A CINEMATIC event organised in a bid to relaunch an independent gangster movie has been cancelled by the ongoing impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.

Lucas and Albert, a comedy gangster film set against the backdrop of Tendring, was premiered at a red-carpet event at Clacton’s Century Cinema in September 2019.

The feature, written by Anthony Longhurst, from Thorpe-le-Soken, and Robert Putt, follows two ageing hitmen who are forced into doing one final job.

Its release and subsequent promotion was disrupted following the outbreak of Covid-19, so plans were in place to re-release it later this month.

The Princes Theatre bash, however, has now been pulled from the programme after the entire country was placed under another lockdown.

Anthony said: “This is a massive disappointment to us and all who have worked on the film and it was a wonderful opportunity to tell you of our plans for the future.

“All plans have been put on hold for the meantime, but we are still working on ideas and productions.

“Once this pandemic has passed, and we all return to normality, we will be more than ready.”

Lucas and Albert can be streamed on Amazon Prime and is available to purchase on DVD.

The feature has also been nominated for a National Film Award and votes can be cast by visiting nationalfilmawards.org/voting.