Exodus - One-off drama from Channel 4
19 November 2007 - Acclaimed filmmaker Penny Woolcock returns to Channel 4 tonight with this epic one-off drama inspired by the biblical story of Exodus, the second book of the Old Testament, and shot in the derelict Dreamland funfair in the English coastal town of Margate.
Exodus explores timeless themes of identity, migration and great movements of people across the globe in search of a promised land.
In Woolcock's take on the Exodus story, Moses is a member of the ruling class, son of populist politician Pharoah Mann. Pharoah has found the perfect solution for the Promised Land.
All the unwanted elements of society - from asylum seekers and economic refugees to the long term unemployed, petty criminals and ethnic minorities - are forced to live in Dreamland's shanty town.
When Moses reaches his adulthood, he discovers that his birth mother is a poor Romany woman, Levi, who gave him away as a baby so that he might have the chance of a better life.
Chaos
But when Moses visits Dreamland and kills a guard after witnessing a violent attack on a young woman, chaos ensues and in that moment, Moses's life is changed forever…
Leading actor Bernard Hill ( Lord of the Rings , Titanic ) takes the part of Pharaoh and Ger Ryan ( Queer as Folk , Fat Friends , and The Street ) plays Pharaoh's wife, Batya.
RADA-trained actor Daniel Percival ( Vital Signs , Sinchronicity ) plays Moses and rising newcomer Clare-Hope Ashitey ( Children of Men , Shooting Dogs ) plays his wife Zipporah. Moses' brother Aaron is played by local first-time actor Anthony Johnson, while Delroy Moore, a foster carer living in Margate, plays the school teacher Jethro.
All other speaking parts and the many hundreds of extras are all non-actors from Margate and the Isle of Thanet who were cast and recruited through local schools, shops, pubs, clubs, community centres and by word of mouth.
Channel 4 has funded Penny Woolcock's work, from her first television dramas, through to the award-winning adaptation for film of John Adams' opera The Death of Klinghoffer.
Social Conscience
Her films are generally informed by a strong social conscience, much of it concerned with the social, cultural and political life on Britain's toughest housing estates, from her first film When the Dog Bites to Shakespeare on the Estate and the drama trilogy Tina Goes Shopping, Tina Takes a Break and the 2006 release, Mischief Night .
Exodus is the first feature film for pioneering arts organisation Artangel and is part of an ongoing relationship with Channel 4 to support and create innovative arts projects for the screen.
Other films include Turner Prize winner Jeremy Deller and Mike Figgis' Battle of Orgreave , an event and documentary film for Channel 4, and Waste Man , Antony Gormley's 25-metre high thrift store sculpture in Margate, created and burnt as one of the significant turning points in Exodus .
The DVD of Exodus will be available to buy on November 26th, one week after its Channel 4 transmission.
Exodus is on Channel 4 @ 10pm on Monday 19 November 2007.
