PRESTEIGNE has once again been named as the only Powys town involved in the Borderlines Film Festival.


The eighth Borderlines Film Festival will feature screenings of more than 80 films in 36 venues in Shropshire, Herefordshire and the Marches.


The festival will include the debut film from James Price which was partially shot in the village of Leinthall Starkes, near Wigmore, where he grew up.

Shell Shock is an evocative portrait of a young war veteran suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. James came back home to his uncle’s farm in order shoot the scenes of conflict while his new film, The Marches, currently in development, is set squarely within the area too.


“I’m very pleased to be screening Shell Shock at Borderlines. My earliest memories of cinema are of going to the Hereford Odeon and The Regal in Tenbury. The area defines who I am,” James said.


Among the other guests who will be on-hand to answer questions at various screenings are Chris Atkins, whose new documentary Starsuckers and earlier film Taking Liberties will both be among the films shown, as well as silent film supremo Kevin Brownlow who introduces Winstanley, his 1976 film about the diggers during the English Civil War.

Brownlow has links to the area after shooting his 1965 film It Happened Here about what would have happened if the German army had crossed the English channel during the Second World War in and around New Radnor.

It is also hoped that Sleep Furiously director Gideon Koppel will make an appearance at a village hall on the Flicks in the Sticks network.


The festival opens on Friday, February 26, and will run until Sunday, March 14. Specific screenings have yet to be announced. For more information visit www.borderlinesfilmfestival.co.uk.