01 May 2018

Nuclear starts principal photography in Wales this week, and is produced through Ffilm Cymru Wales’ Cinematic scheme, supported by S4C and other partners.

Emilia Jones (Youth, High Rise) plays teenager Emma in this supernatural thriller about a toxic family relationship and its tragic, explosive fall out. Helping Emma move on from the ghosts of her past is George MacKay (Pride, Bypass).

Nuclear is the directorial debut of Catherine Linstrum, best known for her screenplays Dreaming of Joseph Lees and the Cannes Un Certain Regard winner California Dreamin’. Linstrum co-wrote Nuclear with David John Newman, and Stella Nwimo is producing. Linstrum and Nwimo previously collaborated on short film Things That Fall from the Sky, starring Ophelia Lovibond and Steve Waddington, through BFI NETWORK Wales’ Beacons scheme.

Nuclear will shoot on location in Snowdonia with French Director of Photography Chrystel Fournier (Girlhood, Paris Can Wait).

Stella Nwimo comments: “Catherine has a unique storytelling voice. From her short pitch over coffee, I was hooked and knew then that I would move heaven and earth to make this compelling film with her. I am delighted at the talented collaborators that Catherine and David’s screenplay has attracted.”

Nuclear was developed through the second iteration of Ffilm Cymru Wales’ Cinematic scheme, which will produce three films from emerging Welsh filmmakers with bold and unique voices, showcasing creative appeal, commercial potential and market focus. Cinematic is financed through a partnership with the BFI, using National Lottery funding, S4C and Great Point Media, with additional support from Fields Park Media Partners and Warner Music Supervision.

The two other Cinematic films due to start production later this year are contemporary Welsh-language horror Cadi from director Lee Haven Jones (Shetland) and producer Roger Williams (Bang), and darkly-comic thriller The Toll, written by Matt Redd, directed by Ryan Hooper, and produced by Western Edge Pictures’ Vaughan Sivell (Prevenge, Third Star).

Previous films produced through Cinematic comprise Craig Roberts’ directorial debut Just Jim, Euros Lyn’s award-winning adaptation of Fflur Dafydd’s Welsh-language novel Y Llyfrgell / The Library Suicides, and Chris Crow’s historical chiller The Lighthouse.

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