THE dungeons of Castle Rushen, Cregneash and Niarbyl are among the locations to feature in one of the latest offerings from film makers ManniIN Shorts.
They have just finished shooting Closet, by John Craine, and Solace in Wicca, by Nathan Russel Raby, which tells of Margaret Inequane, the last person executed in the Isle of Man for witchcraft and whose name is on the plinth in Castletown Square marking the point where she was burned at the stake.
A crowd of keen local people added to the film’s flavour as extras, kitted out in period costume and wigs and shouting in Manx as Margaret, played by Isis Taylor, was led to her demise by Wayne Kelsall’s bishop.
Dave Armstrong, of Mannin Shorts said: ‘We’ve shot four films in total so far after starting about two years ago.
‘We had a competition for people to submit screen plays and received about 30. We selected six of those to film and we have two of them left to do. We wanted to create a sustainable community of local film makers and increase skill levels by running workshops and producing our own films’ he said.
‘There’s a lot of talent on the island and we wanted to nurture it.’
Thanks to the cultural and historic elements in Solace in Wicca, as well as its Manx language content, the film has received support from Charles Guard and the Manx Heritage Foundation which provided generous funding. Support has also come from CinemaNX/Isle of Man Film. This allowed wardrobe mistress Jennifer Higson to rent authentic looking costumes and wigs from London costumiers and it also allowed designer Sally Black to give greater attention to detail with her set design and props.
Manx National Heritage was also generous in allowing the use of its heritage sites for location filming free of charge.
Closet, directed by Chris Gore and sponsored by the Isle of Man Arts Council, is the third film writer and cinematographer John Craine has made in the island in the past 18 months. Set in the 1980s, it stars free-runner Will Sutton in one of his first acting roles.
Since the scheme’s launch, Mr Armstrong and co-founder Christy DeHaven have run free workshops in everything from screen acting, to directing and producing on a budget. Initially they took on most of the tutoring themselves, but thanks to funding from PokerStars in September 2011, they have also brought in UK professionals for specific courses.
Two other shorts which have come through the scheme – Adrian Hall’s Hide and Seek and Zoe Guilford’s I Do – have been filmed and are now in the edit process. The two remaining scripts, by Chris Chambers and John Brimble, are in preproduction.
The scheme’s students have also taken part in the ‘Scene Stealer Challenge’ to recreate iconic scenes from famous films in as much detail as possible, to learn about lighting, camera technique, editing, design and props. The completed scenes, representing The Graduate, produced by Emily Cook and The Shining, produced by Bev Lawley, will be shown at a special screening with the crews talking through their experience.
A MannIN Shorts web series On The Benches is being planned and the group will be running this year’s Summer Film School in association with Isle of Man Arts Development from August 13 to 24.