external scenes is much too clean-looking); it’s the cliche-ballasted script, without enough fuel to fill an hour-and-a-quarter runtime, that sends the film blazing groundwards.

Spitfire pilot Edward (Kris Saddler), who enjoys buzzing English hedgerows on practice flights, seems to be the local daredevil in residence. But he draws the short straw when he is the only man available for Operation Extreme Jeopardy: to take an...

NonStop also picks up three Sundance titles.

NonStop Entertainment has gone on a buying spree for Nordic rights to new titles including Berlinale opening film Peter Von Kant directed by Francois Ozon, in a deal with Playtime.

Also from Berlinale’s official selection, the company acquired Dark Glasses by Dario Argento, with Nordic rights acquired from Wild Bunch. The thriller set in Rome stars Asia Argento.

From the Sundance 2022 selection, NonStop acquired Nordic rights from A24 to After Yang by Kogonada (also selected for Cannes 2021). Colin Farrell and Jodie Turner-Smith star in a sci-fi about memory, grief and love. Also,...

North American rights have been pre-sold.

Shooting has started in the UK on Callum Burn’s Second World War thriller Spitfire Over Berlin for Kaleidoscope Film Distribution which is launching the project at AFM Online this week.

Spitfire Over Berlin is about a flight lieutenant in an unarmed solo aircraft on a dangerous mission over Berlin, aiming to save the lives of more than 1,200 airmen. In-house distribution arm Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment aims to release the film in the UK in spring 2022; North American rights have been pre-sold to Shout! Factory.

Andrew Burn is producing the film. Burn and his son,...

"I cannot stress enough the importance of this mission. Good luck, stay sharp." Shout Factory has released an official Us trailer for a British bomber "war epic" titled Lancaster Skies, which originally opened in the UK in spring last year. A loving homage to the classic British war films of the 1940s and '50s, Lancaster Skies soars in its depiction of the legendary bomber crews who fought for our freedom. The storyline follows Douglas, a broken, solitary Spitfire Ace, who must overcome his past to lead a Lancaster bomber crew in the pivotal aerial war over Berlin, in 1944. The film stars Kris Saddler, Rosa Coduri, David Dobson, Josh Collings, Joanne Gale, and Jeffrey Mundell. This looks a bit too jingoistic for my tastes - doesn't seem like there's much of a story here other than "it's rough flying a bomber during a war!" Which is, indeed, true. Here's the...

Here’s the latest episode of the The Filmmakers Podcast, part of the ever-growing podcast roster here on Nerdly. If you haven’t heard the show yet, you can check out previous episodes on the official podcast site, whilst we’ll be featuring each and every new episode as it premieres.

For those unfamiliar, with the series, The Filmmakers Podcast is a podcast about how to make films from micro budget indie films to bigger budget studio films and everything in-between. Our hosts Giles Alderson, Dan Richardson, Andrew Rodger and Cristian James talk how to get films made, how to actually make them and how to try not to f… it up in their very humble opinion. Guests will come on and chat about their film making experiences from directors, writers, producers, screenwriters, actors, cinematographers and distributors. They also shoot the breeze about their new films, The Dare, World of Darkness,...

Fear, desperation and excitement are all missing in action in this micro-budget tale of a band of second world war pilots

This British drama about a second world war bomber unit is a plucky effort made on a shoestring by Callum Burn, whose multitasking you’ve got to admire – I spotted his name 11 times in the credits, from “director” to “set builder”. The end result, however, is doggedly uncinematic and thinly stretched. What interests Burn is the mettle of the young Raf pilots who flew night missions against German industry, knowing the odds were against them getting back alive. A pissed-up pilot in a bar makes the point by flipping a coin: heads or tails, live or die.

Starchy Douglas Miller (Jeffrey Mundell) is the new boy on base, replacing a skipper who sacrificed his life to save his men. Miller instantly makes a bad impression by priggishly insisting inferiors salute him.

Company also adds another family animation, Second World War thriller and porn documentary to sales titles.

Nick Frost (Shaun Of The Dead) has joined the voice cast of upcoming family animation Stardog And Turbocat.

Frost will voice the title character Stardog in the film about a vigilante super-cat who teams up with a dog to help him track his lost owner. He joins Luke Evans, Bill Nighy and Gemma Arterton, who have all completed recording for the film, which is due for delivery in summer 2019.

Kaleidoscope Film Distribution is representing sales on the project. The company has also added a...