AMERICAN COUSINS

Year: 2003
UK: Bard Entertainments
Cast: Danni Nucci, Shirley Henderson, Gerald Lepkowski, Vincent Pastore, Dan Hedaya, Russell Hunter, Olegar Fedoro, Stephen Graham, John Henshaw, George McNeilage, Alan McQueen, Robina Quereshi, Stevan Rimkus
Director: Don Coutts
Country: UK
UK: 93 mins
UK Certificate: 15 contains strong language and moderate violence
UK Release Date: 28 November 2003


Synopsis

Two American Mafiosi, Gino (Danny Nucci) and Settimo (Dan Hedaya), take refuge in the Glasgow cafe owned by their Scots/Italian cousin. But cousin Roberto (Gerald Lepkowski) isn't the tough guy they'd expected. His strengths are fish frying and stamp collecting, and he thinks Magnum 45s are a type of ice cream.

Gino and Settimo try to repay Roberto's hospitality by chasing off a debt collector, but their strong-arm tactics alarm him, and he realises they aren't the PR consultants they claimed to be...

AMERICAN COUSINS is the first comedy feature film from writer/director team Sergio Casci and Don Coutts. It is produced by award-winning producer Margaret Matheson from Bard Entertainments - the production company behind films such as ANTONIA'S LINE (1995), EVE'S BAYOU (1997), REVENGER'S TRAGEDY (2002) and KIN (2000).

Screenwriter Sergio Casci's great-grandfather Armando migrated from the Italian town of Barga at the end of the nineteenth century. During this period, Italy, a relatively new country (established in 1861), was a poverty-stricken nation with little infrastructure and opportunities for economic and social improvement. Armando, like many Italians, wanted to build a new life for himself.

Some of the Barghigiani set off on foot and kept walking until they found a place to settle down. Others travelled on immigrant ships. The two most popular destinations were Scotland and America. It was the story of Casci's own grandfather and the plight of early Italian immigrants that provided him with the inspiration to write AMERICAN COUSINS.