Week In Women: Georgia Oakley’s new take on SENSE AND SENSIBILITY – Brandy McDonnell reports

Writer-director Georgia Oakley’s new screen adaptation of iconic English writer Jane Austen’s first novel will bow in movie theaters in fall, released by Focus Features, Universal Pictures International (UPI) and Working Title in U.S. theaters on Oct. 16. The film was initially scheduled for a September theatrical release in the United States.

Oakley was nominated for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director or Producer at the 2023 British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards (BAFTAs) with her 2022 feature Blue Jean, which she wrote and directed. Set in the 1980s, the drama follows a closeted gay teacher who is pushed to the brink when a new student threatens to expose her sexuality.

Blue Jean also won four prizes at the 2022 British Independent Film Awards (BIFA), including Best Debut Screenwriter, and was nominated for the Breakthrough Director Award at New York’s 2023 Gotham Awards.

With Blue Jean, Oakley was named to the British Film Institute (BFI) and BAFTA’s 2023 cohort of the BFI Flare x BAFTA mentoring program, which provides support to six LGBTQIA+ filmmakers working towards their debuts in film and television.

She also was named to the 2023 BAFTA UK Breakthrough cohort, the BAFTAs’ flagship talent initiative in partnership with Netflix.

Oakley is following up on Blue Jean with her adaptation of the debut novel from one of Britain’s most enduring novelists. Oakley is directing from a script by bestselling author Diana Reid, and filming started last summer in the United Kingdom. Focus has worldwide rights on the movie, and UPI will handle international distribution for the studio. Working Title’s Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner are producing alongside India Flint of November Pictures and Jo Wallett of Kiddo Films. Continue readng on THE WEEK IN WOMEN