Lapwing – Watch the trailer for the dark, atmospheric psychological thriller

Bulldog Film Distribution is releasing the dark, atmospheric psychological thriller Lapwing on July 19^th 2022. 

Set in 1555 in England, when it has been decreed Egyptian ‘gypsies’ must leave or face execution, first-time screenwriter Laura Turner uses the film to show how little some things have changed between 16th Century England and the present. Director Philip Stevens, making his feature film debut, guides Turner’s story with an assured and sensitive hand, showing the cruel and corrosive effects of bigotry and misogyny. 

A mute young woman, Patience, from an isolated community in rural England in 1555, struggles with her controlling brother-in-law and leader, David, who is gradually unravelling after the failure of his idyllic community. The Egyptian Act has been passed, stipulating that all ‘gypsies’ must vacate England immediately and anyone found aiding them could be executed. In exchange for a fee, David agrees to help an Egyptian family who must stay a month on their land until a ship comes to take them away. The others in the community tolerate this decision, hoping it could lead them to a more prosperous life. But when Patience pursues an affair with one of the outsiders, she is thrust into a violent and vicious psychological battle with David, who sees her actions as a direct rebellion, and a threat to the power he desperately wants to maintain over the community.

Hannah Douglas (Clownface) is striking as the mute Patience, who falls in love with a ‘gypsy’, Rumi, played by The Great and Skins star Sebastian De Souza, much to the displeasure of her overbearing brother-in-law, David (Peaky Blinders star Emmett J Scanlan). Beautifully scored, and shot on location amongst the awe-inspiring scenery of the Lincolnshire coastline, LAPWING is coolly composed, and underscored with dread, where love blossoms in the shadow of merciless and brutal violence.

Following in the footsteps of female-centric period dramas The Nightingale, The Witch, Gwen, Lady Macbeth and The Reckoning, and recalling mixture of intensity and poeticism of the cinema of Jane Campion, LAPWING gets under the viewer’s skin and resonates strongly in our current turbulent climate.

LAPWING WILL BE RELEASED ON DIGITAL ON JULY 19