We are thrilled to unveil an exciting new project that bridges two Celtic cultures through film. Screen Cornwall, in collaboration with key partners, has awarded a prestigious co-commission for a Brezhoneg (Breton) and Kernewek (Cornish) language film.
Written and directed by filmmaker Emmanuel Roy, with a story told on both sides of the channel, this ambitious project brings together Breton-based Kalanna Productions and Cornwall-based producer Alysia Maciejowska, fostering international cooperation in filmmaking. This innovative co-commission has been made possible through funding from the UK Government via the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, alongside a valuable partnership with Breton broadcasters.
The collaboration between Screen Cornwall and Breton broadcasters on this new co-commission represents a natural progression, bringing together two organisations with proven track records in supporting minority language film production. In Brittany, the broadcasters have demonstrated a long-standing commitment to short film production in the Breton language. For over ten years, they have been commissioning and airing short films, contributing significantly to the preservation and promotion of Breton culture through cinema. Since 2019, Screen Cornwall has been at the forefront of promoting Cornish language cinema, through FylmK contemporary short film funding scheme with Cornwall Council.
The initiative aims to achieve several crucial objectives including nurturing and promote Cornish and Breton filmmaking talent and creating shared cinematic experiences for Cornish and Breton audiences. This project represents a significant step in preserving and promoting minority languages through film and offers opportunities for cultural exchange and the development of cross-border creative partnerships.
Two Hands / Dewdhorn / Deux Mains / Daou Zorn
CRUSH
De part et d'autre de la Manche, sur les rivages qui se font face, deux adolescentes vivent de banales petites tribulations de leur âge. Sans rapport à première vue. A moins que malgré ces eaux qui les séparent elle ne soient bien plus proches qu'on ne le pense...
On both sides of the Channel, on the seashores that face each other, two teenage girls go through the little ordinary adventures of their age. Unrelated at first sight. Unless, despite the waters that separate them, they are much closer than we think...
Breton Production Company: Kalanna Productions
Cornwall-based Production Company: Alysia Maciejowska
Writer/ Director: Emmanuel Roy
Emmanuel Roy travaille comme chef-opérateur de prise de vues depuis plus de 25 ans. Après une formation initiale à l’Ecole Nationale Supérieure Louis Lumière, sanctionnée par l’obtention d’un BTS en 1991, il entame une carrière sous le sceau de la polyvalence entre documentaires de création, magazines de télévision, fictions courtes ou longues, captations de concert, films d’entreprises, publicités... Tout au long de ces années, au fil d’un grand nombre de films très différents les uns des autres, il collabore avec de nombreu.x.ses réalisat.eurs.rices, et prend ainsi part à de nombreux choix techniques, esthétiques, narratifs, l’engageant dans la compréhension de l’originalité de chaque projet. Il embarque également sur certains films dès le stade de l’écriture. Ainsi participe-t-il à l'écriture du scénario de Noli me tangere (35mn, 2003, de F-X Vives) et de Landes (sortie en 2013, 100mn, de F-X Vives) avant d'en façonner tout ou partie de l’image. Dès son installation à Rennes en 2002, Emmanuel Roy a à cœur d'inclure à son activité professionnelle ses compétences linguistiques naissantes en breton. Il trouve le moyen de le faire auprès de Soazig Daniellou et la maison de production Kalanna, sur des documentaires : Los Furlukinos (26mn, 2009) - Ar Gwim (52mn, 2014) - Botoù Koad dre dan (52 mn, 2015) ; ainsi que sur des fictions : Distro Gwenn (26mn, 2011) - Lann Vraz (98mn, 2012) - Noz (2020). Avec Mai Lincoln également : Etre Daou (26mn, 2014) - Maner Laou (2019). Grâce à ces collaborations le breton devient langue de travail, en même tant qu'il devient aussi langue du quotidien avec ses enfants. Avec ce bagage, aussi bien linguistique que professionnel, Emmanuel Roy prend le chemin de la réalisation. D'abord avec un documentaire (Avel en o blev, 4X13 et 52mn, 2016), puis avec un court-métrage de fiction Ar mor atav (34mn, 2017), projeté dans le cadre du Grand Cru Bretagne au Festival de Douarnenez 2017, et récompensé par le Troisième prix à la cérémonie des Prizioù 2018. Me 'zo ganet e kreiz ar mor, documentaire de 52 mn au sujet de la collaboration d'une troupe de théâtre brestoise avec des scientifiques de l'IFREMER, est sa plus récente réalisation.
Emmanuel Roy has worked as a camera operator for over 25 years. After initial training at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure Louis Lumière, which culminated in a BTS in 1991, he began a varied career between creative documentaries, television magazines, short or long fiction, concert recordings, corporate films, advertisements, etc. Throughout these years, over the course of a large number of very different films, he collaborated with many of his directors, and took part in many technical, aesthetic and narrative choices, engaging him in understanding the originality of each project. He also embarked on certain films from the writing stage. He thus participated in writing the screenplay for Noli me tangere (35mn, 2003, by F-X Vives) and Landes (released in 2013, 100mn, by F-X Vives) before shaping all or part of the image. Since moving to Rennes in 2002, Emmanuel Roy has been keen to include his emerging Breton language skills in his professional activity. He found a way to do so with Soazig Daniellou and the Kalanna production company, on documentaries: Los Furlukinos (26mn, 2009) - Ar Gwim (52mn, 2014) - Botoù Koad dre dan (52 mn, 2015); as well as on fictions: Distro Gwenn (26mn, 2011) - Lann Vraz (98mn, 2012) - Noz (2020). Also with Mai Lincoln: Etre Daou (26mn, 2014) - Maner Laou (2019). Thanks to these collaborations, Breton becomes a working language, at the same time as it also becomes a language of everyday life with his children. With this background, both linguistic and professional, Emmanuel Roy takes the path of directing. First with a documentary (Avel en o blev, 4X13 and 52mn, 2016), then with a short fiction film Ar mor atav (34mn, 2017), screened as part of the Grand Cru Bretagne at the Douarnenez Festival 2017, and awarded the Third Prize at the Prizioù ceremony 2018. Me 'zo ganet e kreiz ar mor, a 52-minute documentary about the collaboration of a Brest theater troupe with scientists from IFREMER, is his most recent production.
Producer: Anna Lincoln
After studying law, Anna Lincoln began her career in television production, coordinating a monthly itinerant magazine for young people. She was soon entrusted with the production of more ambitious projects by the Breton company Kalanna, accompanying documentary and fiction directors in their creative process. Her credits include many documentaries, short dramas, as well as the first feature-length fiction film in Breton regional language, theatrically released and broadcasted on France Télévisions and the local regional channels.
Kalanna was created in 1997, on the initiative of a few directors, to develop Breton-language creative work for television. The company has so far produced around sixty films focusing on the social, political and cultural situation in Brittany, most of them in collaboration with France télévisions. Over the last couple of years, Anna Lincoln has been developing a new editorial approach for the company by producing documentaries conceived by a new generation of young directors for the national and international market.
Cornwall-based Producer: Alysia Maciejowska
Versatile film producer, with a background in camera and entrepreneurship, and extensive commercials experience as line producer and production manager, passionate about bringing stories to life.
