# Scrapper
**Scrapper** is a 2023 British comedy-drama film, the debut feature of writer-director Charlotte Regan. It follows Georgie, a resourceful 12-year-old who secretly lives alone in her London flat after her mother's death, until her estranged father Jason turns up and forces her to confront reality.[1](https://kinolorber.com/film/scrapper) The film premiered in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at the January 2023 [Sundance Film Festival](https://www.edgepedia.org/sundance-film-festival), where it won the Grand Jury Prize, and was released in UK and Irish cinemas on 25 August 2023.[2](https://www.sundance.org/blogs/the-complete-list-of-2023-sundance-film-festival-award-winners/) • [3](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/436801/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / writer | Charlotte Regan, her first feature after shorts and more than 200 music videos[1](https://kinolorber.com/film/scrapper) • [4](https://kinolorberbucket.s3.amazonaws.com/production/documents/SCRAPPER%20Press%20Notes.pdf) |
| Cast | Lola Campbell as Georgie, Harris Dickinson as Jason, Alin Uzun as Ali[1](https://kinolorber.com/film/scrapper) |
| Runtime / rating | 84 minutes; classified 12A by the BBFC[5](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/scrapper-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0xmdeznzix) |
| Signature award | World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic, Sundance Film Festival 2023[2](https://www.sundance.org/blogs/the-complete-list-of-2023-sundance-film-festival-award-winners/) |
| Release | UK and Ireland 25 August 2023 (Picturehouse Entertainment); United States through Kino Lorber[3](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/436801/) • [6](https://www.bfi.org.uk/bfi-funded-productions/scrapper) |
| Production | A DMC Film production supported by BFI, BBC Film, Great Point Media, and the Creative England iFeatures scheme[6](https://www.bfi.org.uk/bfi-funded-productions/scrapper) |
| Reception | 94% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 117 reviews[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/scrapper_2023) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Georgie ([Lola Campbell](https://www.edgepedia.org/lola-campbell)) has been orphaned by the death of her single mother and refuses to enter the foster care system. She stays in the flat she shared with her mother, keeping everything as her mother left it, and deceives her school and social services by claiming to live with an uncle named [Winston Churchill](https://www.edgepedia.org/winston-churchill); a friendly convenience store clerk records voice snippets that Georgie plays down the phone to officials who call.[8](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/scrapper-movie-review-2023) She earns money by stealing bikes with her best friend Ali (Alin Uzun) and selling them for scrap.[1](https://kinolorber.com/film/scrapper)
One day a man climbs over her back fence and introduces himself as Jason ([Harris Dickinson](https://www.edgepedia.org/harris-dickinson)), her long-absent father, who has been living in Ibiza selling club tickets.[8](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/scrapper-movie-review-2023) • [9](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/aug/19/scrapper-review-charlotte-regan-tender-portrait-of-a-girls-precarious-life) Georgie is stubbornly resistant to this sudden parental figure, but as the two wary strangers adjust to each other, they discover they are more alike than either expected, and both still have growing up to do.[1](https://kinolorber.com/film/scrapper) The film deals with childhood bereavement and grief throughout; the [British Board of Film Classification](https://www.edgepedia.org/british-board-of-film-classification) noted that it treats the theme of death "with sensitivity and humour".[5](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/scrapper-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0xmdeznzix)
## Style and tone
Regan deliberately sets British social realism against fantasy and broad comedy. Georgie's flat is "filled with magic": resident spiders make snarky comments in video-game-style speech bubbles, and she repeatedly imagines a vast tower of scrap metal rising into the sky from her mother's bedroom, the image that gives the film its title.[6](https://www.bfi.org.uk/bfi-funded-productions/scrapper) • [10](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/scrapper-father-daughter-prove-fun-loving-criminals-this-charming-romp) Neighbors and teachers occasionally turn to the camera and comment on the action, functioning as a judgmental [Greek chorus](https://www.edgepedia.org/greek-chorus).[8](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/scrapper-movie-review-2023)
Cinematographer Molly Manning Walker, who directed her own debut feature *How to Have Sex* the same year, shoots the estate in bright pop colors, with a palette one critic compared to a packet of Refreshers sweets.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/aug/19/scrapper-review-charlotte-regan-tender-portrait-of-a-girls-precarious-life) • [11](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/aug/26/scrapper-review-fizzing-vital-exploration-father-daughter-bond-charlotte-regan) Critics placed the film in a British tradition alongside [Lynne Ramsay](https://www.edgepedia.org/lynne-ramsay)'s *Morvern Callar* and [Charlotte Wells](https://www.edgepedia.org/charlotte-wells)'s *Aftersun*, in which grit is offset by summery visual dreaminess, and noted echoes of *Paper Moon* (1973) in the father-daughter criminal partnership.[9](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/aug/19/scrapper-review-charlotte-regan-tender-portrait-of-a-girls-precarious-life) • [10](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/scrapper-father-daughter-prove-fun-loving-criminals-this-charming-romp)
## Production
Regan began shooting no-budget music videos for rapper friends in [Islington](https://www.edgepedia.org/islington) at age 15 and has made more than 200. Her short films *Standby* (2016), which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, won a Sundance prize and was BAFTA-nominated, followed by *Fry-Up* (2017) and *Dodgy Dave* (2018).[4](https://kinolorberbucket.s3.amazonaws.com/production/documents/SCRAPPER%20Press%20Notes.pdf) After receiving funding from the low-budget initiative iFeatures, she wrote a series of drafts of *Scrapper* between 2018 and 2019, researching the story early on by watching YouTube videos of children who had lost their parents.[12](https://www.bfi.org.uk/interviews/charlotte-regan-scrapper)
The film was shot on location for six weeks in summer 2021, set and filmed on the Limes Farm housing estate in Chigwell, Essex, on the fringes of east London. Regan worked with a close-knit team including her school friend Elena Muntoni as production designer.[12](https://www.bfi.org.uk/interviews/charlotte-regan-scrapper) • [10](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/scrapper-father-daughter-prove-fun-loving-criminals-this-charming-romp) Theo Barrowclough produced; the film was co-financed by the BFI Film Fund and BBC Film, with Charades as sales agent.[6](https://www.bfi.org.uk/bfi-funded-productions/scrapper) Regan has said she wanted to make a different kind of film about working-class Britain, one that was joyful and funny, reflecting her own childhood experience: "I've seen films about working class lives where the characters get one minute of happiness in the whole film... But that wasn't my experience."[4](https://kinolorberbucket.s3.amazonaws.com/production/documents/SCRAPPER%20Press%20Notes.pdf)
## Reception and awards
At Sundance in January 2023 the jury awarded *Scrapper* the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic, citing its "honest and sincere performances, strong direction, playful cinematography, and impressive script".[2](https://www.sundance.org/blogs/the-complete-list-of-2023-sundance-film-festival-award-winners/) The film went on to 14 British Independent Film Award nominations, including Best British Independent Film, Best Director, and Best Screenplay, with Theo Barrowclough winning Breakthrough Producer; it was nominated for Outstanding British Film at the 2024 BAFTAs, won the European Film Award for Young Audience Award in 2023, and was named one of the [National Board of Review](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-board-of-review)'s Top Ten Independent Films.[13](https://www.dmcfilm.co.uk/work/scrapper) • [14](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8649252/awards/) Lola Campbell won Young British/Irish Performer of the Year at the London Critics Circle Film Awards.[14](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8649252/awards/)
Reviewers praised the central performances, with critics noting that newcomer Lola Campbell, for whom *Scrapper* was the only credit, carries the film with untrained authenticity alongside Harris Dickinson.[8](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/scrapper-movie-review-2023) The film holds 94% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer.[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/scrapper_2023) Its US theatrical gross was $212.1K, and it began streaming in the United States on 10 October 2023 through Kino Lorber.[7](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/scrapper_2023)
## References
1. [Scrapper, Kino Lorber Theatrical](https://kinolorber.com/film/scrapper)
2. [The Complete List of 2023 Sundance Film Festival Award Winners, Sundance Institute](https://www.sundance.org/blogs/the-complete-list-of-2023-sundance-film-festival-award-winners/)
3. [Scrapper, Cineuropa](https://cineuropa.org/en/film/436801/)
4. [SCRAPPER Press Notes, Kino Lorber](https://kinolorberbucket.s3.amazonaws.com/production/documents/SCRAPPER%20Press%20Notes.pdf)
5. [Scrapper, British Board of Film Classification](https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/scrapper-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0xmdeznzix)
6. [Scrapper, BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/bfi-funded-productions/scrapper)
7. [Scrapper (2023), Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/scrapper_2023)
8. [Scrapper movie review & film summary, RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/scrapper-movie-review-2023)
9. [Scrapper review, The Guardian, 19 August 2023](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/aug/19/scrapper-review-charlotte-regan-tender-portrait-of-a-girls-precarious-life)
10. [Scrapper review: fun loving criminals, Sight and Sound, BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/scrapper-father-daughter-prove-fun-loving-criminals-this-charming-romp)
11. [Scrapper review, The Guardian, 26 August 2023](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/aug/26/scrapper-review-fizzing-vital-exploration-father-daughter-bond-charlotte-regan)
12. [Charlotte Regan on Scrapper, BFI interview, 25 August 2023](https://www.bfi.org.uk/interviews/charlotte-regan-scrapper)
13. [SCRAPPER, DMC Film](https://www.dmcfilm.co.uk/work/scrapper)
14. [Scrapper (2023) Awards, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8649252/awards/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Comedy and romantic films (individual works) › Comedies of 2023*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license