Preston-based production company, Northern Heart Films, has won a special commission from the Quorn-funded Pioneers Film Fund.
The fund, which was created in association with PlanetSHINE and spanned the UK and Ireland, selected a shortlist of 11. The commission was intended to start an important conversation around the future of food in the UK, and explore how humanity might feed itself in the future.
Northern Heart Films was successful in becoming one of only three final grantees, and its film, ‘Ocean Guardians’, is currently in pre-production.
Once complete in spring, the three successful films will be viewable on the first video on-demand platform dedicated to the planet’s future, WaterBear.
‘Ocean Guardians’ is an intimate portrait of local offshore farmers harvesting and nurturing seaweed in the UK, told through personal testimonies. The film will show the crop’s environmental benefits and its potential impact on our diet. Northern Heart Films hopes that ‘Ocean Guardians’ will become its first Albert-certified production – a mark of sustainability in TV and film production.
“We’ve been obsessed with seaweed ever since we started our research,” said Northern Heart Films’ Creative Director, Natasah Hawthonthwaite. “It’s just such an amazing crop that has numerous health benefits when eaten and it can also help tackle climate change by storing carbon.”
Scott Bradley, Head of Production, added: “We’re really looking forward to working with Quorn, PlanetSHINE and WaterBear on Ocean Guardians. It’s brilliant knowing we’ll be starting in 2022 working on a really important documentary that’s going to be seen all across the world.
