Swale film festival puts focus on beatiful scenery
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Swale film festival
director Ken Rowles speaks about the best of the region's movie
talent
by Lewis Dyson
There is nothing quite like seeing the places you know
appear on the big screen.
Audiences at the Swale Film festival will have the chance to
experience just that this week.
Strawberry Fields, which will be showing at two venues, uses
unique scenery around Sheppey, Sittingbourne and Norton.
One of the locations featured in the movie is the coastline
around Shellness at the eastern end of Sheppey.
The director, Frances Lea, owns a beach hut in the area where
she spends summers with her partner and their 12-year-old twins.
She splits her time between her home in Finsbury Park, North
London, and the Island. 
Strawberry Fields
director Frances Lea
"I have always loved the scenery there," the Bournemouth Film
School graduate said. "It is so very beautiful.
"The characters are quite damaged, if you like, and I was very
interested in putting them in a very beautiful setting but also a
timeless setting.
"The characters are quite angsty characters that could be in a
typical Mike Leigh film but instead of showing them in a similar
backdrop, we are showing them in the Kent landscape."
The story follows a young free spirit named Gillian, played by
Brideshead Revisited actress Anna Madeley, who takes a job picking
fruit and accepts an offer to stay in a shabby caravan.
She meets and flirts with rugged farm hand Kev (Emun Elliot).
However, her idyllic new life is jeopardised by the arrival of her
sister Emily (Christine Bottomley, from The Land Girls).
Also featuring prominently in the film is Newlands Farm, in
Lewson Street, Norton, for scenes set on a fruit farm. 
Anna Madeley, Emun Elliot
and Frances Lea filming Strawberry Fields.
Frances, who used to pick strawberries on a Faversham farm in
her youth, said it was the ideal setting for her drama.
"People go there for transitory work and I was very interested
in that, being a place where people collect without being very
settled," she said.
Other places that can be recognised in the film are Mill Way,
Sittingbourne, Kingsferry Boat Club, Ridham Dock Road, and Swale
Halt station near the Sheppey Crossing.
Strawberry Fields will be showing at the Avenue Theatre, Avenue
of Remembrance, Sittingbourne on Friday, February 24 at 5.15pm for
£5.
It will then be screened at Blue Town Heritage Centre, High
Street, Blue Town, as part of a double bill with A Tribute to Her
Majesty costing £10, on Sunday, February 26 at 1pm.
To book tickets for Strawberry Fields at the Blue Town Heritage
Centre call 01795 662981, or for the Avenue Theatre visit
www.avenuetheatre.co.uk or call 01795 471140.
Other Swale film festival screenings
Avenue Theatre, Central Avenue, Sittingbourne
Thursday, February 23 - 5pm, Sittingbourne and old
Milton... A History, free. 6pm, Animate and Create, a free
presentation of the work of Whitstable-based animator Dan
Richards.
7.30pm, Chalet Girl, £5 entrance includes question and answer
session with producer Harriet Rees.
Friday, February, 24 - 11am, a free workshop on how to film
pop promos, hosted by Touch Base Media.
4pm, Red Sails a documentary by local film-maker Michael
Maloney, free. 5.15pm, Strawberry Fields, £5.
8pm, The Ups and Downs of a Handyman, £6 entrance, plus question
and answer session.
Saturday, February 25 - 4pm, Laurel and Hardy, free.
7.30pm, Bride and Prejudice, £7 entrance, including a Bollywood
night Indian buffet.
Sunday, February 26 - 10.30am, Disney's The Jungle Book, £4
for adults and £1 for children.
Blue Town Heritage Centre, High Street, Blue Town
Friday, February 24 - 2pm, Strictly Ballroom, £1 entrance.
7.30pm, The Boat That Rocked, £5 entrance, including question and
answer session with a 60s pirate radio technician.
Saturday, February 25 - 10am, Laurel and Hardy, £1
entrance. Noon, Disney's The Jungle Book, free but children must be
accompanied by an adult. 12.30pm to 1.30pm, Sheppey Matters Arts
and Media Youth Team Fun Animation Workshop, £1 each. Families and
under-14s can learn how to make model animations.
2.30pm, a class for 16 to 25-year-olds on how to use uScreen, a
film sharing website (to book a place call 01795 585335).
3pm, Mr Popper's Penguins, free.
5.30pm, presentation of the young film-makers award.
Sunday, February 26 - A double bill including a brunch,
£10. 1pm, Strawberry Fields and at 3pm, Tribute to Her Majesty.
The Creek Creative, Abbey Street, Faversham
Sunday, February 26 - 11am, Finding Nemo and family workshop,
Free (for booking details call 01795 591101).
6.30pm, Cinema Paradiso, £7.50 entrance.
Wednesday, February 22 2012
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