Richard Hawkins’ powerful, award-winning period drama tells the story of six disparate souls who are sent on a secret government mission in 1943 to make propaganda pornographic films for the boys on the frontline. Each with a price to pay, the group bears witness to the toll of war far away from the battlefield.
In summer 1943 six disparate people find themselves on a remote Orkney island tasked with a top-secret mission: to produce a series of adult films made as part of an experiment in how to boost morale on the front line.
The assembled company includes Corporal Harry Evans (Jack Bandeira), a former cinema tough guy who answered the nation’s call across Crete, North Africa and Sicily, and who is now under the shadow of a court martial; Holly Spurring (Natalie Quarry), an aspiring actress and munitions worker with 20 screen tests but not a single call-back to her name; and the Jewish-German movie director Max Meyer (Ben Bela Böhm), who has fled the Nazi threat, bringing to an end the start of a glittering career directing some of cinema’s biggest movie stars.
Finding themselves ingloriously thrust together, along with Ministry of Information officer Captain Clune (John McCrea), costume and makeup artist Agnes (Ronni Ancona), and young sound apprentice Clifford (Ollie Maddigan), the group attempt to fulfil their orders. As the shoot progresses each finds themselves facing their own trauma as boundaries are pushed and the project begins to unravel…
BAFTA-nominated director Richard Hawkins’ powerful and award-winning period satire boasts excellent performances throughout, including breakouts for Quarry, Bandeira and Böhm, and the film deftly touches on the mental toll of living through wartime and what it means to give everything for your country.
“Thought-provoking, witty and humane, Think of England is British filmmaking at its best.”
Raindance Film Festival
“A thought-provoking exploration of truth and deceit.”
Variety
“An exploration of social norms,as well as cinema and filmmaking itself” - The Hollywood Reporter
“A memorable cinematic experience” - HeyUGuys
“A daring, provocative exploration of wartime propaganda, moral ambiguity, and the art of cinema itself” - IKON Magazine