Death of a Clown

Death of a Clown is a twelve minute short film written and directed by Julian Kerridge. A clown dies and his daughter and grand-daughter visit his flat.  The grand-daughter wants him to be buried in his stage outfit, but her mother is having nothing of it.  With some persuasion she is brought round, but you just know that something is going to happen at the crematorium.

Death of a Clown was shot over the course of a week and it was filmes in the large studio at the London Film School.  I was first drawn to this film as I noticed that the location photography was done in Lewisham, including the Hither Green Crematorium.  That is where I live (Lewisham, not the crematorium) but I was quickly drawn in by the character driven plot and the wonderful central performances of Ellena Stacey as Collette and Lynn Blakley as April.

No film like this is complete without a comedy vicar and that is provided in buckets by Roger Evans while the voice of the dead clown, Stanley Walker, is provided by Julian Kerridge, the writer and director.

Kerridge is a directing graduate of the London Film School and he began his professional career as an actor working in TV, film and theatre. He has performed with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre and has appeared in numerous TV series.

His debut feature film Seamonsters starring Rita Tushingham, Reece Noi, Jack Mcmullen, Georgia Henshaw and Leila Mimmack is currently in post production. It can be followed on twitter @seamonstersfilm.