Rom com filmed in Glasgow over 23 days to be screened across UK cinemas

Premature marks the feature debut of Cumbernauld writer-director Kevin Walls, winner of BAFTA Scotland New Talent award. The independent film was shot at locations across Glasgow - from Kelvingrove Park to Glasgow School of Art and the Griffin pub in Charing Cross.

The film, about two millennial flatmates, Eilidh and Cameron, who find out they are having a baby after a one night stand, will be released in UK cinemas from 18 September.

Mr Walls said: “Premature is a romantic comedy, but at its heart it’s a coming-of-age film about two millennials who aren’t quite fully formed.

“Through Cameron, I wanted to explore a very millennial anxiety: the feeling that we were sold a promise that if we worked hard, got the qualifications and pursued a respectable career, life would eventually work out.”

He added: “Eilidh is avoiding failure as an artist by avoiding making art entirely. Premature was made from the same impulse: to stop waiting for permission and allow myself to be a filmmaker.

“It was also important to me that Eilidh was not defined only by pregnancy or impending motherhood. The baby represents responsibility, adulthood, and the need to shift your focus beyond yourself, but Eilidh’s pregnancy does not erase her creativity or ambition.”

Cameron is played by James Rottger, who took on the role of Mickey Millar in BBC show Gary: Tank Commander, while Eilidh is played by Elle Watson, making her screen debut after recently appearing in The Tempest at the Tron Theatre.

Mr Walls pulled together the film’s £16,000 budget from his freelance work including acting jobs, screenwriting work, sports video editing, and short-form video production.

It features a soundtrack from Scottish indie artists including Admiral Fallow, Cloth, Martha May and the Mondays and Brownbear. Artworks by the character Eilidh, which feature throughout the film, were created by recent Glasgow School of Art graduate Erin Marshall.

He said: “Visually, I leaned into bright colours and saturation, presenting Glasgow in contrast to how it often appears on screen. People fall in love in Glasgow, yet that version of the city isn’t always visible in film and television.

“Scottish stories are often framed through history, crime or social realism. Those stories have their place, but with Premature I wanted to make something contemporary, romantic and recognisably Scottish without defaulting to bleakness.

“Above all, I want Premature to connect with audiences. I want it to entertain them. I want it to move them.”

The film’s post-production and cinema release was supported by a Kickstarter campaign and a £1,000 Kickstarter Forward Fund from Creative Scotland.

Mr Walls, from Glasgow is the founder of Sonorous Films. His film Identical, his graduation project from the Glasgow School of Art, won the BAFTA Scotland New Talent Award for Sound in 2015, and his short film When Abbie Met Emmy premiered at BFI Flare in 2019.

He produced and directed the pilot of Eat the Town for BBC Scotland before going on to write for the BBC Scotland drama River City.