Rose: A Love Story is the story of a young couple living alone in the woods, who must contend with a life-altering illness that manifests itself in a violent and terrifying way. Rose’s disease is a vampiric, parasitic thirst for blood. As her hunger grows, all humanity seems to give way to a feral violence that harms both her and those around her. Their loving relationship strains under the burden of Rose’s illness, and it is only a matter of time until the secluded life that they have built is upended entirely.

This is the directorial debut feature for Jennifer Sheridan who, for the last ten years has been honing her storyteller skills through her work as an editor. Following on from Rose, Jen went on to direct the entire series of Snow Spider, that Leopard Pictures produced and which is now available on BBCiPlayer. Jennifer has just finished directing a four part mini-series with the Forge for BBC One called Rules of the Game starring Maxine Peake. The show received great reviews from critics. Jennifer is now directing Sid Gentle production Extraordinary for Disney.

This is also a debut for our writer, Matt Stokoe, who as an actor is best known for his role as Alex in E4’s BAFTA-winning drama Misfits as well as Jamestown (Sky1), The Village, The Musketeers (BBC), Sense8 and Outlaw King (Netflix) will be playing the lead role of Sam.

Playing opposite Matt in the role of Rose will be Sophie Rundle, a British actress best known for her role as Ada Shelby in Peaky Blinders. Alongside Peaky Blinders she is known for her roles in Sky’s Jamestown, Sally Wainwright’s Happy Valley, An Inspector Calls, Brief Encounters, Episodes, The Bletchley Circle, Gentleman Jack, and Dickensian.

The film premiered at BFI London Film Festival before heading to festivals such as Melbourne International Film Festival, Sitges Film Festival, and Trieste Science+Fiction Festival. It then earned a BIFA nomination within the Raindance Discovery Award category.

Screendaily called it “A striking debut by British first-timer Jennifer Sheridan”and The Evening Standard applauded it as “suspenseful and claustrophobic, with a murderous secret”.

The film is in co-production with Great Point Media, The Development Partnership, and Field Park.