The War Just Outside Ipswich
THE WAR JUST OUTSIDE IPSWICH
BEHIND-THE-SCENES DOCUMENTARY 

Director Tim Curtis  Producer Neil McGlone
MADE IN SUPPORT OF LOCAL CINEMA - MOTION EAST / UK / 2020

New film explores Suffolk’s secret battlefield movie location

"War is hell – but it’s also a vital part of world history. If we don’t talk about it, engage with our past, then we are doomed to repeat it – a theme which is discussed in a new documentary The War Just Outside Ipswich."  Andrew Clarke, East Anglian Daily Times (November 2020)
 

TRAILER

The First World War may have been fought over one hundred years ago but in rural Suffolk at Akenham, just outside Ipswich, the battles and tedium of trench warfare are still being played out.

High profile productions such as Downton Abbey, Journey’s End, Private Peaceful and the famous Sainsbury’s Christmas Truce television advert have filmed defining scenes at this custom built and atmospheric network of First World War trenches, along with other productions as diverse as Blue Peter and the Great British Bake Off. 

For nearly twenty years, a farm on the outskirts of Ipswich in Suffolk has been a Mecca for filmmakers wanting to recreate realistic war-scenes for their films, television dramas, documentaries, music videos and adverts.

Millions of cinemagoers and TV viewers around the world have watched First World War stories of death, destruction, stoicism and heartbreak unfold before their very eyes, in scenes that have been filmed here.

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The film features historians Taff Gillingham and Kevin Smith, founders of wardrobe company Khaki Devil and custodians of the First World War trench system which has become one of Suffolk's busiest film locations.

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    Fashion Magazine

    Photo By: John Doe
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    •  The film has been made to help cash-starved local cinemas during the COVID-19 Pandemic. 

    We are very grateful to all of the production companies that let us use their footage free of charge, allowing us in turn to give the film to independent cinemas without any screening charges. 

    Released December 2020 on Cinema DCP only. 
    Running time 54 minutes

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