Brian and Charles wins Audience Award at Sundance Film Festival: London

June 14, 2022

After its breakout success at Sundance Film Festival in Utah, Brian and Charles was selected by the Sundance Institute programming team, in collaboration with Picturehouse, to close Sundance Film Festival’s London offshoot on June 12th. This was the UK premiere of Brian and Charles, directed by British filmmaker Jim Archer in his feature debut. Brian and Charles won the Audience Award, voted the best of the fest by audiences attending screenings.

The feature film, written by David Earl and Chris Hayward, is an extension of Archer’s 2017 award-winning short film of the same name, which gave the spotlight to comic Earl’s acclaimed stage character Brian Gittins (who has previously appeared in Ricky Gervais’ Netflix series After Life, pilot Gittins, and one-off David Earl & Joe Wilkinson’s Summer). 

Brian and Charles is Produced by Rupert Majendie for Mr Box Productions, a UK producer who offer comedians a platform to create and broadcast their own sketches and podcasts. The film was developed and co-funded by Film4 and the BFI and picked up by Focus Features for international distribution. Executive Producers are Mary Burke for the BFI, Lauren Dark and Ollie Madden for Film4 and Damian Jones.

Shot in a mockumentary-style, with cinematography by Murren Tullet; Brian and Charlesfollows Brian, a lonely and unlucky inventor in rural Wales, who spends his time building unique and unconventional creations, usually with little success. Undeterred by his failures, Brian attempts his most ambitious project yet – enter Charles, an artificially intelligent robot made from odds and ends, played by Chris Hayward. Louise Brealey (Sherlock; Death in Paradise), James Michie (Outlaw King; Game of Thrones) and Nina Sosanya (Silk; Killing Eve) star alongside Earl and Hayward. The feel-good comedy tells a heartwarming story about friendship, family, finding love, and letting go and promises to leave audiences uplifted and entertained. 

Post Production at OnSight

Senior Post Producer Jeff Halsey oversaw OnSight’s post production services for Brian and Charles including the offline edit, conform, VFX, online edit and delivery to Sundance, Bankside and Focus Features. OnSight’s Adam Sample performed the conform and online edit, with some great artistic input from Archer.

“It was a great movie to work on and it was thoroughly enjoyable during the online getting all creatively pink for the massive main titles, whilst sat alongside Director Jim Archer on his debut feature film. This will absolutely smash it at the festivals and cinemas as it is such a fun and touching movie” – Adam Sample, Online Editor.

Following its premiere, Brian and Charles was shown at Glastonbury festival on June 23rd and subsequently will be released into UK cinemas on July 8th, watch the trailer here.