UK, FR, IT | 2010 | colour | 124 min
dir | Peter Mullan pro | Olivier Delbosc, Alain de la Mata, Marc Missonnier wr | Peter Mullan ph | Roman Osin mus | Craig Armstrong ed | Colin Monie cast | Conor McCarron, Mhairi Anderson, Martin Bell, Joe Cassidy dis | Wild Bunch

Acclaimed filmmaker Peter Mullan returns to the gritty terrain of 1970s Glasgow with his third directorial feature, “NEDs”. John McGill is on the brink of adolescence with a promising academic future. At school he lives in the shadow of his expelled older brother Benny’s less than stellar reputation, making teachers suspicious of what type of potential he has. His home life consists of a violent, drunken father (Mullan) and a repressed mother. Surrounded by bullies and NEDs (“Non-Educated Delinquents”), John, with no support system, gradually immerses himself into the savage life of the streets. As with Mullan’s previous films “NEDs” stands out with the intensity of actors play and a striking authenticity of clothes and homes. Among Mullan’s actors discoveries particularly noteworthy is a fantastic debut of Connor McCarron as John, who was awarded for this role at the IFF in San Sebastian.

AWARDS
2010 IFF San Sebastian – Silver Shell in category Best Actor for Connor McCarron
2010 IFF San Sebastian – Gold Shell in category Best Film for Peter Mullan

DIRECTOR | Peter Mullan (1959)
Scottish actor and director. Didn’d graduate any film school, but he started making films at the age of 19. Mullan made his debut in the theatre in 1988 before moving to cinema and television. Fame came with the parts he played in such films as “Riff-Raff” (1991) by Ken Loach, “Braveheart” (1995) and “Trainspotting” (1996), but above all when he won for best leading actor at the Cannes Film Festival in 1998 for “My name is Joe” (1998), once again by Loach. As a director he made three feature movies, among them “The Magdalene Sisters” (2002) and “NEDS” (2010).