The Fronts of War
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| The Fronts of War | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Thomas Gardner |
| Produced by | Thomas Gardner |
| Written by | Thomas Gardner Olivia Lewis-Brown |
| Starring | Aaron Fraiser Adam Grindley Olivia Lewis-Brown |
| Music by | Con Daniels |
| Cinematography | Thomas Gardner |
| Edited by | Brendan Higgins |
| Distributed by | Ministry Films |
Release date |
|
Running time | 7 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | £700 |
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The Fronts of War is a 2022 British short war film written, produced and directed by Thomas Gardner. The film follows two soldiers during The Somme in 1916. When one of the soldiers receives a letter from a mutual acquaintance back home in England, it puts their friendship in jeopardy. It stars Aaron Fraiser as Private William Mawlbury and co-stars Adam Grindley as Lieutenant Albert Draycott, with Olivia Lewis-Brown playing his wife Grace Draycott.
Filming took place in May 2021 at the Detling showground in Maidstone, Kent and wrapped the following day. The trench was constructed by CEMA History for use in film and education.[1], and the crew became the first to shoot a production there.
The Fronts of War premiered in the UK on February 10th 2022 at the Kings Cross Film Awards and was subsequently distributed across multiple festivals, winning 16 international film awards[2]., including 2 Best Director awards for Gardner,[3] and a Best Actor award nomination at an Italian festival for Fraiser.[4] The film was released publicly onto YouTube on April 1st 2022.[5]
Plot[edit]
The Somme, 1916 – Second Lieutenant Albert Draycott (Adam Grindley) receives a letter from his wife back in England, Grace Draycott (Olivia Lewis-Brown) to say that she has given birth to a son. When his best friend, Private William Mawlbury (Aaron Fraiser) comes into the dugout, he is elated by the news and the two celebrate by drinking whiskey. Enquiring whether he has any mail, William is handed a letter of his own by Albert and his face drops. Albert takes the letter from him and discovers the letter his from Grace, saying the baby is in actual fact William's. Before Albert can react, the over-the-top whistle is blown and William gets his gear to go over. Albert follows him out and aims his pistol at him, the camera slowly moves back into the dugout and a voice saying Albert has died in battle ends the film. Though, we don't know whether Albert shot William, or whether William shot Albert in reaction.
Cast[edit]
- Aaron Fraiser as Private William Mawlbury
- Adam Grindley as Second Lieutenant Albert Draycott
- Olivia Lewis-Brown as Grace Draycott
Development and Production[edit]
After watching Peter Jackson's documentary film They Shall Not Grow Old, Gardner was inspired to write a First World War film of his own, “I wanted to focus on the personal lives of the soldiers rather than the actual war itself, some of the personal trauma they had to go through they would have kept to themselves and I wanted to try and extract something from that to create tension in an already intense atmosphere.”[6] Screenwriter and Actress Olivia Lewis-Brown helped structure the story further, adding additional dialogue into the script and received a co-writing credit in the final film. She was cast along with actors Aaron Fraiser and Adam Grindley.
Gardner contacted First World War historian Andy Robertshaw after seeing an article in a newspaper where Robertshaw constructed his own trench in his back garden[7] and asked permission to film on location in Kent for the production. After permission was granted, the film was supposed to begin production in April 2020, however on March 23rd, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced in a television broadcast that the United Kingdom would go into a national lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the public ordered to stay at home and only leave for essential purposes.[8]
On May 8th, 2021 production was finally under way with the crew shooting on location in Maidstone, Kent where Robertshaw constructed a new set of trenches and the crew became the first film production to shoot there[9] with filming concluding four days later in the Lake District. The film was edited over the course of one week in May and was sent to be scored for approximately 2 weeks before the film was released.
Release & Reception[edit]
The official trailer for the film was released on February 1st 2022, with the date of its official release appearing at the end.[10]
The film had its premiere at the Kings Cross Film Awards where it was awarded Best Short Film[11] and was screened routinely through February and March of 2022 before being released onto YouTube April 1st. The short went onto win multiple international film awards across its time in the festival circuit[12] including awards in Japan[13], Italy[14], India[15], Portugal[16] and The Netherlands[17].
It currently holds an average user rating of 9.2/10 on IMDb[18]
Prequel[edit]
In April 2022, Gardner announced that he would be making a prequel film to The Fronts of War.[19]
References[edit]
- ↑ Flintham, David. "CEMA" Imperial War Museum. 12 August 2021
- ↑ "The 25 Year Old Cumbrian Filmmaker who has won awards around the world" ITV News. 21 April 2022
- ↑ "Former UCLan student scoops top international film awards" University of Central Lancashire. 1 April 2022
- ↑ Hutchinson, Phil. “Pocklington Actor nominated for Best Actor in debut role in short First World War film” The Yorkshire Post. 8 April 2022
- ↑ Simmonds, Cara “Filmmaker releases new historical film” Kent Online. 13 April 2021
- ↑ Barnwell, Ross.“Filming 'The Fronts of War'” CEMA. 10 May 2021
- ↑ Pidd, Helen. “Historian digs First World War trench in his garden” The Guardian. 1 November 2012
- ↑ "Boris Johnson orders UK lockdown to be enforced by police". The Guardian. London, UK. 23 March 2020. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
- ↑ "The First World War trenches at Detling Showground near Maidstone featuring props from Sam Mendes film 1917 and used in Dermot O’Leary Channel 4 documentary" Kent Online. 15 May 2022
- ↑ Nicholson, Savannah. “Windermere filmmaker releases trailer for The Fronts of War” North West Evening Mail. 4 February 2022
- ↑ Robertson, Darcy. "Filmmaker wins award for internationally renowned short film" UK Daily News 30 August 2022
- ↑ Seddon, Aimee. “Filmmaker Thomas Gardner wins 15 international awards for debut short film” Lancashire Evening Post 7 April 2022
- ↑ Matauya, Mashahiro. [1] "Winners announced for February competition" Tokyo Film Awards 1 March 2022
- ↑ Ivanov, Sergey. "Winner announced for Best War Flm" Diamond Eye 16 March 2022
- ↑ "February & March Awards" Cult Critic Magazine 31 March 2022
- ↑ "February Competition Winners" GLIFF. 5 April 2022
- ↑ EFFUK. "March Competition Winners" EFFUK 2 March 2022
- ↑ "IMDb Ratings" IMDb.
- ↑ “Award-winning Windermere film director begins work on prequel” CumbriaCrack. 12 April 2022
External links[edit]
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