That's what I'm talkin' about!

The screenings are now done and dusted. Great fun they were too, and many thanks to all who turned up. Almost everyone stayed for the Q&A at the end which was great. Those can be a bit like the stampede for the doors when back in the old days they played the national anthem in cinemas. The Uckfield screening had a very mixed audience too, which always helps remind us that this isn't just a film for anglers but for anybody with an interest in our own modern history or a desire to see films just a little different from the pack. Really nice.

So seeing as our mums and dads like the film too, I guess that counts as a pretty well universal success!

We will be doing another bunch of screenings later in the year, so if you're interested don't forget to add your town to the 'request a screening feature on the website.

Screening dates so far

Cinema showings so far are:

Penrith - Lonsdale Alhambra Cinema, Cumbria - Sunday 17th May (8pm) - as part of the Cumbria Fishing Festival.

Elgin - The Moray Film Festival, The Gallery, Elgin Library, Elgin, Scotland - Saturday 30th May 11.00 am

Uckfield - The Picture House Cinema, East Sussex - Sunday 31st May 6pm

Seats for Penrith cinema are bookable from Monday 11th May at the cinema on 01768 862400.

Seats for Uckfield are bookable on 01825 764909 or online at - www.picturehouseuckfield.com

The Film Poster

Not so fast shorty... Mr Hardy has come to town

Aherrmmm...

The idea was to put this blog to bed and concentrate on the next film, but luckily things don't always turn out to plan. It seems we have a mini-cine tour on the go. A couple of weeks back I heard about the fishing festival happening in Cumbria in May and thought that might be an interesting opportunity to show our film in a cinema there. Unsure of the technical requirements I called up our local cinema in Uckfield and asked advice from the owner. Not only was Kevin supremely helpful, he even asked the magic question "why not show the film here too?". So up in Cumbria the Alhambra Lonsdale in Penrith agreed to show the film in May as did the Moray Film Festival, and suddenly we had a mini tour.

That's great...but lots of work. Hopefully we can get some publicity out there, fill up some seats and some of you reading this may even come along to one of the gigs. We are going to try and be there if we can, so best hone your bun throwing skills now.

If these showings go well we will soon add more dates as it would be great to make a feature of taking Mr Hardy out on the road.

One blog ends another begins...

Welcome to The Lost World of Mr Hardy blog. We're involved in a new project so this blog is now complete. Everything is still here though. To read the story of how and why we made the film its best to go to the archive box on the right and read the earliest entries first - otherwise you'll be reading the story back to front!

We've also started a new blog for "The Moo man", our new film, to give it some space of it's own. We want to follow up some of the raw milk and farming issues as well as the whole slow food / local food thing which seems to be surfacing in the making of that film. Read more about this and life on a small farm over on the moo man.

Onwards to a new film

We Trufflepiggers have fallen for a new story. It's set on a local farm. Funny how stories are so much closer to home than we often think; our door step delivered milk comes in lovely old retro bottles with pictures of each cow on the bottles, the whole notion seems somehow impossibly outdated. Kate was my fave but when I visited the farm and met Ida, I just knew she was a film star in the making. She was out on Eastbourne beach early in the morning recently, and goodness she really did pull in the crowds (more on this later). 

Kate and Ida are part of a small herd on nearby Longleys farm which is run by farmer Steve Hook and his dad Phil. It's such an interesting set up. Steve milks the 55 cows. His wife Claire bottles the milk in the kitchen and Phil delivers door to door in Hailsham. It's a great little family business and it's just so ridiculous that dairy farms like this with a fantastic provenance find it so impossible to operate in modern day UK. Steve's herd is about one third the size of what would be expected to be the absolute minimum for an economically viable herd. But he's surviving!

What's the USP? Well for one, Steve sells his milk raw, completely unadulterated, its natural goodness intact. However because his milk is unpasteurised, it's unsellable in supermarkets. Is this avoidance of supermarkets how he manages to survive in an impossible market place? 

Raw milk is really contentious though, it's banned in many countries including Scotland, Germany and the U.S. In the States it's fine to pump cows with bovine hormones to increase milk yield yet the selling of unpasteurised milk is outlawed. Why? Big business of course, raw milk is very much a small scale, local farm thing which the big dairies hate. Och there's millions to tell and I could go on for ages, and no doubt will. 

Suffice to say that the farm and what it represents is so interesting that we are now making a new feature length documentary all about it. Watch this space and the website for news and clips coming soon.

Coming soon to a screen near you?

Copies of Mr Hardy are shifting fast just now, hurray for Christmas  (I never thought a humbug like me would ever say that). The new 'book a screening' option on the website is generating quite some interest too, predominantly in the North East of England. No great surprise I guess as the film will be playing on home-ground up there. 

What has surprised me though is when I've called a few cinemas up and told them about the film, and tried the 'stalking horse' approach. I was ready for the brush-off and it was great to get a positive and interested response. Okay, so I was quite careful in picking the more rural cinemas, ones with a higher potential fisher density and in staying away from the cinema chains. I think the small cinemas really got the idea, they liked the idea of a quirky little film that works on a people level and perhaps says something a little different from the average film. So here's hoping to taking the film out on the road in the New Year.

However if you'd like the DVD for Christmas, don't forget to drop a heavy hint or two and steer your beloved in the direction of our website (or even Amazon I guess).