Director Greta Bellamacina plays a single mother struggling for recognition as a poet in this charming, gawky and overplayed tale
At last year’s Cannes film festival the poet/model/actor/filmmaker Greta Bellamacina revealed she’d been turned away from the festival site by staff because she had her three-month son with her in a buggy – the irony being that her film is the story of a young single mother struggling to be taken seriously as a poet. Hurt by Paradise turns out to be a drifty, pretentious, London-set drama, though pretty enough, with the smudged eyeliner glamour of an edgy fashion shoot.
Bellamacina’s film is self-consciously highbrow: that much is clear in the opening scene in which Celeste (Bellamacina) gets the brush off from a cartoonishly cynical literary agent who tells her that the reading public is only interested in dead poets: “Look at Sylvia Plath!” He...
At last year’s Cannes film festival the poet/model/actor/filmmaker Greta Bellamacina revealed she’d been turned away from the festival site by staff because she had her three-month son with her in a buggy – the irony being that her film is the story of a young single mother struggling to be taken seriously as a poet. Hurt by Paradise turns out to be a drifty, pretentious, London-set drama, though pretty enough, with the smudged eyeliner glamour of an edgy fashion shoot.
Bellamacina’s film is self-consciously highbrow: that much is clear in the opening scene in which Celeste (Bellamacina) gets the brush off from a cartoonishly cynical literary agent who tells her that the reading public is only interested in dead poets: “Look at Sylvia Plath!” He...
- 9/16/2020
- by Cath Clarke
- The Guardian - Film News
Hurt by Paradise was nominated for the Michael Powell Award for Best British Feature Film at Edinburgh and for Best UK Feature Film at Raindance.
UK based Moviehouse Entertainment has taken on sales duties for Hurt By Paradise, the debut fiction feature from director, Greta Bellamacina, starring Jaime Winstone, Nicholas Rowe and Veronica Clifford.
Produced by Robert Montgomery and written by Bellamacina and Sadie Brown, the film follows the comedic adventures of a struggling poet and single mother (Bellamacina) and her friendship with her babysitter – a failed actress, played by Brown.
Hurt by Paradise was nominated for the Michael Powell...
UK based Moviehouse Entertainment has taken on sales duties for Hurt By Paradise, the debut fiction feature from director, Greta Bellamacina, starring Jaime Winstone, Nicholas Rowe and Veronica Clifford.
Produced by Robert Montgomery and written by Bellamacina and Sadie Brown, the film follows the comedic adventures of a struggling poet and single mother (Bellamacina) and her friendship with her babysitter – a failed actress, played by Brown.
Hurt by Paradise was nominated for the Michael Powell...
- 2/22/2020
- by 57¦Geoffrey Macnab¦41¦
- ScreenDaily
Greta Bellamacina will star in “Thomasina,” an upcoming horror movie from Jaclyn Bethany. Rileigh McDonald (“The Sinner”) has also signed on for the movie, which is set in the underbelly of L.A.
Director and actress Bellamacina has been in the news at Cannes after being refused entry to the Marche with her baby son, then being told she needed to pay an accreditation fee for the infant, a procedure that would take 48 hours to process. The organizers said there was a mix-up on the ground and that it had fixed the situation, but it was an embarrassing incident at a moment when gender equality is firmly in the spotlight.
The “Thomasina” announcement and casting is more regular Cannes news. McDonald, who has been starring in “Matilda” on Broadway, plays the titular character in the picture, a mysterious, down-on-her-luck teenager whose life begins to spin out of control after her mother’s murder.
Director and actress Bellamacina has been in the news at Cannes after being refused entry to the Marche with her baby son, then being told she needed to pay an accreditation fee for the infant, a procedure that would take 48 hours to process. The organizers said there was a mix-up on the ground and that it had fixed the situation, but it was an embarrassing incident at a moment when gender equality is firmly in the spotlight.
The “Thomasina” announcement and casting is more regular Cannes news. McDonald, who has been starring in “Matilda” on Broadway, plays the titular character in the picture, a mysterious, down-on-her-luck teenager whose life begins to spin out of control after her mother’s murder.
- 5/21/2019
- by Stewart Clarke
- Variety Film + TV
The production describe the film as ’a London version of ‘Frances Ha’ meets ‘Manhattan’’.
Hurt By Paradise, a UK independent feature directed by Greta Bellamacina, has wrapped production after a 22-day shoot on location in London and Margate.
Written by Bellamacina and Sadie Brown, the film was shot for £100,000, and is produced by Robert Montgomery. Hal Brotherton-Ratcliffe (Hippopotamus) is executive producer, and the main investor on the film.
Described by the production as ‘a London version of Frances Ha meets Manhattan’, the film follows a struggling poet single mother and her unexpected friendship with her babysitter – a middle-aged failed actress and fantasist.
Hurt By Paradise, a UK independent feature directed by Greta Bellamacina, has wrapped production after a 22-day shoot on location in London and Margate.
Written by Bellamacina and Sadie Brown, the film was shot for £100,000, and is produced by Robert Montgomery. Hal Brotherton-Ratcliffe (Hippopotamus) is executive producer, and the main investor on the film.
Described by the production as ‘a London version of Frances Ha meets Manhattan’, the film follows a struggling poet single mother and her unexpected friendship with her babysitter – a middle-aged failed actress and fantasist.
- 8/24/2018
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
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