One of 2010′s most highly anticipated movies here at Chris and Phil Present is Red White & Blue, the latest feature from cutting-edge British filmmaker Simon Rumley which is due to have its world premiere in Rotterdam later this week. We’ve got a look at the poster art and first images from the film right here plus the latest update on the film’s release direct from the brand new Red White & Blue website launched earlier this month:

Red White & Blue is a “slacker revenge movie” set in contemporary Austin, starring Noah Taylor (Shine, Alice In Wonderland), Amanda Fuller (Buffy The Vampire Slayer) and Marc Senter (The Lost, Cabin Fever 2). The movie is a collaboration between acclaimed director Simon Rumley (The Living And The Dead) and Austin’s Tim League (founder of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas and co-director of Fantastic Fest with aintitcool.com’s Harry Knowles), who is executive producer.

In Rumley’s tightly woven, darkly emotional tale, the lives of three young people – Erica, Franki and Nate – intertwine in a fateful, tragic way and head down a rocky and violent road to heart-rending oblivion.

Noah Taylor as Nate

Erica (Amanda Fuller) lives rent-free in the local co-op, but spends her nights trawling the bars and beds of Austin. Damaged, emotionally withdrawn, never really connecting with anyone, and sleeping with multiple men is just what she does… until she meets the older and mysterious Nate (Noah Taylor), working in a hardware store, but with an “honorable discharge” from Iraq.

Despite his quiet air of danger, Nate’s the only guy who doesn’t seem to want to get her into bed at the first opportunity, and the two form a hesitant bond. But one of Erica’s casual sexual encounters is about to bite back.

Franki (Marc Senter) is a young, hot-headed wannabe rock star trying to make it big. Looking after a sick mother and estranged from his longterm girlfriend, he “shared” Erica with his buddies one drunken evening. It takes a sudden shocking twist of fate to throw his already crazy world into a spin, and in Franki’s eyes there is only one person to blame…

Amanda Fuller as Erica

An unashamedly tough and uncompromising movie, Red White & Blue is a fearlessly frank, gut-wrenching romance and a merciless exploration of the futility of violence. Like Rumley’s The Living And The Dead before it, the movie – with its casual nudity and scenes of extreme violence – is no doubt destined for controversy.

Rumley describes Red White & Blue as being “about characters who somehow seem to be to blame for their own downfall but, in spite of the evil they perpetrate, are not actually evil characters”. Exploring a part of our psyche that we often find hard to acknowledge, the movie shines a light on the multi-colored dark side of American life. Red for lust, white for fear, blue for death.

The three young protagonists are very human and very flawed, but empathetic, as Rumley is keen that the audience retains sympathy towards them despite their sometimes extreme actions. Ultimately, Rumley says, Red White & Blue is at its core an emotional story, packing a real punch, about the “futility of violence and why man continues to be so aggressive and spiteful to his fellow man”.

Marc Senter as Franki

Red White & Blue is having its world premiere at the Rotterdam Film Festival in the Netherlands on 29th January. Rumley explains, “Rotterdam is one of the main festivals on the circuit and is the first European one to start each year. It’s been going a long time and champions both young and old directors. Unlike many festivals Rotterdam isn’t afraid to show darker material hence having the likes of Takashi Miike or Werner Herzog’s films gracing their line-up.”

“My last film The Living And The Dead also premiered there. Rotterdam served as an excellent springboard to catapult the film onto the global consciousness since there are both programmers and industry professionals there from all around the world. It’s a very social festival and enjoyable experience so it’s with great excitement that we’ll spreading a little bit of Austin in Holland!”

Red White & Blue plans to announce its US premiere soon. Negotiations are currently underway for a deal with a top sales representative for the movie to work on a US release and foreign sales. “We’re very much hoping that the film will have its North American premiere at the excellent SXSW for obvious reasons!” says Rumley.

“The making of this film was such a communal effort and I really don’t think we could have made it anywhere else; everyone was so friendly, enthusiastic and helpful that I think its a testament to the community of Austin’s generous and warm spirit. It’d be a tragedy to have the first North American screening anywhere but Austin!”

Red White & Blue is a ScreenProjex presentation of a Rumleyvision production in association with Fidelity Films.

Stay tuned to this site as Chris and Phil will be bringing you more in depth coverage of this exciting feature in the coming months and of course will be reviewing the film later in the year. In the meantime you can check out the film’s website at www.redwhitebluemovie.com for further information.