The official tie-in book of major motion picture from Palme d’Or winning filmmaking team Ken Loach, Rebecca O'Brien and Paul Laverty.
Fergus met Frankie on his first day at school and they’ve been in each others’ shadow ever since. As teenagers they skipped school and drank cider on the ferry over the River Mersey, dreaming about travelling the world.
In September 2004, Fergus persuaded Frankie to join his security team in Baghdad: £10,000 a month, tax free; their last chance to ‘load up’ in this increasingly privatised war. Together they risked their lives in a city steeped in violence, terror and greed, and awash with billions of US dollars. Three years later, Frankie is killed on Route Irish, the most dangerous road in the world.
Back in Liverpool, a grief-stricken Fergus rejects the official explanation that Frankie was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, and begins his own investigation into his soul mate’s death. Only Rachel, Frankie’s partner, grasps the depth of Fergus’s sorrow, and the lethal possibilities of his fury as he struggles to find his old self and the happiness he shared with Frankie twenty years earlier on the Mersey.
Features the full screenplay, character backstory, production notes and photographs from the film, plus background essays:
Aftermath by Mark Townsend
Private Security Contractors in Iraq by Haifa Zangana
Justice for Iraq by Mike Phipps.
Paperback
Paul Laverty was born in Calcutta, India, to an Irish mother and Scottish father. He obtained a Philosophy degree at the Gregorian University in Rome. Thereafter he obtained a law degree at Strathclyde Law School, in Glasgow. During the mid-eighties worked for a Nicaraguan domestic human rights organisation.
He has written the screenplays for several full length feature films directed by Ken Loach: including Sweet Sixteen (2002) – winner of Best Original Screenplay at Cannes, The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006) – winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes and It’s A Free World (2007) – winner of Best Original Screenplay at Venice Film Festival. He is married to Spanish filmmaker Icíar Bollaín, with whom he has made a number of feature films.
Books: Looking For Eric, Route Irish, The Angels' Share, Jimmy's Hall, I, Daniel Blake, Sorry We Missed You, The Old Oak, Even The Rain
Ken Loach was born in 1936 in Nuneaton. He attended King Edward VI Grammar School and went on to study law at St. Peter’s Hall, Oxford. After a brief spell in the theatre, Loach was recruited by the BBC in 1963 as a television director. This launched a long career directing films for television and the cinema, from Cathy Come Home and Kes in the sixties to Land And Freedom, Sweet Sixteen and I, Daniel Blake in recent years.
Books: Looking For Eric, Route Irish, The Angels' Share, Jimmy's Hall, I, Daniel Blake, Sorry We Missed You, The Old Oak
Rebecca O’Brien is a film producer who has worked with director Ken Loach since Hidden Agenda in 1990. She is a partner with Ken Loach and Paul Laverty in the production company Sixteen Films.
Books: Looking For Eric, Route Irish, The Angels' Share, Jimmy's Hall, I, Daniel Blake, Sorry We Missed You, THe Old Oak
Winner, Audience Award, Berlin Film Festival 2011 Bridging Borders Award, Palm Springs International Film Festival Four Progressive Film Awards Thirteen Goya Award Nominations Spain’s Official Entry for the 2011 Academy Awards Official tie-in book of the major motion picture from Paul Laverty and Icíar Bollaín Costa and Sebastián arrive in Cochabam..
Read More