Streetlife
Directed by Karl Frances and starring Helen McCrory (Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) and Rhys Ifans (Notting Hill), Streetlife is an uncompromising drama about Jo, a young woman trying to survive in a tough urban environment when she becomes pregnant. Life is a house on a council estate, a college course and a married man who loves her.
Jo begins as a bright, intelligent, passionate, single mother determined to get out of the poverty trap which leads her friends to theft, drugs and casual prostitution. But her married lover gets her pregnant, then leaves. Determined to have the baby of the man she truly loves, she retains her dignity but loses her grip on reality along with the support of her family and friends. Her descent through love into hell is brilliantly portrayed.
The film won a Silver Nymph award at the 1995 Monte-Carlo TV Festival and two BAFTA Cyrmu awards in 1997 for Best Director (Karl Francis) and Best Actress (Helen McCrory). Streetlife was exhibited at Edinburgh Film Festival, Singapore International Film Festival, Sydney Film Festival and festivals in London, Berlin and Vancouver.
Streetlife was filmed around South Wales in Caerphilly, Newport and Pontypridd. It was produced by Ruth Caleb and Helen Vallis for BBC Wales as part of the 'Screen Two' series.
“Celebrates the triumph of the human spirit over impossible social conditions.”
“This is truly emotive.....telling the story with eloquence and a finely judged understatement. Hypnotic and heartbreaking.”