First-Time Feature Director Wins Two BAFTA Scotland Awards
Zam Salim’s highly-praised afterlife comedy Up There scooped two prestigious gongs at the BAFTA Scotland Awards on 18th November 2012. It won Best Feature Film, running alongside The Angels’ Share (Ken Loach) and Citadel (Ciaran Foy), and Best Director, beating Mark Cousins (What is This Film Called Love?) and Michael Keillor (Young James Herriot).
Up There tells the story of the deceased Martin, played by Burn Gorman (Dark Knight Rises, Pacific Rim, Torchwood), who is stuck in a dead-end job, welcoming the newly departed into the afterlife. All he dreams of is going “up there” but his plans are thrown into disarray when he has to team up with relentlessly chirpy Rash, played by Aymen Hamdouchi (My Brother the Devil, Green Zone) and together they lose a new arrival. The pair end up in a remote seaside town populated by cocky teenagers and sinister old women, and must stop bickering long enough to find the lost soul.
Up There’s producer Annalise Davis said that “We are absolutely delighted with the result and it’s a great endorsement for the film and for Zam and the team.” Salim, who also wrote the film, stated that “It’s fantastic to be recognised by BAFTA at this stage in my career and I’m very grateful for all the support I’ve been given. It’s even better to get these awards on my home turf and receiving them is a great boost to all the cast and crew who worked on the film.”
Salim has been BAFTA-nominated twice previously for short films Cold Light Of Day and Laid Off, the latter of which Up There was expanded from. Up There also received the Best Independent Film award earlier in 2012 at the Santa Barbara Film Festival, and Zam was named as one of Screen International’s Stars of Tomorrow 2007.
Office minion by day and geek overlord of West Lothian by night, Andrew
Marshall contributes to onlyinedinburgh.com, moviemuser.co.uk and…
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