Mothers & Daughters Cast

Bourgeois comedy at it's best. Disturbing and utterly hilarious —Raindance

Jean Boht gives a powerful performance…
at times almost too painful to watch —The Daily Mail

	JOAN BLACKHAM Paddy a mother who just can’t help but meddle		HANNAH DAVIS Dolly a daughter with schemes and dreams
	JEAN BOHT Mary a mother in a bit of a muddle		MIRANDA HART Kate a daughter with a secret she longs to share
	SIMONE BOWKETT Sam a daughter with an addiction		ALIX LONGMAN Lorraine the therapist who brings everything down to the mother
	CAROLINE BURNS COOKE Nina a daughter who cares for her mother		JOANNA PECOVER Emma a daughter lost in motherhood
	DAVID CONOLLY Dan a vicar with a wife, a daughter and one hell of a surprise on the way		EMMA STIRLAND Ari a daughter… with her mothers boyfriend

the filmmakers – Hannah Davis & David Conolly

As a child of the the triple BAFTA winning film composer Carl Davis and actress Jean Boht, Hannah Davis was born in London, England and brought up with the great masters of the Silent Cinema. Her formative years were spent watching the works of King Vidor, Abel Gance, Charlie Chaplin and Eric Von Stroheim in concert halls across the world and watching her mother on a variety of film sets. Having decided to pursue acting she left London and came to New York to study with Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse before returning to England to work with Mike Leigh in the Academy Award nominated Secrets and Lies. This led to further work in Television and Theatre.

As Hannah was mixing with the great and the good, David, born in Leeds, England, spent his formative years with the forgotten people. His father, Michael, worked as a Chaplain in a mental hospital. After spending a short time following the family tradition and working in psychiatry, David was selected to join the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain, which lead to him making his West End debut at 17. David went on to study performing arts at Leicester Polytechnic where he directed The Mobil Winning New play, Woundings and won outstanding contribution to the National Student Drama Festival, with Ode to St Cecilia. Having completed his degree, David trained as an actor at Mountview Theatre School before returning to the West End as an understudy for the much acclaimed A Passionate Woman, which many years later provided the inspiration for Hannah and Davids second feature film entitled, ironically enough, The Understudy.

Between acting jobs, David and Hannah met running Lunacy, an alternative comedy night on the London fringe. They then worked their way up the production ladder, producing the pilot of Lunacy, which led to work in BBC Drama and Documentary. Breaking out from the TV production treadmill, they created festival nominated shorts and community films for the Red Cross, the Teenage Cancer Unit Trust and the National Schizophrenic Foundation. They also developed their writing skills with screenplays for Hartswood Films, Quentin Morrissey, Buffalo Pictures as well as working on Shakespearean productions at the Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park, London. Having spent a few years in constant development it was decided to combine their many skills and create a feature film, Mothers and Daughters. Six months were spent with actors devising and rehearsing the screenplay, followed by intense bursts of filming with breaks so that cast and crew could earn money to live on during production and so that Hannah and David could earn money to finance the next phase of filming! Finally producer and writer Lynda La Plante (Prime Suspect) saw a rough-cut of Mothers & Daughters and became their post production fairy godmother. Mothers & Daughters was invited to film festivals worldwide in 2004, debuting at Cannes then playing at Sao Paulo, Montreal, Quebec, Barcelona, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, The Hamptons, London and Dinard “Great performances, good pacing, sharp script”, Variety declared, and they were nominated — The Golden Hitchcock Award for Direction.

All this activity led to interest in their next project and the screenplay, Wedding Town was developed for the UK Film Council. Shortly after the pens rested on Wedding Town, principle photography began in New York City on their second full length feature, The Understudy, which is currently traveling the film festival circuit. Festival laurels for The Understudy so far include: Silver Lei for Excellence in Filmmaking, Honolulu International Film Festival; Official Selection Avignon Film Festival 2008; Official Selection Film Columbia 2008; Official Selection Sao Paulo International Film Festival 2008; Official Selection The Bahama’s International Film Festival 2008; Official Selection The Bevely Hills Hi Def Film Festival 2008 and Winner of Best Original Score from the Composers Union of France 2008 a particular thrilling award as the composer is, of course, Carl Davis. Alongside traveling the world with The Understudy, David and Hannah have a number of screenplays in development, are overseeing the release of Mothers & Daughters in March 2009 and currently reside in Los Angeles, Calfornia.