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Movie shot entirely in Kent gets its county premiere

14:00, 26 November 2016

updated: 14:47, 26 November 2016

A movie with a distinctly Kentish heritage will get its first outing in the county tomorrow (Sunday).

The Carer, starring Brian Cox, was to have been shot on a country estate in Scotland, but a last-minute hitch forced producer Charlotte Wontner to look around for a new location - she found it at Boughton Monchelsea Place just outside Maidstone.

The film was shot over five weeks at the beginning of 2015, with additional scenes filmed at the Sutton Valence Care Home and at Sutton Valence Senior and Prep Schools. Other scenes were filmed in the Lord Raglan pub in Chart Hill Road, Staplehurst, and at shops in Headcorn.

The film stars Brian Cox and Coco Konig
The film stars Brian Cox and Coco Konig

Mrs Wontner, who lives in Collier Street, said: “Local companies were very helpful and lots of local villagers helped us with our crowd scenes. Most of our lead actors came from London, the USA or Hungary but they enjoyed coming out of town to film in the Kent countryside, and they loved staying at Leeds Castle!”

The Carer tells the story of a cantankerous old Shakespearean actor, played by Cox, who is suffering from a form of Parkinson’s, who has scared off all his previous helpers. Then his daughter finds him a new carer, a young Hungarian refugee called Dorottya, played by Coco Konig, who has acting aspirations of her own.

Most of the action was filmed at Boughton Monchelsea Place
Most of the action was filmed at Boughton Monchelsea Place

The film is made by Hopscotch Films and stars Emilia Fox, Anna Chancellor, Karl Johnson and has a brief appearance by Roger Moore.

It is directed by Janos Edelenyi.

The Carer was filmed entirely in Kent
The Carer was filmed entirely in Kent

It has already had its US premiere at the Palm Springs Festival, and its British première at the Edinburgh Film Festival, where it won the award for best film at both, but tomorrow’s performance at The Trinity Theatre in Tunbridge Wells, will be the first screening in Kent. It will be followed by a Q and A session with some of the cast and crew.

The film was shot in just five weeks
The film was shot in just five weeks

There are a few tickets left, available at the box office, from 6.30pm, with proceeds going to Crossroads Care (cash or cheque only).

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