Alex Lockwood, a Birmingham Filmmaker’s shoe-string budget film, 73 Cows, has been nominated for a prestigious BAFTA in the ‘British Short Film’ category.
Lockwood, a 30-year-old independent Filmmaker, tells the story of Jay Wilde, the Derbyshire farmer who famously freed his cows, in his short documentary, 73 Cows.
The film explores the story of Jay Wilde, who first made international headlines when, after a lifetime of dairy and beef farming on his family farm, made the decision to free his entire herd of 73 cows.
“It was soul destroying. You felt like you were betraying them because you’d got to know them” says Jay Wilde of Bradley Nook Farm.
Alex’s film was funded out of pocket and produced entirely by a small team of four. It follows Jay’s journey into vegan organic farming and is a moving exploration of his loyalty towards keeping his father’s farm operating, and doing what he believes is morally right.“When I first heard about the story, I knew I had to make a film about it. No matter what your standpoint is on the meat industry, I feel the courage that Jay has displayed is something everyone can appreciate, and it makes for a great story.” Says Alex.
“Lockwood’s film captures beautifully a crucible for Jay and Katja, and better than almost any documentary I’ve seen captures the moral weight of its action.” Jason Sondhi, Short of the Week
73 Cows premiered at the 2018 Raindance Film Festival, and has since been watched worldwide online nearly 130,000 times. The film has won several awards and accolades including; the grand prize for ‘Best Film’ at the 2018 OIVFF, a prestigious ‘Short of the Week’ accolade, a Vimeo ‘Staff Pick’, and a ‘Best Local Film’ nomination at the 2018 Birmingham Film Festival. It trended on Vimeo’s front page upon upload and was the most shared and talked about film in the ‘documentary’ sub-section on Reddit. It now adds a 2019 BAFTA nomination to that list!
“I can’t quite believe that we’ve been nominated for a BAFTA. Whilst I definitely felt that the story had potential, I never anticipated that it would have the impact that it’s having. We didn’t have any funding to make the film with and so we never expected it to gain this kind of traction. We owe a lot to Jay and Katja Wilde (the subjects of 73 Cows) as this is their story and we’re just grateful that they let us tell it. I hope they’ll manage to get some exposure from this as they ultimately aim to fund the evolution of their farm to an organic plant-based one, which is no easy task.” Says Director, Alex Lockwood.
The 2019 BAFTA awards ceremony will take place on Sunday 10th February when Alex and his team will hopefully bring home a BAFTA.
The trailer for 73 Cows can be viewed here: https://vimeo.com/266870594
Jay and Katja will be setting up a funding page to fund the evolution of their farm. Their progress can be followed on their Facebook: www.facebook.com/BradleyNookFarm and Twitter: www.twitter.com/BradleyNookFarm.
For updates on the film’s progress and behind the scenes footage and images, follow Alex on:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/73Cows
Twitter: www.twitter.com/LockwoodFilm
Instagram: www.instagram.com/lockwoodfilm
