Local filmmaker teams up with BAFTA crew on new Edinburgh film

An Edinburgh filmmaker has teamed up with BAFTA nominated producers to create a bold new drama set in the capital that features a homeless man as the main character.

Stray Dog is a bleak drama set against the gritty Edinburgh milieu featuring a vagrant who is not what he seems.

The solo-penned script by Fender puts issues like homelessness, addiction, gambling, violence and bullying, and isolation under the spotlight through the struggles of its main characters.

Douglas Fender, 25, has secured the talents of Alan McLaughlin and Craig McKenna the team behind Newcomers BAFTA nominated short film When the Tide Comes In, and acclaimed Scottish actors Gary Lind and Michael Daviot who both starred in the hit American TV Show – Outlander.

The team headed up by Fender has launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise a budget of £10,000 for the film and are calling on the public to back it and help bring the story to the screen. If the target of £10,000 is reached Douglas will donate 5% to a homelessness charity or shelter.

Stray Dog follows a down on his luck, widowed comedian struggling with a gambling addiction who is saved from a beating by a vagrant whose bite seems more terrifying than his bark.

When a local hard-man debt collector attacks the comedian the mysterious homeless man comes to his aid and sparks an unlikely friendship, setting off a catastrophic chain of events that will test their friendship and irrevocably change their lives.

The tragic story is the first feature film from up and coming independent filmmaker Douglas Fender, from Saughton, and will be shot in Edinburgh over the summer of 2015.

Douglas Fender said, “Violence is never far from the surface in Stray Dog but it is a story that is full of heart. Tragedy is brewing. It’s also a story that reminds us of the destructiveness of rage and grief but also of the power of simple acts of compassion, and how friendship can change people as they face their own demons.”

Supporters of the crowdfunding campaign can bag a walk on part in one of the movie’s violent scenes. There’s other perks up for grabs, depending on the amount of the donation.

Fender’s previous short films include Open Lines, which featured a cameo from independent cult horror icon Lloyd Kaufman. The 30-minute short was created on zero-budget and highly rated on IMDB, the Internet movie database.

Douglas says he hopes to continue putting Edinburgh on the map with high quality, independent filmmaking, hot on the heels of the success of Box Office hits like ’Filth’ and ’Sunshine on Leith’.

“Stray Dog does have a very bleak tone like so many films set in Edinburgh, presenting the city as a wonderfully gritty backdrop to the story but it’s not the focus. It doesn’t shout ‘Scottish’. ‘Stray Dog’ is woven from that unmistakable fabric of Edinburgh but I hope it’s a universal story that focuses on the characters own personal stories and growth.”

You can support the film here on indiegogo

Submitted by Douglas J. Fender