A film made almost entirely in Nailsworth and Stroud is taking the festival circuit by storm – with an international premiere at one of Europe’s most prestigious film festivals.
Such a Vivid Imagination, the coming-of-age psychological drama produced by Welcome To Hawaii Productions, has landed a remarkable run of festival honours.
The film has just won the South West Feature Award at the Bath Film Festival, where it will screen on opening night on October 16.
It has also been selected for the Bournemouth Film Festival, with the screening date still to be confirmed, and has been nominated at the London Breeze Festival.
The film will close the London festival’s gala night on October 25, taking the final screening slot before the awards are handed out.
And now Such a Vivid Imagination is heading onto the international stage.
The film will make its international premiere at the prestigious Black Nights Film Festival in Tallinn, Estonia, this November.
Black Nights is one of the world’s major film festivals and is among a select group with FIAPF-accredited A-list status, putting a Gloucestershire-made production firmly in the international spotlight.
Directed by Ina Lüders in her feature debut, the film follows Celia, a girl on the cusp of adolescence whose world begins to fracture after she discovers her mother’s affair.
Pic: Matt Bigwood
Escaping into long summer days with her cousins Kerry and Hannah, Celia stumbles upon a body deep in the woods – only for it to mysteriously disappear.
Celia becomes consumed by the need to uncover the truth, blurring the line between witness and suspect as her own grip on reality begins to unravel.
But what makes the film’s success particularly special for local audiences is where – and how – it was made.
The production was mounted entirely in Nailsworth, home of screenwriter David Fedash, and, with the exception of lead actress Sheherazade Farrell (A House in Jerusalem), the cast was drawn from the local community. That includes Nancy Breheny and Cherry Walters, alongside sisters Victoria Ashcroft and Laura Ashcroft, sisters of The Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft.
Director Ina Lüders said: “With Such a Vivid Imagination, we set out to make a film that was both intimate and unsettling, while creating something meaningful with and for the community that helped bring it to life. Seeing that community spirit carry the film all the way from Nailsworth to a stage like Black Nights is genuinely thrilling – this is what independent filmmaking is all about.”
