Writer and director Neil Biswas and actor, writer and director Manjinder Virk are launching indie Riverbird Films.
They launch with a slate that includes original TV dramas Ghost in the Machine, a six part thriller writer Moira Buffini (The Dig, Jane Eyre, Harlots), Bagel, a dark-comedy series and Home, a three part drama about an Asian family written by Manjinder Virk.
It is also behind an original short film Dekho (Listen), for the charity Alzheimers Society, which will shoot this Summer.
Neil Biswas says: “Riverbird Films will look for bold new, genre-based stories that are both compulsive and mean something deeper to those watching. Finding that magical balance between entertainment and emotional depth is what drives us.”
Manjinder Virk adds: “There are so many stories left untold, we want to seek voices and perspectives sometimes unheard, as well as creating work that excites, entertains, makes us laugh and cry and we hope, stays with an audience long after they’ve watched.”
Manjinder Virk started in theatre, devising and performing in plays, she studied contemporary dance and as an artist strives to keep growing. She broke into screen as the lead in the Channel Four drama Britz, alongside Riz Ahmed and directed by Peter Kosminsky. She starred in Clio Barnard’s Debut Feature The Arbor and has had regular roles in Midsomer Murders, Monroe, Trigger Point and Shetland. She was also part of the BAFTA Elevate actors in 2021.
Virk has directed and produced several short films including Out of Darkness, starring Tom Hiddleston, Riz Ahmed, Monica Dolan and Noma Dumezwani. She is in development with her debut feature as writer/director on Things we Never Said, produced by Ivana Mackinnon and Emily Leo at Wild Swim, and the BFI.
Neil Biswas ran his own theatre company which laid the foundations for his creative writing. He went on to write on BBC drama, In the Land of Plenty. He wrote the original two-part Channel Four drama Second Generation, starring Om Puri and Parminder Nagra. He then wrote and directed the Channel Four single film Bradford Riots, starring Sacha Dhawan.
Biswas adapted Martina Cole’s The Take for Sky 1, starring Tom Hardy, Charlotte Riley and Brian Cox. He was Lead Director on series 4 of the ground-breaking Channel Four drama Skins. He then worked with the legendary Stan Lee to co-create Sky 1’s Stan Lee’s Lucky Man. Series 1, which Neil show-ran and exec-produced, became the highest rated Sky 1 show ever. He then wrote and directed his debut feature Darkness Visible for BFI and Newscope Pictures – a supernatural thriller set in Kolkata.
Pippa Considine
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