ATONEMENT

ATONEMENT - (Working Title Films) Grimsby fish dock was chosen as the backdrop for a scene in the multi-million-pound film starring Vanessa Redgrave, Keira Knightley, Brenda Blethyn and James McAvoy. Atonement, a Working Title film, went on general release in September 2007.

Ruined buildings in Grimsby pass for the backstreets of dunkirk in the £30 million feature film directed by Joe Wright (Pride & Prejudice). Screen Yorkshire's production liaison team worked extensively with Working Title to secure the location for the shoot.

The Grimsby footage was shot over two nights and will contributes just 3-5 mins of the film, but the scale of the work behind it shows what a positive impact films can have on a location's economy. The crew spent a month preparing the set in an attempt to recreate war-torn Dunkirk, the French port that saw the mass evacuation of Britsh Troops in 1940 during the second world war. About 150 hotel rooms were taken around Grimsby during the crew's month-long stay.

Unit publicist Rachel Kennedy said:
‘‘It's just what we were looking for. We could have tried to do this in a studio but Dunkirk was a fishing port like Grimsby and it has been able to provide the atmosphere we wanted. This is the perfect place to do it.''

Released in 2007, Atonement went on to win the BAFTA Film Award in 2008 and received 7 Academy Award nominations, winning the award for best Original Score.

Watch some behind-the-scenes features on Atonement and get an insight into both the story and what it was like to work on the film from the cast and crew here: http://www.workingtitlefilms.com/featureVideoClip.php?featureID=171