Huntingdonshire in the spotlight for film produced by St Ives actress
From left, Iain McKee as Sammy and Ross Barton as Kieren in a scene from the film. - Credit: Archant
It started life as a gritty play which steered youngsters away from a life of crime before Huntingdonshire took centre-stage for its feature film adaptation.
Executive producer Victoria Brittain at The Thicket, in St Ives, where some of the filming took place. - Credit: Archant
Territory was released on Wednesday (October 8), about a group of teenagers whose Friday night spent making trouble in the woods is upset by the arrival of one of their older brothers.
He is a university student who leads the boys to look at their lives – and react to the outsider in starkly different ways.
Executive producer and actress Victoria Brittain, 27, of Stirling Road, St Ives, worked with writer/director Reuben Johnson, from Manchester, to bring the film to fruition after they met while working in London.
The pair took the play version on tour, winning accolades such as ‘best play’ and ‘best production’ at the National Student Drama Festival.
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They then took it to young offenders’ institutes, youth clubs and schools in areas such as Islington, Manchester, and Littlehey Prison, Perry, to use the dramatisation of knife crime in the play to encourage vulnerable youngsters to express themselves through theatre.
Miss Brittain has experience performing at top London venues such as Shakespeare’s Globe, the Soho Theatre, and the Criterion, but this is her first venture into film-making.
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While set in Salford, the majority was filmed in 2012 in The Thicket, St Ives, and at homes in Huntingdon, where friends and family helped out.
She said: “First and foremost I hope the viewers find the film fun. Although there is an element of knife crime and peer pressure, the whole film is set out to be a comedy so that you really invest in the characters.”
On the back of show reels of the film, characters have secured high-profile TV roles, such as Michael Parr, who appears as a regular in Emmerdale as Ross Barton.
Miss Brittain said: “Expect to laugh, expect to find characters that you really connect with and expect to be shocked at the end – there are quite a few twists.”
INFORMATION: The film is available at http://vimeo.com/ondemand – £3 to rent or £5 to buy.
