A special preview of new film ‘Inland’, set in Gloucestershire, will be shown to a sell-out crowd this Friday as part of the Stroud Film Festival.
The modern folktale, starring Academy Award winner Mark Rylance, premiered to acclaim at the 2022 London Film Festival and is a debut for 22-year-old writer-director Fridtjof Ryder.
A sold-out theatre will be in attendance at Electric Picture House Cinema in Wotton-under-Edge, as Rory Alexander, Shaun Dingwall and Kathryn Hunter star alongside Rylance, who won an Academy Award and BAFTA for best supporting actor in Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies (2016).
Ryder and producer Henry Richmond will be in attendance on Friday night for a Q and A after the screening as the Stroud Film Festival continues its lead-in events before the official start date of 3rd March.
Set in and around Gloucester on a micro-budget, the film follows a young man (played by Alexander) grieving after the mysterious disappearance of his mother.
Ryder grew up in Gloucester and his directorial debut has been heavily influenced by these surroundings.
Ryder said: “The film’s genesis comes from my hometown, from my first loves growing up, and of course from films.
“The borderland between myth and the present, the thin line between the past and now, in rural England, walking through the landscape, often feels so powerful it makes me cry.”
Whilst also taking on the role of executive producer, Rylance confesses to being kept up at night by the film.
“This version is really scary and powerful, as it should be. There is a beautiful expression of the unconscious energy of nature in man. It reminds me of Eraser Head and Blue Velvet and films I loved but don’t see many of any more. I am disturbed and excited by it at once,” he said.
The film’s world premiere was shown at the BFI London Film Festival last October to a strong reception, with Head BFI LFF Programmer & Head of Acquisitions at Picturehouse Paul Ridd particularly impressed by the director’s utilisation of his Gloucestershire setting.
“Fridtjof Ryder makes a striking, boldly cinematic debut with this intense puzzle piece. Tensions, repressed memories and desires threaten to surface when a young man (Rory Alexander) is released from psychiatric hospital. Elegantly shot, intuitively edited, and expertly sound-mixed with a haunting score, Ryder conjures an experience that moves with the logic of a nightmare, building towards an unforgettable, strangely moving conclusion.
“Making vivid use of location filming in the heart of Gloucestershire, this refreshingly offbeat film draws heavily from the work of David Lynch, Nicolas Roeg and rural horror cinema, but has a mood and feel entirely of its own. Shot on a micro-budget and featuring superb performances from newcomer Alexander and Mark Rylance, this is exciting filmmaking from a new voice in British cinema.”
