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A Landscape of Lies

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A Landscape of Lies
Theatrical poster
Directed byPaul Knight
Written byPaul Knight
Produced byAoife Madden
Starring
CinematographyDjohnny Chan
Edited byRodney Williams
Release date
  • 1 October 2011 (2011-10-01) (DVD)
Running time
90 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget

A Landscape of Lies is a 2011 British drama film, written and directed by Paul Knight.[1] The film stars Andrea McLean, Danny Midwinter, Lucinda Rhodes-Flaherty, Daniel Peacock, Marc Bannerman, Andre Samson and Christina Baily.[citation needed] It was shown at the Las Vegas Film Festival[2]

A Landscape of Lies received media attention after it was discovered that the film concept was first created as, and was subsequently filmed in an attempt to hide, a hoax by a criminal group to commit tax fraud.[3] It won a Silver Ace Award at the Las Vegas Film Festival, which was later rescinded after the festival committee learned of the film's use in the tax scam.[4]

Synopsis

Gulf war veteran Jacob (Andre Samson) finds it hard to adjust to life after returning home, but has found solace in his friend Hilt (Marc Bannerman), who was also Jacob's commanding officer. However, after Hilt is murdered by a would-be thief, Jacob decides to investigate what happened in order to bring peace to both his life and to Hilt's widow. As Jacob begins his investigation he finds himself becoming embroiled in a complicated series of events where nothing is as it seems.

Cast

Production

A Landscape of Lives

Prior to the film's final incarnation as A Landscape of Lies, it was initially titled A Landscape of Lives.[5] The projected script followed a "crooked property developer", "SAS bodyguards that got killed by a gay brother", and was described by Knight as being "a crime thriller [that had] no real thrills".[5] Knight was brought on to finish the script for A Landscape of Lives after answering a job offer to re-write the script for an animated Robin Hood film. Unaware of Al-Issa, Madden, Hassan, and Al Baghdady's intent, the group asked Knight to also look at the script for A Landscape of Lives, to which Knight agreed.[5] The film was to be part of a film contract that would have the group's film company funding Knight's next five film projects along with the A Landscape of Lives and Robin Hood films.[5] Over the next few days Knight was asked to re-write and then film the completed script, which would become A Landscape of Lies.[5]

Filming for A Landscape of Lies took place in the United Kingdom over a six-week period during 2011.[6][7] Aoife Madden was set to produce the movie, which would be the acting debut of Scottish actress Andrea McLean.[8] A Landscape of Lies was released in 2011 and was screened at the 2012 Las Vegas Film Festival, where it received a "Silver Ace".[9][10] This award was later rescinded after it was discovered that the film was a front for tax fraud.[10][11]

Tax issues

On 14 March 2013 it was reported that the film was actually at the center of a plot to defraud the British government of millions of pounds in tax relief, in particular, claiming tax relief and VAT relief on a massively loss-making film, to the tune of £1.5 million in VAT relief, and £1.3 million in film-related tax relief.[12] The lead actors McLean and Bannerman and director Knight were unaware of the crime.[7][13] The persons involved in the crime were Bashar Al-Issa, Aoife Madden, Tariq Hassan, and Osama Al Baghdady. They were brought to trial and convicted on 13 March 2013 along with Ian Sherwood, who allowed the gang to use his offices.[14] The gang had not intended to actually film the movie and had tried to deter attention by writing several scripts and beginning pre-production work, but eventually began filming after receiving negative attention from investigators.[7] They also utilized false receipts and several fake companies, through which they received £796,000 of public money.[13] The gang was sentenced on 25 March 2013.[15] Al-Issa was sentenced to six and a half years while the others received lesser sentences between three and five years.[16]

Bloomberg, along with several other news outlets,[17][18][19] compared the film and the criminal charges to Ben Affleck's Academy Award-winning film Argo.[20][21]

References

  1. ^ Rose, Steve (23 August 2013). "A Landscape of Lies: the inside story of a blockbuster tax scam". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  2. ^ "Filmmakers jailed in Britain after collecting tax incentives for nonexistent movie". NOLA. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
  3. ^ "Quisieron emular el engaño de "Argo" y fueron a la cárcel". Clarin. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  4. ^ Domanick, Andrea. "Las Vegas Film Festival awards prize to fake movie used in tax credit scam". Las Vegas Sun. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
  5. ^ a b c d e Rose, Steve (24 August 2013). "A Landscape of Lies: the inside story of a blockbuster tax scam". The Guardian. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
  6. ^ Cooper, Sarah (8 August 2011). "Aoife Madden to produce 'A Landscape of Lies'". Screendaily.com. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
  7. ^ a b c "Watch the trailer for 'bogus' film A Landscape of Lies". Telegraph. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  8. ^ Jefferies, Marc. "Very Loose Woman: Andrea McLean stars as a sex hungry therapist in new movie role". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
  9. ^ "2012 Silver Ace Award Winners". Archived from the original on 19 March 2013. Retrieved 15 March 2013.
  10. ^ a b "Landscape of Lies: Film festival cancels award to fake movie". The Age. 27 March 2013. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
  11. ^ "Award for fake movie withdrawn". Stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  12. ^ Rose, Steve (13 March 2013). "A Landscape of Lies: the gangster film that taxed the taxman". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
  13. ^ a b "Landscape of Lies director 'proud' of film". Telegraph. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  14. ^ "A Landscape of Lies – film tax fraudsters guilty". GOV.UK. 13 March 2013. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
  15. ^ "Film fraudsters jailed over tax scam". BBC News. 25 March 2013. Retrieved 17 June 2014.
  16. ^ Harris, Aisha. "The Incredible Story of the Film-Tax Fraudsters". Slate. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  17. ^ Legge, James. "Straight out of Argo: Five jailed over 'entirely bogus film project'". The Independent. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  18. ^ Lawless, Jill. "5 Convicted of Inventing Movie to Hide Tax Fraud". NBC Chicago. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  19. ^ Miller, Julie. "U.K. Citizens Enact Real-Life Argo Plot, Sans Heroic Hostage-Saving, Alan Arkin, Etc". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  20. ^ "'Landscape of Lies' Flic Is Argo Without Hostages". Bloomberg. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  21. ^ Champion, Walter T.; Willis, Kirk D. (2014). Intellectual Property Law in the Sports and Entertainment Industries. ABC-CLIO. pp. 225–226. ISBN 9780313391644. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
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