AN INDEPENDENT sci-fi movie - some of which was filmed in Newport and the surrounding area - is available to watch in the UK for the first time.
Expiry, a co-production between Seraphim Pictures of Cardiff Bay and TG Films of Carmarthenshire, has already proved popular with audiences in North America.
Written and directed by Tom Gatley and filmed in Newport and wider south Wales in 2017, Expiry has already picked up the top prize at the Cardiff Mini Film Festival Pitch Your Film competition.
One of the locations used in the film is the recognisable white footbridge over the Usk near the University of South Wales building in the city centre.
View the trailer for Expiry below:
The film stars local actors Sarah-Louise Tyler and Richard Miltiadis as married couple Sofia and Jamie Cooper.
The pair discover one morning that they are prevented from touching by the ruling authority which has deemed their union to have “expired”.
Set in a not-too-distant future, the plot unfolds in a dystopian society which, Seraphim Pictures say, serves to provide a warning about our own increasing reliance on technology and mobile devices.
The film has gained favourable reviews in the USA and has already drawn comparisons with Channel 4/Netflix series Black Mirror.
The film’s co-producer, Daniel Lyddon, said: “I was attracted to the production because of the intriguing story that Tom Gatley had written.
"The idea that our relationships could be defined by government-controlled wearable tech may have seemed futuristic back in 2017, but after the pandemic years when our interactions were often governed by location-based Covid-19 apps on our phones, Tom’s vision of our future seems eerily prescient.”
Expiry has been making waves at film festivals in countries as far flung as the USA, Croatia and Lebanon.
Tom Gatley said of Expiry’s success to date: “I’ve always been fascinated by dramas with a hint of sci-fi, not too distant from our own world.
"The security cameras and rules of city life blended nicely into this story of a relationship on the rocks.
"It was only a matter of time before we saw how technology could hinder us as much as free us.”
Expiry is now available for rentals and purchases in the UK via Prime Video, with further deals set to be announced in the coming weeks.
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