*LATEST UPDATE: We’ve been selected for dances with films festival in Hollywood!!!! We are trying to raise funds to get there!!

We still need around £2,000 to make this a reality and to be able to attend the festival and spread the word of the film that we're looking to make in to a feature film version.!!

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We are currently in the process of finding out if we’ve been selected to more film festivals. We The closer we get to the budget the more festivals we can submit to and get the film seen by a bigger audience to enable us to look to create Perennial as a feature film!

We are now making a short film with the plan to use the short to make the feature!

PERENNIAL is a heartfelt dance-based drama that mixes the mundane life of a homeless man with the eager passion of a young girl to dance; think Billy Elliot meets Leon meets Harold and Maude.

 

Trailer Video made in collaboration with filmmaker Nicolas Hepburn.

Here is the synopsis of the film:

 

'Set in The Fens within a small market town, a homeless man and former professional dancer, reluctantly befriends a young girl, to teach her how to dance for her school talent show, whilst she attempts to help him rekindle his broken relationship with his children.'

 

Hi everyone, I'm Mark Reid, and I work under the name of Austin Staton. I know it makes me sound like a wizard detective from a 70s B-Movie, but I could not use my name for performing, so I used the surnames of my two friends who passed away when I was a kid.

 

I have vast performing experience working for companies such as BBC, ITV, SBTV, Soap and Glory and Cadburys and more recently as a filmmaker with Bridge In The Sky

Bridge In The Sky Showreel

 

 

Rose and Ren

 

Making films is expensive. Way more expensive than I'd liked, but I really, really want to make this film. It's something I've dreamed of my whole adult life, and now I'm in the position to make it happen. Well, I would be if I had the funding.

 

That's why I'm here. As my Mum used to say, “If you don't ask, you don't get.”

 

 

Fenlands

 

Perennial is set in The Fens, East Anglia. It's the really flat bit, from where it used to be joined to The Netherlands. It's one of those places where people like to make jokes that we have six toes or webbed feet, but it's my home. I was raised just down the road in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire. These days my home is a small market town in The Fens with a terrific sense of community, and this has partly been my inspiration to make this film, alongside interviews and conversations from the homeless community.

 

 

Whilst I more than welcome local support for the project, I hope this can be far more than "a Fens thing". Perennial is a story that transcends borders, searching for the universal good in people, characters to whom there is more than it might appear from the outside and who look to triumph in the face of adversity. Then there are the estranged families, of course.

 

We have been lucky enough to secure the help of a couple of local businesses so far, and we aim to shoot as economically constrained as possible, but we know that you need an army to make a film.

 

 

Your contributions here will make this movie a reality. We cannot do this without your help.

 

Perennial is our biggest, most ambitious project yet. Our Cast & Crew have come on board so far, and are allowing us to make an accomplished, fully realised product for a fraction of what it should cost through collaborations and discounted rates. The amount we're asking for here will go directly towards acquiring the army necessary to create this project, including:

 

 

If this project appeals to you, please get in touch. Also, if any business or person is interested in helping us out, either socially (by sharing this project), physically (coming on board with us) or financially (contributing), we would love your support. Donations can be made here on Go Fund Me to help us reach our goal.

 

Contingency plan: We aim to create a feature film; however, we are fully aware of the financial challenge we face. If we are unsuccessful in hitting most of our financial targets, we plan to readjust the project and create it as a short film. BUT...we are fully focused and intent on making Perennial.

 

Thank you again, and stay safe,

 

Austin Staton

 

PERENNIAL - A new film in The Fens for The Fens and all the weird, wonderful outcasts of this world.

 

People, businesses and companies we have currently been able to form partnerships with to help us create the film -

 

Whilst we are still actively seeking cast and crew, currently attached to the project, we have:

Austin Staton (Director/Producer/Writer/Actor) Acting Showreel 'Kick', 'Schadenfreude', 'Blue Plaque'

 

Fenland Ariel Photography (Drone Operator) Whittlesey based Steve Oldfield, A former British Army soldier turned drone operator has kindly come on board to collaborate with us.

 

 

Fenland Ariel Photography

 

Giordan Gregory (Co-Producer/Actress) Peterborough born and raised, now residing in The Fens. 'Them Waves'

 

James Mcdermott (Script Consultant) an accomplished and acclaimed writer based in East Anglia. 'Eastenders', 'The Birds & the Bees', 'Time & Tide' and 'Rubber Ring'

 

OldBoy Of The Fens (Musicians) A duo from Lincolnshire UK, Adrian Hunt - vocals and guitar and James Campbell - multi-instrumentalist, conjure comparisons with Cash, Cave, Cohen and Waits.

 

Gabriel Moreno (Musician) Originally from Gibraltar, he has released three albums, 'Farewell Belief', 'Whiskey with Angels' and 'The Year Of The Rat'.

 

Cong Nguyen (Illustrator) - Originally from Vietnam, Cong is a freelance illustrator providing storyboard, concept art and poster design.

 

The Drink Shack, Sunshine Cafe, Park Lane Primary School, St.Andrew’s Church.