Chuck Chuck Baby celebrates its World Premiere at Edinburgh International Film Festival

Written and directed by Janis Pugh (The Befuddled Box of Betty Buttifint, Blue Collars and Buttercups), starring Louise Brealey (Sherlock, Back, Lockwood & Co., Brian and Charles, A Discovery of Witches, Smack the Pony), Annabel Scholey (The Split, The Salisbury Poisoning, The Sixth Commandment, Being Human, Walking on Sunshine), Sorcha Cusack (Snatch, Father Brown, Jane Eyre), Celyn Jones (Set Fire to the Stars, Submergence, Six Minutes to Midnight) and produced by Anne Beresford, Adam Partridge, Andrew Gillman and Peggy Cafferty, Chuck Chuck Baby is a film of love, loss and music set amongst the falling feathers of a chicken factory.

Set in present day industrial North Wales, Helen spends her nights packing chickens and her days caring for a dying mother-figure Gwen. Helen’s world takes an unexpected turn with the return of Joanne. They were the objects of the other’s unspoken teenage passions twenty years ago. One night, encouraged by Helen, Joanne starts a playful wooing game that re-awakens their youthful feelings. 

As they fall in love and lust, Helen’s zest for life returns but Joanne feels the walls closing in as she faces something much darker from her past. Helen’s world is shattered when Gwen dies and Joanne’s painful memories cause her to flee. Separated and alone, both women reflect on their unfulfilled chance. Eventually, they find the courage to let go of the past and allow their love to win.

The film is executive produced by Lizzie Francke for the BFI, Kimberley Warner for Ffilm Cymru Wales, Max Fisher and Mary Fisher for MDF with sales represented by The Yellow Affair. 

Director Janis Pugh said: “I am absolutely delighted to be screening Chuck Chuck Baby at Edinburgh International Film Festival. It’s a festival I have always loved as a film maker and an audience member. I couldn’t be happier. 

"Chuck Chuck Baby is a musical comedy drama which celebrates female working class friendship and love. The film was shot in my home town in North Wales and set in a world of magical realism. The film evokes themes of love, loss and grief and centres on the two leads, Helen and Joanne.

"It was very important for me to write a film about two women who had suffered physical and emotional brutality in their past who come together to overcome that to find beauty in their present lives.

"The use of music in the film is significant part of my work, it is used to convey the wants and desires of characters. It’s much more than mood and atmosphere, it is very much part of their emotional journey.

"Although the film is a story of love, it is also a story of barriers and fences and what happens when we shut people out. I think from the moment I started writing this film, I really wanted the audience to cry, laugh, sing, cry a little bit more and then go home with the film in their hearts and pull down their own fences.”