It's a wrap for Horsham/Hastings film highlighting crucial mental health issues

Filming has been completed near Horsham for a short film which will increase awareness of mental health and PTSD.
Darcy JacobsDarcy Jacobs
Darcy Jacobs

Finding Wilson, featuring Hastings-based rising star Darcy Jacobs, aims to stimulate conversation on important social issues.

It comes from Fact Not Fiction Films (established in 2006), a multi-award-winning independent film and documentary production company based in Horsham.

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Fact Not Fiction Films CEO Tristan Loraine said the filming went well – despite noisy building work close to the shoot. Sadly, it simply wasn’t possible to go elsewhere.

“I had walked 200 miles around the countryside to find the right location to film. Every time I had been there at this particular location you could have heard a pin drop.”

But they were unlucky with the actual filming – which will certainly complicate some of the post-production work. It’s looking likely the actors might have to redo the words for some of the scenes they have now filmed.

“But we did it and we overcame massive challenges. We filmed south of Horsham over four days and the actors’ performances were amazing. They gave 100 per cent over long days and they were great.”

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Tristan is making the film in partnership with The Lucy Rayner Foundation, of which he is a trustee.

On May 5 2012, Jenny Rayner and her family in Reigate were tragically faced with the impact of mental illness when their daughter Lucy took her own life, aged just 22.

Jenny and her family were inspired to start campaigning about the mental health challenges faced by young adults; they quickly discovered that the support and help available to recognise and treat young adults with mental health challenges were “woefully inadequate and significantly under-funded.” Hence they established The Lucy Rayner Foundation.

Jenny and her husband were present for some of the filming.

Tristan said: “Written by Viv Young, Finding Wilson is a great script that allows us to work again with Darcy Jacobs. Viv is an amazing screenwriter. I said we needed a short film that would address the issue of mental health in young adults.

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“The story is that the character Darcy plays meets another girl Nicky in the woods, and the film is about what happens between them in the woods. Nicky is a former paramedic in the military. It’s a very, very powerful story.

“And Darcy was just amazing. When we were filming, there were people on the set watching the performance in tears. She was so emotionally grabbing. For us it was for real. You weren’t standing there thinking you were watching an actor. It really was real.”

To get this far, Tristan has already raised around £13,000. He knows he will have to find another £6,000 for the post-production work: “And then we will have to raise quite a lot more to get the film out there. That’s when the whole thing is won or lost.”

Tristan is hoping the film will be ready for release next year, but it is too soon to say when more precisely: “Everybody is doing it as a favour, and we are massively over budget.

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“We have got to find a way. We have still got quite a lot of money still to find.”

The film has a promo film on the crowdfunding link of: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/finding-wilson-short-film

More details: https://www.facebook.com/FindingWilsonFilm; and https://www.findingwilson.com.

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