‘Romsey the Movie’ wins Focus Prize at film festival

A short film with a budget of just £600 has won a national film festival award.

The film was written and animated by photographer Kate Jackson and won the Focus Prize award at the British International Amateur Film Festival.

Written back in 2018 and filmed last summer, the film has since garnered over 25,000 views on YouTube within the last month.

Ms Jackson says that the film initially started off as a poem but evolved into a song, which eventually became ‘Romsey the Movie’.

“It just took on a life of its own” said Ms Jackson, “It gathered momentum with lots of people opting to dress up and take part.”

The film features a number of Romsey residents including members of Romsey’s Old Cadets, Mountbatten Community Choir, and the Michelmersh Silver Band.

Construction workers, barbers and musicians also took part in the making of the film.

‘Romsey the Movie’ was featured on BBC South and has been entered into 13 Film Festivals, as well as scoring the Focus Prize at the BIAFF.

The film lasts just over 4 minutes and features a song that details “the story of Romsey with oodles of inaccuracy”, according to the video’s description on YouTube.

The award winning film coincided with the Abbeys 900^thbirthday this year.

It describes the Viking and Saxon occupation of Romsey as well as the history of the Abbey, the civil war under Oliver Cromwell, and the introduction of the railway station in town during the Georgian era.

All of the animations and most of the costumes were made by Ms Jackson herself, with just a small budget of £600.