The Wash: Britain’s Secret Wilderness Film Screening
Sat 26 Sept, 2:15–4:15pm
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An annual celebration of national and international cinema exploring rural life, conservation, and sustainability. Supported by Sleaford Climate Action Network, The Hub and Rural Action Cinema. This year’s feature film:
“The Wash: Britain’s Secret Wilderness”
The film showcases the beauty and significance of The Wash, a dynamic estuary that evolves through the seasons, while exploring the delicate balance between conservation and human activity.
On the edge of Lincolnshire and Norfolk, The Wash is one of the UK’s most important wetlands. The ebb and flow of the tide, shifting mudflats and saltmarshes create a landscape of constant change. Over two million migrating birds rely on it as somewhere to stop, feed and rest during their globe spanning journeys. It is also a landscape shaped by people, including generations of fishermen who have made their living from its waters.
Directed and produced by Chris Weston, a wildlife photographer with more than 20 years of experience, the film is described as a ‘homecoming’ project as Weston grew up in Frampton. He left Lincolnshire aged 16 to seek a career in wildlife photography and has travelled the world photographing some of the planet’s most charismatic species. He returned to The Wash to highlight this ‘secret wilderness’ and to champion its continued protection. Shot over three years, the film was made for cinema rather than television and is best experienced on a big screen.
The film captures the mesmerising wildlife spectacles and expansive landscapes of The Wash. Filming took place at Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust’s Gibraltar Point National Nature Reserve and the RSPB reserves Frampton Marsh and Freiston Shore in Lincolnshire, and Snettisham in Norfolk. Much of the fishery footage was filmed with local families in Boston.
