Village stands still for movie-makers

NEWSTEAD Village was closed to traffic on two days last week during location work for a high-profile new film.

Shooting has taken place for a movie version of Anita and Me, a book by Meera Syal.

This tells of a young girl who is a member of the only Asian family in an English mining village during the early 1970s and finds herself torn by cultural dilemmas.

The film has attracted an impressive British cast, including Lynne Redgrave, Kathy Burke, Mark Williams and Max Beasley.

And its story is similar to the highly-acclaimed Billy Elliott a box-office smash last year in its theme of changing times seen through youthful eyes.

For the purposes of the film, the clock in Newstead was turned back 30 years when it was a busy mining village in reality.

A make-believe provisions shop was created in Tilford Road next to an old-style red telephone kiosk.

Also, fake doors were put at the front of some houses for added effect.

Residents of Newstead took part as extras and one of them, Annette Bone, said it was the experience of a lifetime.

She added: "Lynne Redgrave gave us a lot of support and encouragement. She would applaud us and say Well done at the end of a scene."

The East Midlands Screen Commission, based at Nottingham s Broadway Cinema, and Stanfield Productions have initiated the project.

Producer Paul Raphael said: "We think Newstead has just the right atmosphere for the film s storyline.

"I would like to say a special thankyou to people of the village. They have been incredibly co-operative."

The film will probably be released in the summer or autumn of next year.