A Guernsey-German co-produced short film will premiere in Guernsey next month.
Whispers of Freedom will be screened for the first time locally on Friday 12 September at the Princess Royal Centre for the Performing Arts.
The film, which had its world premiere at the Sunderland Shorts Film Festival in May, is an official qualifier for the 2025 British Independent Film Awards.
The screening will be followed by a Q&A session with the cast and crew, including actors Wendy Makkena and Darragh Cowley.
The 25-minute short film is a biographical drama that tells the tragic, true story of Chris Gueffroy, who was the last person to be shot while attempting to escape across the Berlin Wall in February 1989.
The story follows Chris’ growing disillusionment with life in East Germany, leading him and his friend, Christian Gaudian, to plan an escape.
It was filmed in Guernsey and Berlin, with key locations on the island transformed to recreate the Cold War-era setting, including on a USSR-manufactured Helios lens.
Whilst to ensure historical accuracy, the filmmakers worked with leading German historians and institutions, including the Berlin Wall Memorial and the DDR Museum in Berlin.
The film was written and directed by Guernsey filmmaker Brandon Ashplant, with his brother, Cameron Ashplant performing as the lead, Chris Gueffroy
Wendy Makkena, who appeared in Sister Act 1,2, and 3, appears as Chris’ mother, with a performance from Darragh Cowley, who was in The Boot Room, Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
There’s also roles for Paul Freeman and Christopher Eccleston.
The film’s score was composed by William Goodrum who created the music for Shallow Hal and Movie 43.
More to follow…