Contact: Jo Comino 07786 536424; Alison Chapman (images) 07969 393884
Date: 8th February 2010

Borderlines Film Festival -
Local director has war-related stress disorder in his sights

As Herefordshire, home of the SAS, mourns the death of another local solider, its fourth victim in recent conflict, Marches-born film director James Price prepares to premiere his debut film about the terrible impact of war on soldiers at Borderlines Film Festival.

"My film is about the effects war can have on anyone," says the 33-year-old director of Shell Shock, a film about the young veteran of an unknown war who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. "I want it to make people stop and think about what's going on. And I want them to ask questions."

"We forget that war has got more psychological today. You no longer know who the enemy is. They're not in uniform. They attack and then melt away. You no longer know who is going to shoot you."

As the debate over the Iraq War rumbles on, the director refuses to commit publicly to one side or the other. "My film is apolitical. I do have a view on the Iraq War and Afghanistan, but it's not for me to agree or disagree with the war in Iraq."

"It's too late to say whether Tony Blair was right or wrong (to send the troops in). It's happened. And people are losing limbs, seeing their friends die."

"It's very difficult for someone who has not been involved in military conflict, who's not been in a war situation, to comprehend what's going on. And OK, it's a tiny percentage of soldiers who suffer from stress disorders. But the consequences can be devastating."

"This is a time bomb: the effects may not manifest themselves right away. The stress can suddenly show even years down the line and the consequences can be dramatic. People end up killing themselves."

James' advisors included a psychologist who had worked with the Territorial Army and a former paratrooper, a guy, he says, "who could not sleep at night." He based his film on the experiences of servicemen involved in conflicts in Northern Ireland and Bosnia.

Working on a tiny budget (the whole film cost £18,000) James, who comes from an agricultural background (his father Robert Price farmed Barn Farm at Leinthall Starkes), used his uncle's farm for location shots of the battle zone.

"I simply wanted to portray the experience that could be any soldier's, in any country, in any conflict, in any place in history. It's important for us, for the public, to comprehend what war is like, and what the consequences are for what soldiers have seen and done in the theatre of war. I want them to ask questions - because I don't have the answers."

The screening at Borderlines is backed by The Producers' Forum whose CEO, Shrewsbury-based, BAFTA-winning producer, Natasha Carlish will conduct a Q&A with James after the film is shown on Thursday 4 March.

Shell Shock is just one among a cluster of films showing at Borderlines this year that were made locally. Still Life is a strikingly ambitious drama made by The Rural Media Company with members of the community in Bromyard while Gaia: all things are connected consists of two thoughtful and visually exciting short films on the future of our environment from Herefordshire film-maker Joe Jenkins.

Bhutan, Height of Happiness? from Worcester’Äìbased film-maker, Brian Becker, is a fascinating documentary about how one of the most remote countries in the world is coping with the fast-forward onslaught of mass communications. And Young Farmers, from Hereford-based team, Anne Cottringer and Richard Branczik provides a unique insight into a film in the making as it follows members of the Herefordshire Young Farmers Clubs through a year in their life at a trying time for the industry.

Editorial notes

  1. Borderlines runs for 17 days from Friday 26 February to Sunday 14 March 2010.
  2. Venues include Aston on Clun, Ballingham, Bedstone, Bishops Castle, Bodenham, Bosbury, Brilley, Cardington, Chapel Lawn, Church Stretton, Clungunford, Dilwyn, Dorstone, Ewyas Harold, Eye, Garway, Gorsley, Hay-on-Wye, Hereford, Ledbury, Leominster, Lingen, Little Dewchurch, Ludlow, Lydbury North, Michaelchurch Escley, Moccas, Presteigne, Pudleston, Ross-on-Wye, Tarrington, Wem, Yarpole.
  3. Borderlines Film Festival is funded by Screen WM (with the UK Film Council), Herefordshire Council, The Elmley Foundation, Hereford City Council, Shropshire Council.
  4. Shell Shock is a Pixie Films production (James Price: 07968 206248 james@pixiefilms.co.uk)

Further images are available if required, please contact Alison Chapman on 07969 393884