Ian Smith

This Is England -- Shane Meadows' film is 'A soulful blast from the past sparked by heart and a throbbing beat...a near-flawless gem,' and an 'autobiographical homage to a lost world of youth.' - Dargis, NY Times

The Mission -- A powerful action epic about a man of the sword and a man of the cloth who unite to shield a South American Indian tribe from brutal subjugation by 18th-century colonial empires.

In 1983, twelve year-old Shaun (Thomas Turgoose) is a lonely boy growing up in a grim coastal town in northern England. When his father dies fighting in the Falklands War, Shaun befriends a group of local skinheads and finds the gang-mischief, mayhem and brotherhood are exactly what he needs to deal with his pent-up rage and frustration. He also meets the volatile and boorish Combo (Stephen Graham), an older skinhead who sees himself in Shaun. Adopting Shaun as his protege, Combo leads the gang down a hate spewing path that culminates in an irreversible act of violence. Director Shane Meadows claims the grim skinhead-influenced upbringing of Shaun was a true portrayal of his own childhood and many of the events depicted were drawn from his own early life. This indie drama from IFC won the Best Film and Most Promising Newcomer awards at the British Independent Film Awards and won the Special Jury Award at the Rome Film Festival.

Shane Meadows' film is "A soulful blast from the past sparked by heart and a throbbing beat...a near-flawless gem," and an "autobiographical homage to a lost world of youth." - Dargis, NY Times