In August 2008 I spent a couple of days in Birmingham shooting stills on a new film by Penny Woolcock called 1 Day. I’ve not been able to really talk about the film until now, but they’ve started their publicity drive so some of my shots are in the public domain at last. It tells the tale of a young man called Flash who is caught up in the so-called Postcode Wars in Birmngham – gangs that rule very clearly defined areas of the city – and his struggle to avoid getting shot to pieces by two particular gangs over the course of 24 hours.
Most excitingly, the film features several musical numbers, all rap written and performed by the actors themselves. It’s out in the cinemas sometime this year and has a website featuring several trailers and one of the songs, at 1daythemovie.co.uk.
Here’s the official blurb:
Flash (Duffus) wakes up to a phone call from Angel (Watson) announcing that he’s being released from prison and wants the £500K he’d left with Flash for safekeeping. Short of the full amount and pushed for time, Flash is forced to strike a deal with Evil (Duncan) who more than lives up to his name. 1 DAY follows Flash’s race against the clock as he’s pursued by a rival gang, the police, his three irate babymothers and his granny.
