Gypo (2005)

Writer:

Jan Dunn

Release Date:

20 October 2006 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | Family

Tagline:

There are three sides to every story

Plot:

It charts the breakdown of a working class family when the teenage daughter befriends a refugee girl...

Plot Keywords:

Fear | Ethnic Hatred | Lesbian | Struggle | Passion

Awards:

4 wins & 2 nominations

Cast

Pauline McLynn	...	Helen
Chloe Sirene	...	Tasha
Paul McGann	...	Paul
Rula Lenska	...	Irina
Tamzin Dunstone	...	Kelly
Barry Latchford	...	Jimmy
Freddie Connor	...	Tasha's Husband
Tom Stuart	...	Darren
Olegar Fedoro	...	Tasha's Father
Sean Wilton	...	Art Tutor
Angelica O'Reilly	...	Prostitute
Rebecca Clow	...	Terminal Hostess
Majid Iqbal	...	Illegal Worker
Ashley McGuire	...	Penny
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Josef Altin	...	Michael
Claire Angus	...	Irina's Neighbour
James Blanchard	...	Tall Bully
Clara Clow	...	Baby Jordan
Charlotte Edmundson	...	Katy
Leane Grant	...	Girl Bully
Milo Hertz	...	Nicky's Baby
Jonathan Howlett	...	Kev
Stuart Jarvis	...	Security Man 2
Mark Keefe	...	Security Man 1
Ruby McLynn	...	Kylie
Christiane Bjørg Nielsen	...	Singer
Lisa Payne	...	Tamara
Santa	...	Santa
Natalie Sewell	...	Jane
Oliver Tatt	...	Short Bully
James Thomas	...	Hotelier
Carys Nia Williams	...	Nicky

Directed by
Jan Dunn		(uncredited)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Jan Dunn

Produced by
Barry Bassett	....	co-producer
Jan Dunn	....	executive producer
Mark Foligno	....	co-producer
Steve Milne	....	co-producer
James O'Donnell	....	associate producer
Tamara Syer	....	co-producer
James Thomas	....	associate producer
Elaine Wickham	....	executive producer
Elaine Wickham	....	producer

Original Music by
Labrador
Christiane Bjørg Nielsen

Cinematography by
Jacob Kusk		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Emma Collins

Casting by
Alex Johnson

Production Management
Clare Beale	....	post-production supervisor

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
James Davidson	....	third assistant director
Tom Dunbar	....	first assistant director
Ashley McGuire	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Jolene Farmer	....	set coordinator
Jolene Farmer	....	set dresser
Sean Kisch	....	props
Sean Kisch	....	set coordinator

Sound Department
Gavin Bush	....	sound assistant: second unit
Michelle Mascol	....	sound editor (as Michelle Mascoll)
Michelle Mascol	....	sound mixer (as Michelle Mascoll)
Adrienne Taylor	....	boom operator

Stunts
Juliette Cheveley	....	stunt double
Neil Finnighan	....	stunt coordinator
James O'Donnell	....	stunt performer

Camera and Electrical Department
Christopher Bonnor	....	first assistant camera
Jean-Phillippe Default	....	still photographer
Ken Kwek	....	assistant camera
Ken Kwek	....	third camera operator
John Martin White	....	second camera operator

Editorial Department
Rhys Llewellyn	....	on-line editor
Des Murray	....	on-line editor

Other crew
Alex Breadman	....	runner
Tony Edwards	....	runner
Leanne Grant	....	production assistant
Iago López Rodríguez	....	video (as Iago Lopez)
Liz Metcalfe	....	script supervisor
Cate Muller	....	publicist
Kieran Nicholas	....	production assistant
David Nielsen	....	advisor
Nathan Shepherd	....	runner
Jake Slack	....	runner
Bryan Webb	....	caterer

Production Companies

• Medb Films
• British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)
• Distant Eye Films
• Molinare Studio
• Spotty Dog Films
• VMI

Distributors

• Lionsgate (2005) (UK) (all media)
• Wolfe Releasing (2005) (USA) (video) (video)
• Pathé (2005) (theatrical) (non-USA)
• Lionsgate (2006) (USA) (all media)
• Swipe Films (2005) (worldwide) (all media)
• Wolfe Releasing (2005) (USA) (all media)

Other Companies

• Media Insurance Brokers  insurance
• SJ Berwin  legal consultants

Also Known As:

Runtime:

UK:98 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

UK:15 | Ireland:15A | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Ramsgate, Kent, England, UK

Company:

Medb Films

Trivia:

Most of the young extras were members of a Youth Theatre group - apart from Tamzin Dunstone, the lead roles were taken by relatively well-known actors.

Edge-of-the-seat thriller and existential three-courser

This, the first undiluted Dogme production to be officially made in the UK, benefits right away from the use of tiny hand-held digi-cams, as quite a lot of the action takes place in the heroine's crowded council house or in the cramped trailer inhabited by two immigrants, Tasha (Chloe Sirene) and her mother Irina, played by the wonderful Rula Lenska.

The council house is run by Helen (Pauline McLynn), who having raised her own two kids now has to mind her daughter Kelly's (Tamzin Dunstone) baby, while coping with a husband (Paul McGann) who has clearly lost his lust for life and believes he has been short-changed at the existential check-out. This situation is first explored from Helen's point-of-view: Kelly's college chum Tasha invited in for tea but having to put up with dad's railing against 'them immigrants, crowding into this tiny country and taking our jobs'. In this sequence, the family is fragmenting, several red herrings are chucked at us from the start, friendships are forged, the whole family throws itself into change, everyone tries to find their own way of surviving but it all seems to end in despair. Then we get it all again, from Paul's side. A natural reaction to this might be 'hold, enough!' - but now we get to see whence some of those herrings, and several more puzzlers are laid like booby traps, which may be opened eventually in the 'Tasha' story. Although there was no script, the overall structure, resembling a jigsaw being put together, must have been mapped out - it doesn't look as if it was all done in the cutting room. It works very well as a dark mystery edge-of-the-seat thriller; and just as well as an exploration of the forces of circumstance and the impulses that we employ (or imagine we employ) to deal with those forces. CLIFF HANLEY