Red Road

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Five nominations for Scottish tower-block thriller

A THRILLER set in a notorious Glasgow block of flats was nominated for five British film awards yesterday on the day of its Scottish premiere.

Red Road, which won the prestigious Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and was made for only £1 million, opens across the UK tomorrow. It was nominated for five British Independent Film Awards, including best film, best actress, best actor and best supporting actor. The director, Andrea Arnold, who was named for best debut director, said she was "delighted".

Red Road faces stiff competition in Stephen Frears's acclaimed film The Queen, and The Last King of Scotland, directed by Kevin Macdonald and starring Forest Whitaker, which are also both up for five awards.

Red Road was financed by Scottish Screen. Television actress Kate Dickie stars as a CCTV operator who spots an unwelcome figure from her past on her screens, while fellow Glaswegian Tony Curran returned from working in Hollywood to play the ex-convict Wayne.

"I've never been nominated for anything. It's a great surprise and I'm very happy about it," Curran said. Dickie added: "For me, the most exciting thing was doing the film."

Ms Arnold chose the Red Road flats, now scheduled for demolition, as the setting for her film after driving all over the city.