The Family Picture

A determined clan of Warwick University students, one year ago, dreamed to professionally produce a feature-length film that they could take to film festivals internationally. Produced on HD cameras using 35mm lenses, performed by professional actors who are externally casted practitioners in the industry, and output in surround sound, the project is technically in the same league as independent films you would watch at an arthouse cinema.

In a run-down flat resides Victor Knight, an eighteen-year-old orphan who lives with, and for, his younger sister Candy who he nurses through her terminal illness. On the advent of Candy’s birthday she wishes to know one family secret: who are their parents? Victor discretely undertakes this task and starts off in search of clues to his parents’ identity and whereabouts. When Victor is given ‘clues’, he is pointed in the direction of a clock-tower. Whilst trying to race against time for his sister’s sake and demystify this monument’s cryptic significance in their lives, he befriends a peculiarly helpful woman in a nearby church whose family affairs he finds himself inadvertently becoming more and more involved with. Unearthing a family history that doesn’t want to be unturned sends Victor on a turbulent journey of emotions, leaving this teenager-turned-adult with a profound insight behind the concept of family and a dreaded sense of guilt.

For this one screening, all funds raised through ticketing are donated to The Prince’s Trust because its screenplay endorses the empowering of young people. There are more than one million young people in the UK not in education, employment or training and the Trust helps such individuals support themselves.

Experience the private world premiere of this phenomenal venture with the entire cast and crew right here on campus at WSC!

Matthew Hepburn