Price £5

A mix of short films, ranging from Wellington archive scenes to profiles of local people with celebrated careers in film and TV  – plus a nod to our forthcoming railway station with a classic GWR promotional film from 1936.

In the 1980s and ‘90s Brian Hulls could often be seen around Wellington, dropping his daughters off at school or doing the family shopping. But when not at home in the Blackdowns, Brian’s workplace as a BBC news cameraman was in some of the most dangerous places on earth, filming wars in Iraq, Bosnia and Africa with reporters like Kate Adie, Jeremy Bowen and John Simpson.

By a remarkable coincidence Festival committee member Jonathan Nex was working as a BBC News video editor whilst Brian Hulls was covering these conflicts. Now Jonathan has assembled some of the most striking footage plus an interview with Brian’s widow Alison and tributes from his battlefront colleagues into a moving short documentary.

Jack Ackroyd may well have been the only film star to retire to Wellington after a glittering career in Hollywood – so far!  Jack returned to England and bought a house in Ardwyn after appearing with Stan Laurel in over 50 silent films in the years after WW1. His great-grandson David, who still lives in Wellington, tells Jack’s story with clips from some of his most successful films.

With the town poised to join the railway age – for the second time in nearly 200 years – we couldn’t ignore the Great Western Railway. In 1936 GWR produced a short film advertising the pleasures of travelling to the West Country’s seaside resorts by train – steam, of course. Exmouth, Minehead and Weston super Mare are among the visits.