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Seeing Chris Newgrange Pictures Ireland Writer/director Tom Cairns Producer Jackie Larkin 22 • NPP 2008 Synopsis Seeing Chris is a coming-of-age story about a young girl wavering on the frontier between adolescence and womanhood and fearful of losing her sight, who experiences the shock of intimacy when she becomes infatuated with an older man. Suburban teenager Laurel feels uncertain of her attractiveness or her place in her family. Younger sister Penelope is ‘the pretty one’, training to be a dancer, and brother Paul is still a little kid. Laurel is embarrassed by her urbane father, although her more confident friend Maureen thinks he’s terribly attractive; and she feels disconnected from her well-groomed, dispassionate mother. Laurel is pale, shy and eager for love - and may be losing her sight. She first sees Chris after a consultation with ophthalmologist Dr Wald in Manhattan. He is sitting at the bar in Jakes, opposite Dr Wald’s consulting rooms, with two friends. Laurel stares at him, noticing his shiny hair. He smiles at her in the mirror. When Maureen tells Laurel she’s sleeping with Kevin, Laurel confides her interest in Chris. After her monthly check-ups with Dr Wald, she goes into Jakes hoping to see him. She is nervous and excited by his presence, his touch on her wrist. He is 27, aware of her youth; his friends talk about things she doesn’t understand. Her vision becomes worse. Upset by other patients with unseeing and bandaged eyes, she stumbles into Jakes. Chris comforts her and makes her laugh before hurrying out. She feels she is special to him, too. Laurel sees Chris the last Thursday of each month. Her schoolwork deteriorates, as does her relationship with her parents. Chris tells her it is a pity he can’t see her more often, but he doesn’t react when she kisses him. Laurel is confused. When Dougie, a boy she had a crush on in eighth grade, kisses her at a party, she feels nothing. She tries to talk to Maureen about Chris, but she’s making out with Kevin. When Laurel makes a special trip to see Chris, he arrives late and barely speaks to her. Laurel feels she has done something wrong but doesn’t know what. But the following Thursday he calls her ‘honey’. They make a date for Friday evening and Laurel tells her parents she is staying with Maureen. The date doesn’t go as expected. They are never alone, hardly talk. Back in his apartment, she feels jittery and sick. He asks her why she came. She realises whatever it was she had been waiting for has gone. They remain at cross-purposes all night and, at dawn, she says she has to go. He drops her off at the station. Numbed by disappointment, she discards her virginity to Dougie the next week in a meaningless few minutes at Maureen’s house. The next month, Dr Wald assures her she isn’t going blind. There is no sign of Chris at Jakes: no one has seen him for a while. She realises that maybe she hurt him. First love and loss jolt her out of the daydreams of childhood into adulthood. Writer/director Tom Cairns Tom is a highly sought-after film and theatre director in the UK. In the past year, he has directed Aristocrats by Brian Friel, All About My Mother by Pedro Almodóvar for the National Theatre, and the world premiere of The Tempest at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. For his first feature film, he collaborated with Wallace Shawn on a screen adaptation of Marie and Bruce, starring Julianne Moore and Matthew Broderick. He also directed the BAFTA-nominated drama series Amongst Women, from the novel by John McGahern.
Director Tom Cairns Producer Jackie Larkin Writer Tom Cairns Based on the short story ‘What it was like seeing Chris’ by Deborah Eisenberg Language English Genre Teen drama Format 35mm Running time 100 mins Wavering on the frontier between adolescence and womanhood, she experiences intimacy for the first time when she falls in love with Chris, a man 10 years older than her and from the wrong side of the tracks. Target audience 18-plus Budget € 2,500,000 Cast tbc Production company Newgrange Pictures Newgrange Pictures was established in Dublin, Ireland, in April 2005, bringing together a unique form of proven experience in production, finance and distribution. The company is run by producers Jackie Larkin and Lesley McKimm, and its board consists of a diverse mix of media experts, including financier Domhnal Slattery and distributor Paul Higgins. Newgrange received company slate funding from the Irish Film Board in 2007 and is currently developing a slate of feature films for the international market. Jackie Larkin produced Newgrange’s debut feature Kings, which was the first ever Irish film to be to be selected for the Foreign Language category of the Oscars and has since gone on to win numerous awards. The company is now in production with its second feature film, the wedding comedy Happy Ever Afters, starring Sally Hawkins. Current status Seeing Chris has been in development for over a year now and we are currently in the process of writing the second draft. The project is being developed with the assistance of the Irish Film Board. Director Tom Cairns will collaborate with acclaimed author Deborah Eisenberg in adapting Seeing Chris for the screen. The film will be shot in New York. Our aim is to go into production in Autumn 2009. Aims at the NPP Apart from our collaboration with the Irish Film Board, the NPP will be the first time we have discussed the project in a public forum. We are hoping to get constructive feedback on the current draft and advice on how to tackle the genre of teen drama. We are also seeking production partners for this project. Contact Jackie Larkin Newgrange Pictures 49-50 Berystede Leeson Park Dublin 6 Ireland Tel: (353) 1 4988028 Fax: (353) 1 4966128 jackie@newgrangepictures.com www.newgrangepictures.com NPP 2008 • 23
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Page 46: Index English titles, original titl

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