Microwave picks 'Fields,' 'Foxglove'

Film London, BBC Films back low-cost pics

By ARCHIE THOMAS

LONDON — Microwave, Film London’s low-budget filmmaking scheme, has greenlit two features.

Microwave, which is backed by BBC Films, challenges filmmakers to shoot a feature film on a budget not exceeding £100,000 ($144,000). It will produce 10 films in total.

The two projects getting the go-ahead are Frances Lea’s rites-of-passage drama set in the heady English summer, “Strawberry Fields,” and Ornette Spenceley’s psychological drama “Foxglove,” about two delinquent teens who hide out on a farm while on the run, only to become imprisoned by a bitter farmer.

“Fields” and “Foxglove” made the cut from 87 applications, which were then whittled down to 11 shortlisted projects. The successful duo emerged from an intensive four-day development program supported by Skillset, which culminated in a competitive pitch process.

Five projects have already been greenlit. Already baked in the Microwave oven are multiple British Independent Film Award nommed “Shifty” and “Mum and Dad.” In production are “Freestyle,” a teen romance based around the world of freestyle basketball, which will begin shooting in April and be released in the U.K. in October by Revolver Entertainment; “Analogue,” a psychological thriller that is casting, and Jes Benstock’s alternative Miss World documentary “The British Guide to Showing Off.”