Why Tom Cullen and Joe Locke’s ‘Black Church Bay’ Feels Like a Film That “Hasn’t Been Made in the U.K. Before”

Welsh actors Tom Cullen and Joe Locke star in *Black Church Bay*, a thriller set in a small fishing village on Anglesey. When Jasper, an 18-year-old who has begun a relationship with Barry, a closeted schoolteacher in his forties, disappears while Barry sleeps, Barry must decide how far he will go to conceal his identity.

Writer-director Rhys Marc Jones drew on walks near his parents’ home in Church Bay and wanted to use Wales as the setting for a mystery noir story. He developed the idea over eight years, exploring the characters’ moral choices and the ways they hide parts of themselves. Cullen said the script felt unlike films he had seen made in the UK and gave him a chance to help portray Welsh stories and less-heard parts of society.