Paapa Essiedu and Maxine Peake Join U.K. Short Film ‘Laundreams’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Paapa Essiedu, star of HBO’s upcoming “Harry Potter” series and a newly-crowned Olivier Award winner, has taken time away from playing Professor Snape to join Maxine Peake (“I Swear,” “Say Nothing”) in the British short film “Laundreams.”

Producer Tobi Kyeremateng, who won the BAFTA TV for best short form for 2023’s “How to Be a Person,” has also joined the project, which marks the debut film from writer-director duo Amber Gadd and Evie Ward-Drummond.

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Essiedu stars in the rural Sheffield-set coming-of-age short alongside Ward-Drummond (“G’WED”), David Fielder (“Peterloo”) and Gadd, making her screen acting debut. Peake executive produces alongside Kyeremateng, Chris Overton, Rachel Shenton and Mustapha Wehbi.

“Laundreams” is set inside a working laundrette filmed on location in Ward-Drummond’s family business and follows Minnie and Leah, two twenty-somethings who have never left their hometown. When former coworker Danny (Essiedu) unexpectedly returns from London, the pair spiral into a chaotic attempt to impress him, only to discover that the lives and relationships they’ve overlooked may be exactly what they need.

The short is produced by Nina Georgieff and Anna Sophia Duff for Muckea, in association with Little Lark Productions and Oscar-winning Slick Films.

The filmmakers describe the project as “an ode to the bravery of dreaming, no matter where you come from,” and a film that explores “the humour, tenderness and ambition that exist within ordinary spaces.”

Nanu Segal (“Hoard,” “Slow Horses”) serves as cinematographer.

“Laundreams” will have its world premiere at BAFTA and Oscar-qualifying Raindance Film Festival, screening on Sunday 21st June at 12:15pm and Tuesday 23rd June at 12:45pm.