UPDATE: Here is an article from The Liverpool Echo about how Alan got the film up and running!

Here’s the synopsis for Act of Grace – don’t forget to check out my Q&A with one of the writers Marc Pye, scroll down to the next post or click here.

ACT OF GRACE by Marc Pye, Alan Field and Max Kinnings
STARRING: Leo Gregory, Jody Latham, David Yip, Chan Chike, Jennifer Lim, Crissy Rock, Andrew Schofield and Ciaran Griffiths. Directed by Noreen Kershaw. Embrace Productions.

In a secret world a family’s code of honour is under threat, and an ancient way of life is knocked off its axis by one small boy’s act of grace…

Dezzie needs respect, but more than that he needs his father’s love and a reprieve from the beatings he dishes out to him on a daily basis. But Dezzie is a skinny snot-nosed kid from the back streets of Salford and like hundreds of others before him his life is already mapped out… and it’s not looking good.

Yasin needs an identity. Unexpectedly orphaned and plucked from the stability of life in Hong Kong he now finds himself in an alien environment, a world full of hostile strangers, where the only links to his culture lie hidden amongst the hundreds of fourth generation faces in Manchester’s Chinatown.

Tommy Lau wants it all. As lieutenant of the new wave of hard-edged Hong Kong immigrants he believes the Chang family have gone soft, lost their edge, lost their identity… lost respect. The time is right for a takeover and he’s set his sights on becoming Grand Dragon. No one, but no one is going to stand in his way.

Kai Chang wants to protect his Godson: the only remaining boy in the Chang dynasty. Ensuring the child’s protection above all else is paramount. Will Manchester provide him with the shelter he needs or will the tentacles of the rising Lau family squeeze the life not only from the boy, but also from a code of honour that goes back for centuries?

When Dezzie befriends new boy Yasin at his school, little does he know his life will take an unexpected turn that will ultimately shape his future. Having witnessed the perpetual racist taunts and bullying to the quiet Chinese newcomer, Dezzie – no stranger to beatings himself – stands up to Yasin’s persecutors and wins the respect, not only of his tormentors, but more importantly of Yasin. Dezzie takes Yasin under his protective wing and they become firm and loyal friends for years until Yasin’s Godfather Kai Chang arrives to take the teenage Yasin back to Hong Kong. Five years pass without a word until Yasin, aged twenty, comes back to Manchester to find his friend Dezzie and offers him an envious position at his side within the family firm. But this is a firm with a difference: Dezzie, the only white man to do so this side of the Atlantic is to be a Triad member and run the family business in Manchester and Liverpool.

And here our story begins. Just as Yasin was once thrust into the weird and wonderful culture of Manchester Dezzie quickly rises through the ranks to becomes a linchpin in the world of the Chinese Triads, a world of family values and feuds, legal and illegal activities of the underworld, but also a world of beauty, love and above all… respect. But as the friends journey progresses side by side a firm wedge of hate and betrayal is soon to drive them apart… and against each other.
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And here’s the trailer Alan had put together to get people interested that Marc talks about in the Q & A – this is a great idea for indie filmmakers to emulate in approaching people for funding, crew and whatnot:

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All images in the above post are protected by copyright and courtesy of Kellie Owens Stills Photography.