The Midnight Drives Clip Watch a scene from the drama, starring Colin Holt.

Cornwall may be better known as one of the UK's top tourist destinations, but the south-western county is also home to a surprisingly healthy film industry. The Cornwall Film Festival celebrates this local talent from 8-11 November 2007, and one of the features to seek out is Mark Jenkin's family drama The Midnight Drives. Poised, poignant and very, very moving, the film stars Colin Holt as a divorcee struggling to communicate with his estranged children (Sam Mills, Megan Robertson) on an ill-considered Cornish holiday. Being stuck behind a caravan on the A38 is the least of his problems as he tries to bridge a gap as wide as the Tamar with his son and daughter.

"I'm quite proud of what people are doing here," Jenkin tells Film Network. "I've seen films from Cornwall that are outstanding, yet it's such a home-made industry really. Everybody works on everybody's else's stuff and it's quite incestuous, and in a lot of ways it's quite cheap - but in a good sense of the word. I sometimes think we're making it for ourselves and it's a bit self-indulgent and insular, but the more I get out to other festivals, the more I realise it isn't. It's fertile ground here."

In the video above, you can watch Mark talk about The Midnight Drives and how living in Cornwall informs his work.

The Midnight Drives is showing at the Cornwall Film Festival on Saturday 10th November at 8pm at the Princess Pavilion, Falmouth. The Cornwall Film Festival runs until Sunday 11th November.

Adrian Hennigan | Published 08 November 07

send to a friend 

start a new discussion