Lambeth

Our Story

The blackout drapes go up. The streets darken. The sirens sound. 

Another night of screeching shells falling has begun.

In a hospital in central London, Nurse Caroline Wood prepares her uniform.

This is a film about loss, acceptance & duty during one of the most fascinating moment's in London's history: the Blitz.

Lambeth is the graduation film from Producer/Director team Kate Maxwell and Csongor Dombovari, final year students on the prestigious Film Production degree at the acclaimed Arts University College Bournemouth. 

Csongor has directed a succession of imaginative and powerful shorts such as The Act of Reading and Ophelia, stills of which can be found on our Facebook page [under development].

Kate produced The Act Of Reading establishing a strong working relationship with the Director. After working on a series of highly ambitious 16mm shorts, Kate returns to this partnership for the final year, bringing the drive needed to thrust Lambeth into life.

Brief Synopsis:

London. 1940. The Blitz. Caroline is struggling as a training nurse on a chaotic civilian hospital ward. Her worst fears come to light when she receives a telegram regarding her brother from the war office, that she cannot bring herself to read. 

Noticing the watchful presence of a soldier, Alfie, recently returned on medical leave from the front, she rejects the comfort and concerns of her peers and instead, duty bound, vanishes out onto the black streets of London on a mission to tend to the mortal sickness of a local resident. 

Placing herself in unexpected danger, Caroline is forced to come face to face with the incurable consequences of war, imprisoning her in disabling dread for her brother. 

Her mask of courage and independence begins to crumble, until her final encounter with Alfie leaves nothing left to do except to confront her fears and learn to use her skills and training to separate the identity of her brother from that of another young man, who desperately needs her help.

The Impact

This is an ambitious project. Period dramas are notoriously expensive, but this has not deterred us, the crew are all extremely passionate about the script and have already contributed as much as possible to the budget. However, this will not cover all of the costs as so we are turning to you to help us.

We want to make, not only the best film we can, but also to better ourselves as filmmakers, to push us to excel.

This film will introduce us to the industry through festivals, and as such is an extremely important vehicle. Please help us to make it not only a reality, but an outstanding one.

What We Need & What You Get

We need to raise £1000 GBP on top of the money we have from our University and money we have raised with our fantastic jazz-fueled, Blitz Spirit inspired event.

How could we need this much? Where could it possibly be going? Well, right here:

Paying the Talent, as well as feeding and housing them for the shoot! Films work out best when actors are fed and warm.

Building the World, we need to buy/rent a great deal of period specific props (beds, medical equipment, 1940s medial packaging, bed pans...) as well as materials to dress locations. 

Getting Doled Up, once we have actors and sets, we need clothes to match! The costume department plays a huge role on period films, and this one has it's work cut out for it, with 5 leads and several extras to garb in 1940s style! The costumes will be both sourced and made by our talented costume team. Hand in hand with costume is make up and you can't have a hospital ward without spilling some blood. Your donations will also fund our prosthetics team.

Lights, Camera, Action! It would be a pity to have achieved all the above and then be unable to roll camera. With your support we can hire the camera body, lenses and lights needed to get this film out of the set and onto the screen.

Last but not least, Processing... Once we have shot our delightful actors, dressed in wonderful 1940s costumes, against our fantastic sets, we need to process the film. This is the most expensive and crucial part of film making, if we do not process the film, our story will never get out of the can.

What is in it for you?! 

Other than the knowledge that you have helped a group of talented and ambitious students make there first steps to becoming leading professionals in the film industry, we are offering some fantastic perks to anyone generous enough to donate. From invitations to the film's premiere at the British Film Institute, signed copies of the script, stills and the poster, to Executive Producer credits, no donation, big or small goes unrewarded, please see the side column for further details!

Other Ways You Can Help

If you live locally to the project, why not get in touch to feature as an extra?

Once you have donated, or even if you are unable to, but would like to help the project, please share our campaign as much as possible with your social networks. 

Get your friends to Follow us on Twitter.

Get your family to Like us on Facebook, 

Send this campaign around your office, any sharing you can do, the more likely we are to achieve our goal. 

Remember, it's not spam, it's supporting the creative arts!

Thank you for taking an interest in this project, we sincerely appreciate any donations, big or small. 

Kate Maxwell - Producer.

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