Mark Jenkin’s next feature ENYS MEN

As March sees the evenings get lighter, production in Cornwall is back in full swing with both local and incoming projects starting their shoots in a COVID-safe manner.

Leading the charge is BAFTA-winning writer-director Mark Jenkin’s next feature ENYS MEN (Cornish for the stone island) which is co-financed by Film 4 and supported by the Sound/Image Cinema Lab.

An ecosophical horror, the film deals with a woman, alone on an island crossed by ley lines and timelines with only an ancient standing stone for company, who is haunted by echoes of both the past and future. We’re excited to see what unfolds on screen but in the meantime, Mark has given us these quotes as a clue to some of the themes he’ll be tackling:

“Unless we minimize the disruption of ecological processes, in the knowledge that our industrial way of life, with its ethos of expansion, is not sustainable, we shall inevitably face the collapse of society as we know it.” – A Blueprint for Survival, The Ecologist, 1972 

“The eyes of all future generations are upon you.” – Greta Thunberg, 2019

Producer Denzil Monk from Bosena said: “The Covid delay has given us all time to breathe, and time for the Earth to do likewise, so there couldn’t be a better time for us to shoot ENYS MEN in a thoughtful and safe way. Together, Bosena is committed to making creatively and critically successful films - all of which are designed following our 'stepping lightly’ regenerative principles of production: thinking globally and acting locally. Working with sustainable suppliers on our production plans for ENYS MEN, we are already achieving positive effects and outputs, from using a carbon saving Voltstack generator to employing local crew and services to reduce transport and accommodation impacts.  This film production is saving the planet whilst fuelling our Cornish screen industry, proving that this type of commitment across the industry, in what will hopefully soon be post-Covid times, is more relevant, and more important than ever".

You can catch up on Mark’s series of lockdown diaries on Radio4's The Film Programme and follow the story of the production as it unfolds on social media via #EnysMen.