Cannes Market Dailies

British musician and screenwriter Geoff Deane has signed up to write the screenplay for BOLLYVER, a reimagining of the Charles Dickens classic set in modern day India.

 

BOLLYVER was created by the renowned social entrepreneur Nic Careem and Chris O'Farrell who will both serve as Executive Producers. It will be a collaboration between O'Farell's Castletown Corporation and the London based production, sales, and distribution company Evolutionary Films with Evolutionary's John Adams and Diane Shorthouse producing.

 

BOLLYVER follows a sassy, teenage orphan living on her wits in the slums of Dharavi as she struggles to overcome the prejudice, poverty and criminality that surround her to fulfil her dreams of making it big in India's male dominated rap scene.

 

"The street kids in India have amazing spirit and energy to improve their lives. Crucially, this film will not be critical of India but designed to highlight the extraordinary talent on the streets. Some of the proceeds from the movie will help set up the Oliver Twist Foundation that will help kids with talent, but without the means, to a better life," said Nic Careem.

 

Geoff Deane added, "The notion of working on a film inspired by such a classic was obviously appealing. What really intrigued me was the prospect of evolving it to meet the expectations of a contemporary audience. The original character of Oliver was actually quite bland. Ours is a 15-year-old street girl from the slums of Dharavi who’s into hip-hop. That should tell you all you need to know about how we’re approaching this super-exciting project."

 

The film is expected to shoot in 2024 with Evolutionary Films handling world sales.

 

 

About Geoff Deane:

Geoff has had a colourful, multi-faceted career as pop singer, songwriter, record producer, journalist, TV and screenwriter. He's had songs featured in the Oscar winning SHREK and the highly acclaimed series IT’S A SIN, as well as earning a platinum disc for his record sales. He has written for Jonathan Ross and BIRDS OF A FEATHER as well as several series of his own. He’s also penned a number of movies including KINKY BOOTS, which grew into a globally successful stage show, winning 5 Tony Awards for its Broadway

production.

 

 

About Nic Careem:

Nic is a renowned and respected UK social entrepreneur. In 1999, he facilitated the creation of a book containing tribute messages from political leaders, celebrities and community members in honour of Nelson Mandela. In 2002, he co-founded the Blue Sky Network, a unique organisation with a track record for creating high profile humanitarian campaigns. In 2007, Nic organised the signing of the Anne Frank Declaration by world leaders including Nelson Mandela and Kofi Annan. He also launched a program to have British local government districts partner with districts in Africa. Most recently, he has been instrumental in commissioning a 13ft bronze sculpture from artist Nicola Ravenscroft to honour the men and women of the NHS and care services who died on the front line during the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

 

About Evolutionary Films:

Evolutionary Films, established in London in 2014, is a globally recognised film and television production company, international sales agent and UK distributor funded as an unquoted publicly traded business.

 

The Evolutionary Films leadership team have over 60 producer credits across a range of titles and include a BAFTA nominated producer and a GREAT Britain campaign Ambassador. The board of directors includes individuals directly introduced to the entertainment industry by luminaries such as Steven Spielberg and Stanley Kubrick; and they have worked with clients as diverse as Netflix, HBO, Universal, Warner Brothers, BBC, Channel 4, Discovery, Nat Geo and Sky.

 

Evolutionary Films has twice won the 'Best Film Distributor'; award at the National Film Awards, UK (2019 and 2021) and was nominated for two awards at the prestigious Screen Awards in 2019 - & 'Best International Sales Deal For A UK Film'; and 'Distributor of the Year'.