24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE

“Trainspotting meets The Fast Show” – Uncut
“Coogan excells… the supporting cast swell the screen superbly” – Mail on Sunday

24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE is the story of music, mayhem and the Manchester scene. Chartingthe rise and fall of Factory Records, the Hacienda and the career of Granada TV reporterturned music impresario Tony Wilson, the film is a melee of emotion, hysteria andthe personalities who shaped a generation. 24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE is out to renton DVD and video from Fox Pathé Home Entertainment on August 23rd 2002.

In 1976 an audience of forty or so people, including Tony Wilson (Steve Coogan) and a group of aspiring musicians, are transfixed by a powerfulSex Pistols gig in Manchester. On a subsequent mission to capitalise on the city’s vastly untapped reservoir of musicaltalent, Wilson goes on to create Factory Records with his friend Alan Erasmus (Lennie James) andJoy Division Manager Rob Gretton (Paddy Considine). Aiming to support young talent and give themunconditional artistic freedom (the only contract ever signed was written in Wilson’s own blood),Joy Division, fronted by Ian Curtis (Sean Harris), go on to redefine musical boundaries Europe-wide.

After the tragic suicide of Curtis in 1980, Joy Division reforms as New Order with Barney Sumner taking thelead (John Simm). Together with Wilson they give birth to the Hacienda nightclub, which becomes one of the most notorious dance clubsin the world.

But with one financial disaster after another, Factory Records remains on the brink of collapse. Futuresuccess with the newly signed Happy Monday’s, fronted by the shambolic Shaun Ryder (DannyCunningham), is once again marred by drug addled recording sessions and chaos!

Directed by regular Cannes Film Festival participant Michael Winterbottom (Wonderland, Welcome to Sarajevo), thefilm was in competition there this year. Shot predominately on digital video,24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE boasts an ensemble cast of British talent in support and thewriting skills of Frank Cottrell Boyce. With tracks from The Sex Pistols, Joy Division, New Order, The Happy Monday’s and The Buzzcocks, the film’s soundtrack resonates the phenomenal success of Factory’s music and the Manchester scene with a cocktail of nostalgia.

With a fantastic supporting cast including Ralf Little, John Thomson, Peter Kay andKeith Allen and based on true events between the mid 1970s to the early 1990s, 24HOUR PARTY PEOPLE is an intoxicating trip back to the legendary Mad-chester era, packedwith pills, thrills and plenty of bellyaches.