A dreamlike folk tale with dark undertones from Uncut Films, No Scrumping offers fresh talent a chance to shine. Three women – played by Jessica Painter, Aoife Rush and Lorien Tear – live an idyllic life feasting on falling fruit in this near-wordless short film from writer Nelly Weston and producer Dylan Guard.
It’s directed by Tracy Harris: a Swansea-born playwright whose most recent play, the excellent Mumfighter, was a storming success, she now turns her eye towards film. Initially lyrical in tone, with folk and fairytale vibes, Harris takes the audience on a very different trip amidst the sunshine and fallen apples.
It’s made with a political agenda, Weston having plenty to say about the patriarchy and the strength of sisterhood. The short film exists out of time: a sort of Grimm Tale with its house in the woods and trio of happy female scrumpers who revel in their lives together and the literal fruit of their labours. When a threat seems to arrive at their door, how the young women deal with it may not be quite what is expected.
Newport actor/producer Guard has peopled the film with up-and-coming Welsh talent, in front of and behind the camera. The film used the rolling Bannau Brycheiniog as a bucolic backdrop, before decamping to Firebug Studios in Barry for its interiors. Guard has high hopes for No Scrumping, which has already secured places in several film festivals over the coming months after a May premiere screening in Merthyr’s Theatr Soar. This month, the short visits HorrorCon UK in Sheffield, and screens as part of the Bannau Brycheiniog Film Festival in July.
With talent like Harris involved and a Welsh team of dedicated film enthusiasts, hopefully this will be the first of many projects from the fledgling Uncut company. In the meantime, be careful with them apples and oranges…
HorrorCon UK screens the film on 7 June (info: here); the Brecon Beacons Film Festival screens the film on 4 July (info: here)
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words KEIRON SELF
