Billed as a “Southern Gothic Romance” this impressive debut is teeming with authenticity and with an incredibly compelling central performance from actor/co-director Remy Bennett (grand-daughter of Tony Bennett).
Having premiered at New Orleans, Raindance and MARFA film festivals, Buttercup Bill tells the story of a twisted romance between lifelong friends Patrick (Evan Louison – Not Dark Yet, Mariah, Blindsided) and Pernilla (Remy Bennett – The Wolf of Wall Street, Boardwalk Empire) - mutually obsessed, but clinging on to dark secrets. Travelling from the seedy, neon-lit New York bar scene to a nameless town in the sweaty and whisky-soaked Deep South, Pernilla seeks comfort from Patrick after the suicide of their childhood playmate. At first innocent and playful, their chemistry soon gives way to subversive games of sexual jealousy, making unwitting pawns of those around them. As the lines between love and cruelty, and fantasy and reality become blurred, the question looms large: can they ever be together? Should they?
The winners are:
Diane Jackson, Pontefract
Aaron Broad, Basingstoke
