Screen Northants to premiere its latest feature film in Northampton with backing from BBC Children in Need

Local social enterprise film production company Screen Northants is set to preview its latest comedy feature film, featuring a British Chinese cast and supported by BBC Children in Need.

The production, a British Chinese comedy named 'Fortune Cookies' will be previewing to its local cast and crew on the cusp of Chinese New Year 2022 and after much anticipation from those involved.

Set in the 1990s, Fortune Cookies tells a 'unique' story from first-time female British Chinese Writer/Director Brenda Lee, starring Carmen Pat and Siu Hun Li.

It tells the story of a talented young actress who must choose whether to put aside her dreams of stardom to save her family's business which is at risk of repossession. So how must the family do this? By appearing together on a cringe-worthy quiz show.

With a female lead character and a female Producer, the film is made in a particularly unique way using Screen Northants’ social enterprise film production model.

The company shot at locations all over Northampton for the film, including the Royal & Derngate, the Deco theatre, the Guildhall, Northampton International Academy, the Racecourse and the Golden Hill Chinese takeaway in Kingsthorpe.

It was supported by BBC Children in Need, Northampton Borough Council and Sir Thomas White’s Northampton Charity during its filming in 2020. However lockdown meant its release was delayed until now.

Screen Northants, the company producing the film, has kept to its usual style of using professional cast and crew, along with free workshops and work experience for disadvantaged young people and young adults looking for a career in the Creative Industries.

Because of Cineworld Sixfields, Screen Northants is now able to screen a preview of the film to the hundreds of people that made the film possible before it enters its final post-production and distribution stages.

Becky Adams, producer at Screen Northants said: “It’s been an interesting experience having to do all our Post Production remotely but we couldn’t think of a better time to be finishing a project which is a perfect bit of cinema escapism.

"We’re very excited about sharing the film: as with any feature length film there is a huge amount of people involved but, because of our social enterprise model, we also have a huge amount of young people and community volunteers to add to that.

"So we are very grateful to Cineworld for making a big screen available to us so we can say thank you in person to them all.”

The film is screening in Northampton on Monday January 31 on the week which sees in the Chinese New Year: the Year of the Tiger.

It is then followed by a London screening on Tuesday February 1 on the outskirts of Chinatown next to Leicester Square.