The Lives of the Saints

The debut feature from photographer Rankin and directing partner Cottam has an unusual history: the Italian fashion brand Meltin’ Pot offered the directors a pot of money to find a script and shoot it in a matter of weeks. The chosen script – 20 years old – by Tony Grisoni (‘Brothers of the Head’) brings a touch of magic realism to Haringey’s Green Lanes, marrying poetic dialogue to the realist setting and characters of the area. A larger-than-life James Cosmo, playing a local crim, lords it over the pool rooms and kebab shops of the neighbourhood – a place of drab existences until two youths discover a mysterious, silent child who starts to grant everyone whatever wish they desire. Ambitious and beguiling.