CLAUSE
Director：Scott Hurran
Screenwriter：James McDermott
Cast：Benjamin Teare, George Taylor
Producer：Scott Hurran
Cinematographer：Tom Martin
Running Time：6min28s
Region：UK
Year：2023
Language：English
Production Company：Ecclesia
SYNOPSIS
As we approach the anniversary of Section 28 in the Uk; the law that banned the promotion of homosexuality in schools we find ourselves at another crossroads. With far right groups protesting schools that seek to include LGBTQAi+ promotion in their curriculum. CLAUSE is a set in a school that is being attacked for its equality policies, there is going to be a board meeting to decide what happens, but what do you do when the headteacher of the school is a gay man. CLAUSE a new short film by James McDermott and directed by Scott Hurran documents the 5mins left in the school lunch break, before gay teachers Manny & Guy have to make a decision.
Director Biography
Scott Hurran trained at Central School of Speech and Drama and RADA. Hurran is a Leverhulme Arts Scholar, and received the JMK regional directors bursary in 2018. He is the Artistic Director of Ecclesia and is currently Artistic Associate at Eastern Angles. He has previously held associate positions at the Mercury Theatre and Roundhouse. For his work in comedy he was named as One to Watch by New Current Magazine, and went on to be named a NEW CREATIVE by BBC ARTS and Screen South for his work as a director and writer. In 2022 he received the Screen South Commission for his upcoming short film Halfway Between Land & Sea. Theatre includes: [As Director] Paper Cut by Andrew Rosendorf(Theatre503) Sonny by Deborah Bruce (Arts Ed) The Tide Jetty by Tony Ramsay, Patient Light by Simon Longman (Eastern Angles) Hidden by Nicola Werenowska (UK Tour); Counting Stars by Atiha Sen Gipta, Shortlisted for the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award, (Assembly, Edinburgh Fringe); The House of Bernarda Alba (Kings Head Theatre); Three to Four Days (Theatre 503); Immigrant (Theatre Uncut, Young Vic); The Grandfathers (National Theatre Connections, Theatre Chipping Norton and Oxford Playhouse); The Seventh Continent(Prague Quadrennial). [As Assistant Director] Botticelli in the Fire, dir. Blanche McIntyre (Hampstead Theatre) Women in Power dir. Blanche McIntyre (Nuffield Theatre, and Oxford Playhouse) I Call my Brothers dir.Tinuke Craig (Gate Theatre); Theatre Uncut dir. Emma Callander (Young Vic); The Precariat dir. Chris New (Finborough Theatre); This Same England dir. Elizabeth Freestone (The Royal Shakespeare Company and Pentabus Theatre). Film includes: [As Director/Writer] Pecking Birds (Ex Animo Fund); Career Boy (Official Selection Raindance Film Festival); Medicine Man (Official Selection Cannes Film Festival, Short Film Category). Radio: [As Director/Writer] The Blackwater Mermaids, (BBC ARTS), Plucking Nose Hairs
Director's Statement
I am always interested in telling stories about how big politics impact small people, and am always interested in telling queer stories at the centre of this. Section 28 is a legacy that lives on today, its the education system that I was brought up in as a gay man living in Essex, and James the writer in Norfolk. Yet its a policy so many people are not familiar with but were a student under it. LGBTQAi+ teaching at schools is still at a minimum and is under threat by various groups who try to stop this. Me and James wanted to find a way to tell this story in the modern world, where teachers, and students still find it hard to find their identity in a system that struggles to recognise who they are.
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