Jack King's debut feature film, The Ceremony, has won the inaugural Sean Connery prize at the Edinburgh Film Festival. The film follows carwash workers from Bradford who are forced to transport a corpse across the bleak winter landscape of the Yorkshire Dales near the village of Kettlewell. King describes the Dales as a 'weird liminal space' that is 'dead and barren' - far from the quaint tea-cosy image.
Shot over twelve freezing days in January 2023 on a budget of £120,000, the production faced hailstones, flash floods and frozen moors that forced King to scrap scenes and layer up cast and crew. He embraced the harsh conditions, channelling director Werner Herzog: 'The worse the weather and circumstances, the better the art.'
King spent a decade researching the world of hand carwashes, using an interpreter from Leeds to gain the trust of workers. He discovered a sector where more than 90 per cent of carwashes are likely employing workers illegally. Through conversations, he learned about their religious beliefs, aspirations and philosophical ideas - revealing a more complex reality than the typical narrative of exploitation.
The film's central tension pits a Romanian middle manager, Cristi (Tudor Cucu-Dumitrescu), against a taciturn Kurdish worker, Yusuf (Erdal Yildiz), as they clash while disposing of a body. Most supporting cast members were recruited from actual carwashes in West Yorkshire. The film also features a magical goat that has baffled and delighted early audiences.
The Ceremony has been praised for bringing a fresh perspective to the migrant experience, blending classic Brit-grit aesthetics with surreal elements. King says his goal was to show that migrant workers have dreams and aspirations, not just fear and suffering.
