Chuck Chuck Baby World Premiere at EIFF 20 August
International Premiere at TIFF in September.
Amid the vibrant neon lights of a chicken packing factory, two women fall in love.
Set in present day industrial North Wales, Helen spends her nights packing chickens and her days caring for a dying mother-figure Gwen. Helen’s world takes an unexpected turn with the return of Joanne. They were the objects of the other’s unspoken teenage passions twenty years ago. One night, encouraged by Helen, Joanne starts a playful wooing game that re-awakens their youthful feelings.
As they fall in love and lust, Helen’s zest for life returns but Joanne feels the walls closing in as she faces something much darker from her past. Helen’s world is shattered when Gwen dies and Joanne’s painful memories cause her to flee. Separated and alone, will both women reflect on their unfulfilled chance to break their barriers and allow love to win?
Chuck Chuck Baby stars Louise Brealey and Annabel Scholey and is supported by BFI, BBC and Ffilm Cymru Wales.
Writer/Director Janis Pugh said: “I am absolutely delighted to be screening Chuck Chuck Baby at Edinburgh International Film Festival. It’s a festival I have always loved as a film maker and an audience member. I couldn’t be happier.
Chuck Chuck Baby is a musical comedy drama which celebrates female working class friendship and love. The film was shot in my home town in North Wales and set in a world of magical realism. The film evokes themes of love, loss and grief and centres on the two leads, Helen and Joanne.
It was very important for me to write a film about two women who had suffered physical and emotional brutality in their past who come together to overcome that to find beauty in their present lives.
The use of music in the film is significant part of my work, it is used to convey the wants and desires of characters. It’s much more than mood and atmosphere, it is very much part of their emotional journey.
Although the film is a story of love, it is also a story of barriers and fences and what happens when we shut people out. I think from the moment I started writing this film, I really wanted the audience to cry, laugh, sing, cry a little bit more and then go home with the film in their hearts and pull down their own fences.”
CHUCK CHUCK BABY celebrates its World Premiere at Edinburgh International Film Festival on 20th August.
https://www.eif.co.uk/events/eiff-chuck-chuck-baby
World Premiere: Sunday 20 August, 6:00pm – Everyman Cinema 1
Monday 21 August, 10:10am – Vue Cinema Omni Centre 12 (Audio described, captioned)
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