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DISTRIBUTION UK

Kickstarter helps 8 Minutes Idle celebrate Valentine’s Day

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- Distribution team raises £20,000 to secure February 14 UK release

Kickstarter helps 8 Minutes Idle celebrate Valentine’s Day

Debutant director Mark Simon Hewis’ 8 Minutes Idle will be released on Valentine’s Day across UK cinemas thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign. Revolver Entertainment initially acquired the film, but the company subsequently shuttered. Undeterred, and spurred on by the promise of matched funding from Creative England, the producers set out to raise £20,000 via crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, successfully. Shear Entertainment and Tonic will handle the February 14 release.

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The amount was raised in just under three weeks from 277 supporters including Peter Lord, film producer, director and co-founder of Aardman Animations; Stephen Merchant, writer, director and actor; Dom Joly, comedian and writer; and bestselling authors Jenny Colgan, Liz Jensen, Sarah Waters and Lisa Jewell.

Based on Matt Thorne’s award-winning novel, 8 Minutes Idle is a dark romantic comedy that follows the traumas of a first job – when enforced promotion, murderous parents, and homelessness get in the way of true love. The cast includes Tom Hughes (Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll [+see also:
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), Ophelia Lovibond (Nowhere Boy [+see also:
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), Antonia Thomas (Sunshine On Leith [+see also:
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Misfits) and Montserrat Lombard (Ashes To Ashes).

Thorne said, “We all worked so hard on this film and the possibility of it disappearing unseen was devastating. I’m so pleased that it’s going to be in cinemas and people get the chance to see the world of 8 Minutes Idle on the big screen.”

Produced by Sarah Cox, 8 Minutes Idle was made under iFeatures, Creative England’s low-budget filmmaking scheme.

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