Warp X saddles up 'Donkey'

Olly Blackburn takes reins of low-budget digital feature

By ADAM DAWTREY

LONDON — Youth thriller “Donkey Punch” will be the first feature from Warp X, the low-budget digital studio backed by the U.K. Film Council and Film4.

The pic, which starts shooting March 19, is the debut of writer/director Olly Blackburn and his co-writer David Bloom.

It stars Jaime Winstone, Tom Burke, Nichola Burley and Julian Morris is a story of a hedonistic weekend in Spain which goes horribly wrong. Drink, drugs and sex lead to an accidental death on a yacht, and a carefree afternoon turns into a frantic fight for survival.

“Donkey Punch,” which will shoot in South Africa, is produced by Angus Lamont along with the Warp X team of Mark Herbert and Robin Gutch.

It’s the first of seven projects on the Warp X slate, which is bankrolled by the UKFC, Film4, Screen Yorkshire, EM Media and U.K. distrib Optimum Releasing. The Sheffield-based initiative was launched to explore the ways digital technology can be harnessed to make low-budget features with new talent for niche audiences.