BLISS! receives its World Premiere

USPA NEWS - WORLD PREMIERE AT 70th EIFF
Starring: FREYA PARKS, DAVID LEON, MONTSERRAT LOMBARD, REECE NOI, LAUREN JOHNS & LARS ARENTZ-HANSEN. Directed by: RITA OSEI. With music composed by Ivor Novello nominee HÉLÈNE MUDDIMAN.

A striking, modern day rites-of-passage adventure about a young girl who sets out on an emotional journey to find her father, BLISS! is the feature directorial debut from one of Britain´s most promising filmmakers, Rita Osei. Written by Alex Ferguson (Writer´s Guild Award for "My Uncle Freddie"; "Casement" for the late Corin Redgrave) and based on his play, Bliss!, the film stars up-and-coming actors Freya Parks (who´s feature film debut was in Jon Amiel´s Creation with Paul Bettany and Jennifer Connelly; Jane Eyre), alongside Reece Noi (Game of Thrones, Grange Hill), Lauren Johns (Pride, Here and Now), David Leon (Vera, RocknRolla), Montserrat Lombard (St. Trinian´s, Ashes to Ashes), and Lars Arentz-Hansen (The Beach, Big Trouble).

The film is produced by Alan Latham for GSP Studios and Rita Osei for Sugar & Water Films.

BLISS! receives its World Premiere at the 70th Edinburgh International Film Festival with cast and filmmakers in attendance, including Rita Osei, Freya Parks and Hélène Muddiman. The film, which screens in the Best of British strand, premieres (fittingly on Father´s Day) on Sunday 19 June at 8.40pm at Odeon and screens again on Monday 20 June, 6pm at Filmhouse.

Meet the Robsons, a dysfunctional family living in South Shields on the north east coast of England. Sixteen-year-old Tasha (Freya Parks), the middle child, is a sensitive young girl. When she cruelly finds out from Charlie, her mum´s boyfriend, that he isn´t her real father she is determined to track her real father down. Jenny, the eldest sibling, tells Tasha that she remembers a man referred to only as “The Viking“ coming round when she was a baby. Tasha becomes convinced that this mysterious “Viking“ is her father.

With help from beloved younger sister Debbie and brother Danny, Tasha rides the waves aboard a large ferry destined for Norway. On arrival she is taken into care. There she meets a Norwegian girl, Marta, who proposes to help her find her dad.

Tasha and Marta escape from the children´s home, and follow a Norwegian band they encounter to a music festival. One of which, Tasha is convinced, is her father. At the festival in the magical fjords Tasha impresses him with her soulful singing, and he befriends her. Is he her father? What will happen to her family while she´s away?

BLISS! is Osei´s first feature, which she developed with Writer´s Guild Award winning writer Alex Ferguson and 1988 Academy Award Short Film nominee Jenny Wilkes. She is also developing a slate of features including The African Job, a period drama set between Ghana and England; Wings (Working title), a period adventure/drama and Confessions of a Clairvoyant, a romantic comedy. Osei was given a Breakthrough Brits Award, alongside Noel Clarke and Kwame Kwei-Armah OBE in 2008. Breakthrough Brits was the UKFC´s programme designed to celebrate and advance the new wave of British film-making talent on the cusp of breakthrough international success.

The film is produced by Alan Latham for GSP Studios and Rita Osei for Sugar & Water Films; Associate Producer is Alex Ashworth. Boasting numerous accolades between them, the film´s production talent include BAFTA winning Director of Photography Richard Stoddard; Oscar nominee Editor Kant Pan; BAFTA winner John Ellis for Production Design and music composed by Ivor Novello nominated & Founder of Hollywood Elite Composers, Hélène Muddiman.