The film blends unsettling humour with a fresh twist on the missing person genre
After a successful world premiere at last year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival, darkly comical British indie film MISPER will screen to a sold-out audience at Manchester Film Festival next week.
Showing at HOME Manchester on 25 March, followed by a Q&A with director Harry Sherriff and writer Laurence Tratalos, MISPER blends unsettling humour with a fresh twist on the missing person genre. Starring Samuel Blenkin (Alien: Earth, Black Mirror) and Emily Carey (House of the Dragon, Wonder Woman), MISPER follows Leonard, who begins to quietly unravel in a crumbling seaside hotel after his colleague Elle mysteriously vanishes. A portmanteau of “missing person”, MISPER subverts the traditional mystery format by shifting focus away from police or family members and toward those on the periphery of a disappearance, whose emotional responses reveal deeper themes of alienation, uncertainty and denial.
Harry Sherriff said: “I studied in Manchester and worked here for years. It’s where Laurence and I first started making films together, so screening MISPER to a sold-out audience at Manchester Film Festival feels incredibly special. It’s a real full-circle moment for us.”
Laurence Tratalos added: “We’ve always been drawn to stories that deal with darkness but told through the prism of humour. I think it’s part of our Northern sensibility. And we can’t wait to share MISPER with an audience in the city where Harry and I first began collaborating. I grew up in Manchester and used to visit Home Cinema a lot - I feel very honoured to get to watch my film there with an audience.”
Following its Manchester Film Festival screening, the film will next travel to the United States where it will make its International Premiere as the Closing Night Film of the 27th Maryland Film Festival on Sunday 12 April.
Manchester Film Festival screening details can be found here.
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