Echo Chamber - 316 (The Bystanders)
We have a 'Special Edition' of @EchoChamberFP for you today, people!!!
It's a bit of a revisit, because we first looked at this film during Sci-Fi London 2023, but looking back at that review, I didn't really do things justice. So thanks to the great Matt Hulse, we were able to not just take another look at the feature, BUT, sit down with the creative mind (one of them) behind the project and really get into the mechanics of the creation, production, casting, all that good stuff. We also touched upon A.I, creative techniques, and the perception of material. It was a really fun time, which could have been a lot longer, you won't want to miss it!!!
'The Bystanders' is the feature directorial debut from Gabriel Foster Prior, which he co-wrote with Jack Hughes. Peter Weir (Scott Haran) – a former child genius at chess who is now an inconspicuous office drone – is recruited precisely for his anonymity to become a Bystander, a kind of empowered guardian angel tasked with watching over, and invisibly helping, an individual subject.
Peter is trained by jaded Bystander Frank (Seann Walsh), who out of boredom proposes that they swap subjects, so that Frank now has ‘middle-class girl from Kent’ Sarah (Georgia Mabel Clarke), and Peter has feckless loser Luke (Andi Jashy), whom Peter hopes to transform into a winner so that Peter himself can win the award for Bystander of the Year, and make up for losing a chess contest decades earlier.
Hilarious rivalry ensues, as misanthropic Frank, who can only see the world through ‘Frank-tinted glasses’, sets about, purely for the lulz, undermining Luke’s – and Peter’s – newfound success.
Watch the conversation: HERE!
Today we have:
The Bystanders - Poster
The Bystanders
Watch Review: Here.
Austin Film Festival: 27th October 2022
Boston Sci Fi Film Festival: 15th February 2023
Fantaspoa International Fantastic Film Festival: 19th April 2023
Sci-Fi London: 6th June 2023
Portland EcoFilm Festival: 29th June 2023
Theatrical Release Date: 16th October 2023
Digital Release Date: 12th May 2024
Director: Gabriel Foster Prior
Cast: Scott Haran, Seann Walsh, Emily Wyatt, Lauren Douglin, Andi Jashy, Georgia Mabel Clarke, Nikolaos Brahimllari, Aimée Hills, Julia Varvara, Kurt Deed, Tom Clegg, Adam Morse, Nick Helm, Marek Larwood, Stefan Boehm, Lucy Pinder, Frank Harper, David Schaal, Jake Lambert, Emily Milburn, Margarita San Luis
Credit: Waggon & Horses Productions, Screenbound Entertainment
Genre: Comedy, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
Running Time: 97 min
Cert: 15
Trailer: Here.
Watch via YouTube: Here.
Watch via Apple TV+: Here.
Watch via Google Play: Here.
Instagram: @thebystandersfilm
Website: Here.
Watch the conversation: HERE!
Gabriel Foster Prior
Gabriel Foster Prior
Writer, Director, Producer, Editor, Cinematographer
'The Bystanders', Gabriel Foster Prior’s first feature as director, premiered on the opening night of the academy award qualifying Austin Film Festival, where it was made a Staff Pick. The Bystanders won the Best Sci-Fi award at the Berlin Independent Film Festival and Audience Awards at both the Sydney Sci-Fi and Sci-Fi London Film Festivals.
Total Film, in a 4 star review, described it as an “Inventive Brit-com with style, charm and wit on its side.” SFX’s 4 star review called it “A dazzlingly original SF romcom” saying it “has enough imagination to suggest that Gabriel Foster Prior is headed for the big time.”
He has also directed short films including ‘The Drunk’ for which he won Best Director at Ealing Film Awards and 'A Short Film About Hats' which premiered at FEST New Directors Festival. He has also created comedy sketches including ’28’ which opened Seann Walsh’s Edinburgh Award nominated show ‘The Lie In King’ and video art including ‘Skysylla’ which was included in Athens Video Art Festival.
He also has a successful career as a film editor including feature films ‘Lucid’, which premiered at Edinburgh Film Festival and ‘The Wall of Mexico’ which premiered on opening night of SXSW 2019 and won The Audience Award at The American Film Festival. --
Follow Gabriel via:
IMDb: Here.
Website: Here.
Facebook: Here.
Instagram: @gabrielfosterprior
Watch Gabriel's films via Apple TV+: Here.
Watch Gabriel's films via Prime Video UK: Here.
Wagon & Horses Productions
Facebook: Here.
YouTube: Here.
Vimeo: Here.
*(Music)
'Strictly Business (Instrumental)' by EPMD - 2020