Bard Entertainments was established by Margaret Matheson to produce theatrical films and television drama for the international market.

Films

IN THE DARK HALF a ghost story written by Lucy Catherine and directed by Alastair Siddons was completed in 2011. Margaret Matheson produced for iFeatures and international sales are handled by Content Media Corporation. 

HARD BOILED SWEETS a crime thriller written, directed and produced by David L G Hughes was also completed in 2011.  Margaret Matheson Executive Produced and Demelza Jones, Lara Greenway and Michael Riley produced.  Content Media Corporation is handling international sales.

In 2010 Margaret Matheson was an Executive Producer of THIRD STAR, written by Vaughan Sivell, directed by Hattie Dalton and produced by Vaughan Sivell and Kelly Broad. UK distribution and international sales are handled by Independent.

SKIN, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2008.  Directed by Anthony Fabian, and starring Sophie Okonedo, Sam Neill and Alice Krige, SKIN is based on the true story of Sandra Laing, a black child born in South Africa in the 1950s at the height of the apartheid era to a white Afrikaner couple. International sales are handled by E1

SLEEP FURIOUSLY, director Gideon Koppel’s first feature, premiered at Edinburgh International Film Festival in June 2008 and was then presented in Competition at Locarno International Film Festival where it won the Environment prize. SLEEP FURIOUSLY is a portrait of the remote valley of Trefeurig, near Aberystwyth in Wales and was filmed over a year from 2006 to 2007. New Wave released the film in the UK in May 2009 and Microcinema will release it in the US in the summer of 2011.

In 2006 Bard completed VAMPIRE DIARY, written by Phil O’Shea, directed by Mark James and Phil O’Shea and produced by Michael Riley and Margaret Matheson. World sales agent is Visual Factory with Peccadillo handling UK distribution.

AMERICAN COUSINS, a Scots Italian comedy set in Glasgow starring Danny Nucci, Shirley Henderson, Gerald Lepkowski, Vincent Pastore and Dan Hedaya, written by Sergio Casci and directed by Don Coutts, was completed in December 2002.  World sales are handled by Icon International with Momentum handling UK.

Also in 2002 Bard partnered with Third Rock to complete Duncan Roy’s AKA released in the UK in 2002 and selected for Sundance in 2003.  World sales agent is Portman Films.

REVENGERS TRAGEDY, adapted from the Jacobean play by Frank Cottrell Boyce and directed by Alex Cox, was filmed on location in Liverpool in the summer of 2001, starring Christopher Eccleston, Eddie Izzard and Derek Jacobi. World sales are handled by Hanway and the film was released by Metro Tartan in the UK in February 2003.

KIN, written and directed by Elaine Proctor starring Isaiah Washington and Miranda Otto was filmed entirely on location in Namibia. It was released in the UK in 2002 and world sales are handled by Icon International.

In 1996 Margaret Matheson was Co-Executive Producer of EVE’S BAYOU written and directed by Kasi Lemmons starring Samuel L Jackson for Trimark (released in US in 1997 and in the UK in September 1998). 

In 1997 she Executive Produced BABYMOTHER, a reggae musical released by Film Four in the UK in 1998 and Fineline in the US in March 2000.

The company's first feature, made in 1995, was the co-produced Oscar winning ANTONIA’S LINE produced by Hans de Weers, Antonino Lombardo and Judy Counihan and directed by Marleen Gorris. 

Later in 1995 Bard produced the BAFTA winning IT’S NOT UNUSUAL a theatrical short written and produced  by Asmaa Pirzada and directed by Kfir Yefet.

Television

Through 1997-98, Bard produced SPACE ISLAND ONE (26 x 1 hour episodes) for B Sky B and Vox in Germany filmed entirely in the Isle of Man. 

Also in 1998, Margaret Executive Produced LOST FOR WORDS starring Thora Hird and Pete Postlethwaite, which won numerous awards including an International Emmy and both RTS and BAFTA awards in the UK.

MARGARET MATHESON

2011Executive Producer of HARD BOILED SWEETS written directed and produced by David L G Hughes and produced by Demelza Jones, Lara Greenway and Michael Riley.

2010Executive Producer of THIRD STAR written by Vaughan Sivell, directed by Hattie Dalton and produced by Kelly Broad and Vaughan Sivell

2008Producer of SKIN directed by Anthony Fabian starring Sophie Okonedo, Sam Neill and Alice Krige

2007Producer of SLEEP FURIOUSLY, a feature documentary directed by Gideon Koppel

2006Executive Producer NINA’S HEAVENLY DELIGHTS written by Andrea Gibb, directed by Pratibha Parmar

2006  Producer VAMPIRE DIARY written by Phil O’Shea, directed by Mark James and Phil O’Shea

2003 - presentMember of London International Film School Board

2003-2005Vice Chair of Film for PACT

2002Executive Producer of AKA written and directed by Duncan Roy

2002Producer of AMERICAN COUSINS written by Sergio Casci, directed by Don Coutts, starring Danny Nucci, Shirley Henderson, Gerald Lepkowski, Vincent Pastore and Dan Hedaya

2001Producer of REVENGERS TRAGEDY written by Frank Cottrell Boyce, directed by Alex Cox starring Christopher Eccleston, Eddie Izzard and Derek Jacobi

1999-2000Producer of KIN, written and directed by Elaine Proctor, starring Miranda Otto and Isaiah Washington

1997-98Producer of SPACE ISLAND ONE - 26 x 1 hour TV Series

1997Executive Producer of BABYMOTHER, written and directed by Julian Henriques (Formation Films for Film Four)

1996 - 1997Chair of Scottish Film Production Fund

1996Co-Executive Producer of EVE’S BAYOU, written and directed by Kasi Lemmons, starring Samuel L Jackson

1995Executive Producer of ANTONIA’S LINE (Marleen Gorris) 1996 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film

1995IT’S NOT UNUSUAL (Asmaa Pirzada/Kfir Yefet)1996 BAFTA Winner - Best Short FilmChannel 4/British Screen

1995Executive Producer of Screen One for BBC1

Productions include:

PAT AND MARGARET (Victoria Wood/Gavin Miller)

MEAT (Danny Boyle/John Madden)

THE GREAT KANDINSKY (Terry Winsor)

DOGGING AROUND (Alan Plater/Desmond Davis)

MURDER IN MIND (Jenni Diski/Robert Bierman)

TWO GOLDEN BALLS (Maureen Chadwick/Anya Camilleri)

1994Formed Bard Entertainments Ltd

1993Producer of CARDIAC ARREST for Island World Productions /BBC1

1992- 1996Board of Scottish Film Council

Board of Scottish Film Production Fund

1992Fellow of Royal Television Society

1990 - 1993Chief Executive of Island World Productions Ltd

Productions  include: 

Feature: JUICE (Ernest Dickerson)

BBC 1 Series: BETWEEN THE LINES

BBC Screen One: WIDE EYED & LEGLESS (Jack Rosenthal/Richard Loncraine)

1989 - 1992Governor of National Film & Television School

1988 - 1996Board of London International Festival of Theatre

1985 - 1989Governor of British Film Institute

Chair of British Film Institute Production Board

1984 - 1989Director of Production for Zenith Productions Ltd 

Feature Films include:

THE HIT (Peter Prince/Stephen Frears)

INSIGNIFICANCE (Terry Johnson/Nick Roeg)

SID AND NANCY (Abbie Wool/Alex Cox)

PERSONAL SERVICES (David Leland/Terry Jones)

WISH YOU WERE HERE (David Leland)

THE DEAD (John Huston)

PRICK UP YOUR EARS (Alan Bennett/Stephen Frears)

Television productions include: 

INSPECTOR MORSE, THE PARADISE CLUB, SHOOT TO KILL

1984Royal Television Society Silver Medal (for Outstanding Creative Achievement behind the Camera)

1981 - 1984Controller of Drama for Central TV

Commissions include

THE LAST PLACE ON EARTH and AUF WIEDERSEHEN PET

Executive Producer of KENNEDY by Reg Gadney (BAFTA Best Drama Series) starring Martin Sheen and Blair Brown

Producer of THE LELAND QUARTET:

MADE IN BRITAIN (Alan Clarke) (Prix Italia)

BIRTH OF A NATION (Mike Newell) (Prix Futura)

RHINO (Jane Howell)

FLYING INTO THE WIND (Ed Bennett)

1980 - 1981Producer: MUCK AND BRASS by Tom Clarke starring Mel Smith, directed by Marek Kanievska and Martin Campbell for Central TV

1977 - 1978Producer: BBC Play for Today Series.

Productions include:

SCUM (Roy Mnton/Alan Clarke)

STRONGER THAN THE SUN (Stephen Poliakoff/Michael Apted)

NINA (Jehane Markham/Alan Clarke)

OY VAY MARIA (Mary O’Malley/Richard Loncraine)

ABIGAIL’S PARTY (Mike Leigh)

NIPPER (Barrie Keefe/Brian Farnham)

DESTINY (David Edgar/Mike Newell)

THE AFTER DINNER JOKE (Caryl Churchill/Colin Bucksey)

SHOOTING THE CHANDELIER (David Mercer/Jane Howell)

THE  LEGION HALL BOMBING (Caryl Churchill/Roland Joffe)

WHO’S WHO (Mike Leigh)

1975Producer IT SHOULDN’T HAPPEN TO A VET (starring John Alderton and Colin Blakeley) for EMI

1973 - 1975London Representative of Talent Associates.(David Susskind’s US company.)

Associate Producer  CAESAR AND CLEOPATRA (Alec Guinness and Genevieve Bujold)

1973Researcher/Reporter - Local News and Documentaries

Granada Television

1970 - 1973Story Editor of BBC Series:

ELIZABETH  R

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