Local filmmakers Callum Mitchell, Jonny Dry and Ella Turner are set to shoot their latest film – Mackling – this coming autumn in Penzance.
West Cornwall born Mitchell’s recent audio drama-documentary, Solomon Browne, was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 last year to widespread acclaim and selected as Drama of the Week.
Working from a script by Mitchell, Jonny Dry is set to direct with Ella Turner producing for Studio Erma. The trio worked together on the set of BAFTA-winner Mark Jenkin’s latest feature, Enys Men, and will be supported by Bosena CEO & producer Denzil Monk for Mackling – shooting throughout West Penwith this November with a range of local cast and crew.
With initial production funding already secured, the team are looking for further crowdfunding from the Cornish community to support the production and help bring the film into being.
Set in a world of reclamation yards, house clearances and rural deprivation, Mackling is a social drama following the strange and off kilter relationship between two men, Bud and Sully, as they prepare for a local funeral.
An associate artist at Hall for Cornwall, Mitchell is a former recipient of the Nick Darke Talent Award and was selected for the BBC Writersroom Cornish Voices programme throughout 2021.
Jonny Dry and Ella Turner return to collaborate again following their previous Cornish language short film An Tarow, commissioned through the Screen Cornwall 2019 FylmK Fund and widely recognised at the BAFTA Cymru qualifying Carmarthen Bay film festival, as well as Cornwall, Little Wing and Two Short Nights film festivals, including a win for Best Director for Jonny and Best Editor nomination for Ella.
Jonny Dry said: “Callum’s writing on Mackling captures something of the complex picture of magic, deprivation, community and isolation which can be found down here. To be working from such a piece of writing, and with Ella alongside, is very special.”
