First film about Mansfield in more than 50 years premiered and will be free to watch next week

REDt’BLUE details the rise of Conservative MP Ben Bradley as ‘the first blue brick in the red wall’ – and the impact Brexit had on changing the district’s political landscape, and was the brainchild of former Brunts Academy student Jay Martin.

The 22-year-old, who went on to study film and television at the Confetti college in Nottingham, used crowdfunding to add the finishing touches to the piece, which premiered at the Broadway cinema in Nottingham on Saturday, February 26.

The film was so well received by industry insiders before it was released, that Jay was commissioned to produce a series of short documentaries for the BBC, looking at different aspects of the Covid pandemic, which aired last year.

Jay said: “We decided on Broadway because it’s a real filmmakers’ cinema, and I’m delighted to say that we sold out all 250 seats.

"It was very well received – Ben Bradley MP said that he really enjoyed it and praised how politically neutral it was, along with people like Mick Newton. A lot of Mansfield residents came down for it as well, and said they thought it was really good.”

He said that the event was also used as a showcase for Nottinghamshire-bases filmmakers – with a total of 12 short films shown on the day, including Jay’s Covid documentaries.

"There were a lot of politicians in the room and I also used it as a way of raising the issue of arts funding,” Jay said.

"The Government has cut arts funding consistently, and particularly in places like Mansfield, and I made the point that the arts need funding support, when many politicians have voted to cut it.

"This is the first film made about Mansfield in more than 50 years, let’s make sure it’s not the last.”

The film features interviews with Mr Bradley, along with Ashfield MP Lee Anderson, and mineworkers’ pensions campaigner Mick Newton.

REDt’BLUE will be released on Vimeo next weekend.

For more details on the project and to get the link to the documentary, you can click here.

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