Debut From Britain’s Youngest Film Director
WWII: The Long Road Home is the debut from young Brighton based film director Elliott Hasler. Based on a true story, it shows the journey of an escaped prisoner of war during World War II.
We first me Elliott when he was 14 years old and writing the script and have enjoyed helping him on his filmmaking journey ever since. WWII: The Long Road Home is an amazing achievement for such a young filmmaker, and we were delighted to be able to see it at a screening at Brighton Film Festival.
Based on Elliott’s own Great-Grandfather, the film tells the story of Charlie Standing a young private who is captured in 1943 and his escape and journey back to his family. Following Charlie as he travels through the bleak Italian countryside, slowly making his way back to Rome, we see how he is helped by people he encounters on the way and also his wife’s struggle at home when she fears the worst has happened once Charlie’ letters stop coming.
On his experiences of producing WWII: The Long Road Home Hasler said:
“I first became inspired to make films when I was around 10 years old. We were asked to make a film for a school project and regular lessons were cleared for a week. My school friends and I managed to make a film. It was rough and crude, but it was my first experience of making a movie and the work that’s required. I really just fell in love with the whole process and started experimenting with short films on my own, which grew bigger, (and better) over time. Four years later, at fourteen, I felt confident to make a feature. I’ve never been to film school and believe that the making of ‘WWII: The Long Road Home’ served as my film school. Studying movies, watching countless hours of director commentaries and the three years I spent working on this film, taught me invaluable lessons about the movie-making process across all aspects, from scripting to directing, and right through to the edit. It’s clearly an ongoing learning and adapting process with each project. Having worked on a handful of projects now, I believe that every outing progresses knowledge and it’s taken my experience to the next level of understanding and skill. I’m not sure it’s a journey that will ever end.”
The film will be released on Monday 26th October 2020 and will be available to buy from Asda, Tesco, Morrisons, Sky store, iTunes, Amazon and HMV.