POP - A BFI NETWORK Short Film

Aim

Pop is a short film about identity and gender. With your help, we can get it through post-production and onto the big screen.

Supported by Film Hub Midlands

Pop follows a young boy, Jack, as he explores his own identity by befriending the recently released ex-convict, Pop. The pair bond, but Pop's past and his inability to control his emotions threaten to put Jack in danger.

Pop is a progressive film that showcases a timeless story in a modern way. This film hits on age old themes of identity and coming of age, but shows them from the perspective of a young transgender boy discovering who he is. It explores masculinity and how our gender and other people’s perceptions of who we are has an impact on who we could become.

Pop has been well over a year in the making, culminating in a 4 day shoot in October 2019. With support from BFI NETWORK, awarding funds from the National Lottery in association with Film Hub Midlands, we’ve been able to get the project to where it is now, but now we need your help to give it the best possible journey through post-production and out into the world for audiences to view it. 

We need to raise £5,000 to make the film the best that it can be and give it the push it needs to get into festivals. 

Laura finds her expression as a Director grounded in poetic realism; stories that are founded in truth, with comedy and tragedy at the heart of their narratives, to explore functions of society. In 2016, Laura shot her first short film, SIZE 8, and went on to be funded by Arts Council England’s Random Acts Programme in 2017, directing and choreographing a short dance film, NAME. This year Laura has created a physical theatre short film through the BBC New Creatives scheme, alongside working on POP with the support of BFI NETWORK Midlands.

Lucy Meer is a BAFTA longlisted producer with a passion for bringing to life stories of otherness from outsider perspectives. She has produced content for the likes of Warp Films, Sky Arts, BBC and more and POP will be her third short film. Along with producing short and feature projects, she's been involved in talent development schemes such as Creative England's Producer Hothouse and will be heading to the the Berlin Film Festival as part of the Market Trader Programme.

Bart is a Midlands based Director of Photography. POP will be his third collaboration with Director Laura Margo Roe, having worked together on the Random Acts dance film NAME in 2017, and more recently a physical theatre short film, created through the BBC New Creatives scheme. 

We had a fantastic crew that helped us bring the film to life, so stay tuned for updates about the people we worked with!

Played by newcomer, Jake 

Jack is a boy who knows his own mind. He unapologetically presents his true self without much concern for those around him. Like any male identifying child on the edge of puberty, Jack is curious as to how to express his masculinity, especially with the absence of his father and the influence his new found friend Pop.

Played by Stephen Graham

Based on the retelling of true events, Pops character is a man of few words. Failed, like so many generations of men, his battle with loneliness is matched with his inability to express his true emotions. After assisting his wife in ending her own life and serving a decade in prison for manslaughter, he’s struggling to adapt to a world in which he’s alone and unable to connect with other people.

A large sum of the money raised will go towards the post production of the film, bringing in top notch editors, colourists and VFX to sew together the story. We also need to boost our funds for inclusive screenings to socially isolated LGBT youth and to cover the cost of festival entry fees.

Post-Production –  £1500

Music – £1000

Festival Entry – £500

Screenings –  £1500

Publicity materials (Poster, Press Kit, Press Releases) – £500

If we reach our target and go beyond it, we want to put that money back into the production by bringing on board publicists and a festival strategist, to give the film the best possible chance of success.

We’ve worked closely with the Reuben Thomas, the Project Officer at the Leicester LGBT centre, an organisation focused on offering support to young transgender and questioning people. Working with him and the organisation we’ve developed a version of a transgender character whose identity isn’t a plot device and where the cast portraying them is of the gender they identify as.

 A key goal of the team is for the film to be used as a means to put on inclusive screenings for young members of the LGBTQ+ community, offering screenings of films by, for and about LGBTQ+ people in an environment that fosters social inclusion and safety for vulnerable people.

Going into this film, we had so many elements that could have gone wrong, from working with children and animals to exterior locations in a very soggy October, but we made it through in one piece…just about. Now, our risk is not doing justice to all of the parts of the film we have brought together so far.

For all of the hard work put into this project, from developing the script to sloshing through mud in 4x4’s and catching escaping horses (a story you can find out more about in our Production Diary perk!), this fund will ensure that Pop reaches its full potential and reaches the audience that sorely need to see it.

With the film already shot, we have rewards waiting to go out to you as soon as you support us, so no waiting months for some of the rewards we have on offer! From storyboards to postcards, coffee meetings with the team and Behind the Scenes insights into all of the crazy things that happened on the shoot. We’ve got a whole host of content lined up for our supporters over the course of the campaign, including interviews with cast & crew about the film as well as some of our existing supporters. These perks are exclusively available during the campaign!

We hope the film inspires you to contribute to our campaign. Thank you for taking the time to find out more about it.

This project successfully funded on 10th December 2019