{"id":860793,"date":"2026-03-30T17:09:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T17:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/860793\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T17:09:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T17:09:13","slug":"misper-the-manchester-film-festival-winner-redefining-the-missing-person-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/860793\/","title":{"rendered":"Misper: The Manchester Film Festival winner redefining the missing person story"},"content":{"rendered":"

Misper (police slang for \u2018missing person\u2019), the debut feature of director Harry Sherriff and writer Laurence Tratalos, screened in competition at this year\u2019s Manchester Film Festival to a sold-out crowd at HOME before taking home the award for Best UK Feature.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Set in a fading seaside hotel on the verge of foreclosure, Misper follows Leonard (Samuel Blenkin) as he and his co-workers navigate the aftermath of his colleague Elle\u2019s (Emily Carey) disappearance.<\/p>\n

What begins as an affectionate, wry exploration of British stoicism gradually unfolds into a formally ambitious portrait of collective loss. Misper blends crime, drama, comedy and media commentary into a tone that feels entirely singular. It\u2019s a balancing act that could easily tip into inconsistency, but it\u2019s this elasticity of tone that becomes the film\u2019s defining strength.<\/p>\n

\"\"Harry Sherriff and Laurence Tratalos on the set of \u2018Misper\u2019 \/ Fresh Orange Productions<\/p>\n

Speaking after the screening, Sheriff and Tratalos were clear that resisting genre expectations was always the point.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so much of this true crime stuff out there,\u201d Sherriff said. \u201cWe weren\u2019t interested in the salacious, gratuitous version of these stories. What we were interested in was what it would really be like, and how this ominous, unsettling event would actually affect you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The result is a film that makes an incisive and timely statement about our true crime-obsessed media culture and its relationship to real loss. The film\u2019s comedic edge is a surprising but effective counterbalance to this heavy premise, and that tonal range was particularly evident in the room at HOME.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very interesting, the different reactions you get to a film like this,\u201d Sheriff reflected. \u201cThere are moments that some people laugh at and others don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Misper\u2019s screening in Manchester was something of a homecoming for the pair, who are both from the North West and lived in Manchester when they met.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt felt both really nice and also quite surreal,\u201d Tratalos said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The film\u2019s subject matter inevitably resonates in a city shaped by collective experiences of loss. Sheriff is careful not to draw direct comparisons to specific tragedies, but he was working in Manchester at the time of the 2017 Arena attack and acknowledges how the film\u2019s themes may land more deeply with local audiences.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a loss, there\u2019s a grief, there\u2019s an anxiety,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was a very eerie sort of absurd, dark experience for quite a few months. There were people who I worked with who came to the screening, and it was interesting to see how they saw the film.\u201d<\/p>\n

Central to Misper\u2019s delicate approach is the choice to have Elle\u2019s disappearance happen off-screen, save for an ominous set of headlights driving towards her bus stop. By refusing to centre the event itself and keeping it on the periphery, Misper becomes a study of response rather than incident, focusing on the aftermath of tragedy and how people behave in its shadow.<\/p>\n

There is a quality to Misper and its characters that feels almost stubbornly real. Several lines of dialogue came directly from conversations with people encountered during production, and while the film\u2019s characters are not based directly on specific individuals, they are assembled from real ones.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re people we\u2019ve all met in our lives,\u201d Tratalos said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe like taking these odd, strange stories and rooting them in very real people,\u201d Sherriff added.<\/p>\n

\"\"Samuel Blenkin as Leonard \/ Fresh Orange Productions<\/p>\n

This commitment to realism is what gives the film its emotional weight, and at the centre of it all is Samuel Blenkin\u2019s Leonard.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis face is so expressive,\u201d Sheriff said. \u201cSam\u2019s so good at the below-the-surface stuff. You didn\u2019t even have to say anything; it\u2019s there on him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Blenkin carries the film largely through implication, delivering a performance that is both sensitive and restrained, with an expert balance of deadpan humour and sincerity.<\/p>\n

Around him, the rest of the supporting cast offers a series of understated, unexpectedly touching performances. Stand-out Daniel Ryan\u2019s Gary, the beleaguered hotel manager holding on to every last shred of professionalism, finds humour and pathos in equal measure, while Christine Bottomley brings an entire interior life to her role as Viv with the economy of a single look.<\/p>\n

Emily Carey, present only for a few days of shooting, leaves an impression that persists throughout the film \u2013 a testament to both her performance and to the screenplay\u2019s discipline in keeping Elle\u2019s absence felt rather than explained.<\/p>\n

For this, Sheriff and Tratalos are generous in their praise for casting director Verity Norton.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was never wrong,\u201d Sheriff said. \u201cShe just saw the potential in all of them. We\u2019re very lucky to have her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite its distinctly British sensibility, the filmmakers are optimistic about how Misper will translate to audiences further afield.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe themes are universal,\u201d Sheriff said. \u201cThis unrequited sort of friendship\u2026 the more you make something specific and weird, I think the more universal it\u2019ll be.\u201d<\/p>\n

He elaborated on why: \u201cWhen you do make those kinds of weirder, more niche stories, people will see themselves reflected back in that \u2013 because we\u2019re all so weird, and so odd and distinct.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a sense of loss that runs through Misper that has no postcode, and in that sense, it couldn\u2019t be more universal. It is an endearing debut with an excellent screenplay that masters both weight and warmth, only elevated further by a cast of deeply felt, sincere performances.<\/p>\n

Misper won Best UK Feature at the Manchester Film Festival 2026 and will screen at festivals across America later in the year.<\/p>\n

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