Experiencing Interruptions?

Midsummer Boulevard

When the strikingly confident Sapphire Jones emerges from the Milton Keynes railway station, pauses for an e-cigarette and meets the loitering Leon Magritte, it sets off a chain of events that strips away the layers of the planned city to reveal something dark and primal lurking beneath.
Set against the unique features of Milton Keynes—its grid road, concrete cows and astrologically aligned main thoroughfare—Midsummer Boulevard is equal parts film noir, black comedy and cult murder mystery—with the unwitting Leon Magritte as the intended victim.

  • Samuel Dore
    Director
    Reverberations, Chasing Cotton Clouds, Supersonic
  • Michael Hallett
    Writer
  • Davin Jeayes
    Producer
  • Grant Kempster
    Key Cast
    "Leon Magritte"
    King of Crime, Bannister Dollhouse
  • Carly Halse
    Key Cast
    "Sapphire jones"
  • Ana Diego
    Key Cast
    "Luna"
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Genres:
    thriller, neo noir, crime
  • Runtime:
    22 minutes 5 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    April 18, 2019
  • Production Budget:
    0 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    ProRes, RED
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Samuel Dore

Samuel Dore is a writer and director who has made a range of short dramas that have won awards both nationally and internationally. Being profoundly Deaf and a BSL (British Sign Language) user, he has explored Deaf Culture in different genres from high class escorts in Tricks (2003) and Outcall (2009) combining social realism, coming of age and bereavement with stop-motion animated fantasy in Chasing Cotton Clouds (2010) youth urban drama and superheroes in Supersonic (2014) and the dwindling future of the Deaf Community in sci-fi adventure Reverberations (2018) He also has made films with hearing characters, more recently Midsummer Boulevard (2018) a contemporary film-noir based in Milton Keynes amongst others. Samuel is currently developing Silence of the Moon, a feature length lurid and social realism exploration of Deaf identity via the creature horror feature genre. More examples of his work can be seen here; www.bursteardrum.net

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Director Statement

Midsummer Boulevard offered me an unique opportunity of directing a contemporary film noir set in Milton Keynes and it's tongue in cheek script being based on the history, architecture and geography of this new city whilst incorporating classic elements of the film noir genre such as the femme fatale, the private detective etc and giving them a modern twist at the same time to make for a fun and engaging short film that gives audiences plenty of surprises with it's unpredictable script. There was also the challenge of creating this film with no money and instead relying on the goodwill of the filmmaking community and the people and businesses of Milton Keynes which I relished with an aim of creating a high quality short film to showcase the filmmakers and the city, that there is more to Milton Keynes than it's concrete cows, grid roads and countless roundabouts!