Shaheen Baig: Last News

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International “Blue Jean” director Georgia Oakley has signed with CAA. The up-and-coming British filmmaker made her debut feature with the Venice-premiering “Blue Jean,” which bowed to wide acclaim on the Lido in September. Set in northeast England in the 1980s, the pic is centred on a closeted gym teacher (played by Rosy McEwen) who is forced to confront her sexuality after taking a gay student under her wing. The film tackles the Margaret Thatcher era’s controversial Section 28 law, which prohibited British schools and councils from “promoting the teaching of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship.” The law was passed in 1988 and stayed in place until 2003.

Scottish filmmaker Charlotte Wells’s debut feature Aftersun has bagged three awards in the British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) craft categories, the year’s most wins.

This Is England director Shane Meadows for a new BBC drama.The Gallows Pole, based on the novel of the same name by Benjamin Myers, is a six-part series set in 18th century Yorkshire to the backdrop of the impending industrial revolution.The series dramatises the true story of the rise and fall of David Hartley (Michael Socha) and his band of counterfeiters the Cragg Vale Coiners – who produced fake gold coins to supplement their small incomes from weaving.Meadows states half the cast is formed of “underrepresented” actors and actresses, after holding open auditions and watching over 6,500 tapes.Speaking about the show, Meadows said: “Putting this cast together (with the undying support of [casting director] Shaheen Baig and her amazing