West Sussex County Times

Film project to support mental health charity

- Jasmin Martin ct.news@jpimedia.co.uk

An independen­t film and documentar­y production company in Horsham is teaming up with a charity to raise awareness of mental health and PTSD.

Fact Not Fiction Films will be creating short film Finding Wilson in partnershi­p with The Lucy Rayner Foundation and will begin filming in West Sussex in August.

The cast includes rising star Darcy Jacobs, who last year won the Best Young Actress Award at the Birmingham Internatio­nal Film Festival.

Tristan Loraine, Fact Not Fiction Films chief excutive, said: “Written by Viv Young, Finding Wilson is a great script that allows us to work again with the rising star Darcy Jacobs.

“We have an incredible crew volunteeri­ng to make this important short film. The film will further raise awareness of mental health, PTSD and the incredible work of The Lucy Rayner Foundation.”

Those working on the project have created a Crowdfundi­ng page to fund the making of the film after agreeing to work for expenses only in order to raise awareness and to support the charity which Jenny Rayner founded after her daughter, Lucy, took her own life in 2002 at the age of 22.

The foundation and aims to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of depression in young adults through education and campaignin­g, to facilitate change in the way mental health is perceived by society, and to help prevent young people taking their own life.

Chief executive for the Lucy Rayner Foundation Jenny Rayner said: “Film is such an important way to stimulate discussion about such an important public health issue.

“We are delighted to be the charity partner for this film project and we can’t wait to see the finished film.”

Fact Not Fiction Films, establishe­d in 2006, has a history of making films on public interest issues.

Its latest documentar­y release Everybody Flies investigat­es the air you breathe on planes and last year the company released ‘Missing a Note’, a short film raising awareness of dementia.

The film had a selected theatrical release with Everyman cinemas and was submitted for considerat­ion to the 2020 Academy Awards.

Fact Not Fiction Films is hoping to once again submit this new film to the Academy Awards with the aim of getting more people to talk about mental health, particular­ly during these difficult times.

The crew working is now focusing on finding someone to cast as the role of a former military paramedic in her late 20s, while Lily Grimes has been confirmed as the director of photograph­y.

Lucy was runner up of the British Society of Cinematogr­aphy (BSC) Emerging Cinematogr­apher award in 2019 and recently won an RTS award.

To support the project crowd funding appeal, visit https://www.crowdfunde­r. co.uk/finding-wilson-shortfilm

For more informatio­n, visit www.findingwil­son.com or find ‘Finding Wilson’ on Facebook.

 ??  ?? The new short film is being created by Fact Not Fiction Films
The new short film is being created by Fact Not Fiction Films

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