TV and Film Production No Longer Qualify for UK Travel Exemption

The UK’s film and high-end TV industries understandably recorded a downturn in 2020, with the pandemic initially causing a complete shutdown before gradual recovery saw the year’s fourth quarter post impressive numbers.

Manori Ravindran International EditorIn what is the first official glimpse of the pandemic’s impact on U.K.

EXCLUSIVE: UK production and sales firm MSR Media is planning to shoot comedy feature One Year Off on the relatively Covid-free Caribbean island of Nevis, the producers and island’s leadership are announcing today.

The British Independent Film Awards —better knowns as the BIFAs —have unveiled the winners of its nine craft categories. Remi Weekes' horror His House —which landed 16 nominations in total —won the honor for best effects (for Pedro Sabrosa and Stegano Pepin) and best production design (for Jacqueline Abrahams who was previously nominated for the award in 2017 for Lady Macbeth).

BAFTA has decided to extend the eligibility period for its Film Awards this year, with the org now allowing films to release at any point in 2021 and still be eligible for the upcoming ceremony in April.

UK broadcaster Sky has landed rights to a host of upcoming features, packing its film slate for 2021 with titles including the Allison Janney-starring Breaking News in Yuba County and the Irvine Welsh-penned Creation Stories.

To follow up his 2017 breakout indie hit God’s Own Country, Francis Lee found inspiration in the story of a little-known British fossil collector named Mary Anning. For Ammonite, he embellished what little is known about Anning, fashioning a romantic story for her, and cast Kate Winslet as the enigmatic heroine and Saoirse Ronan as the young woman who cracks her shell.

Poland has generated some fresh class distinctions since communist days, a development examined with a shrewd and merciless eye in the country’s Oscar-submitted feature Never Gonna Snow Again. The central figure is a mysterious private masseur, played by the UK-based actor Alec Utgoff, who goes door-to-door carrying with him a folding massage table through a wealthy gated community to offer is services to the numerous and invariably dissatisfied people living in the virtually identical houses.

Love Island's Iain Stirling has joked that the new series of the show could be filmed in the UK after the success of I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here. The comedian and voice of the dating show - who married his girlfriend Laura Whitmore, who presents Love Island - admitted that setting it in Britain would "mix it up" a bot.

COVID-19 restrictions from today (January 18).The UK government has updated its list of job exemptions, and as of 4am GMT today, those travelling for television production and high-end television production and film will now have to self-isolate for 10 days upon arrival.Other entertainment jobs such as those in advertising productions and performing arts professionals are also no longer exempt.However, those “engaged in urgent or essential work for the BBC’s broadcasting transmission network and

Film and TV production has been taken off the UK government’s coronavirus travel exemption list, meaning those arriving in Britain to participate in shoots of all shapes and sizes will need to self-isolate for 10 days.

direct to your inboxHe's best known for playing gobby wheeler-dealer Lip Gallagher in the gritty Manchester drama Shameless, and Jody Latham is making a return to acting.Jody will have a leading role in a new movie set in the 1950s about the Teddy Boys.The 39-year-old actor turned entrepreneur, who has recently carved out a successful career in cosmetics and aesthetics, will begin shooting the film later this year.The film will focus on black culture and how it has shaped Britain today.The film

The 11th annual Youth Diversity Film Festival will open this weekend, featuring panel discussions and more than 60 films by young filmmakers from the U.S. and 13 other countries, including the UK, Kenya, Russia, Brazil, Bangladesh, South Korea, Iran and India. Presented by the Black Hollywood Education and Resource Center, the online festival runs January 16-31.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentJohnny Flynn’s star has been on the rise in recent years, and will be propelled a little higher on Jan. 29 with the release of period drama “The Dig” on Netflix, in which he appears alongside Ralph Fiennes, Carey Mulligan and Lily James.

Johnny Flynn as David Bowie in Stardust has just been released exclusively for NME – check it out below.The clip sees Flynn as Bowie confront his manager Ron Oberman (GLOW star Marc Maron in the film) about their lack of success in America.Stardust is released this week (January 15) on digital platforms in the UK, and sees Flynn writing original songs for the film.Check out the new clip here: Recently reflecting on Bowie fans’ response to the film, Flynn told NME he received “homophobic abuse”

Class as much as gender constraints obscured the achievements of 19th century English paleontologist Mary Anning, magnificently played by Kate Winslet in Francis Lee's slow-burn elemental love story Ammonite. And class barriers continue to marginalize the work of Ralph Fiennes' self-taught archeologist Basil Brown almost a century later in The Dig.