EXCLUSIVE: It’s not only genre shorts that are taking off on YouTube. In the UK, a short about the Royal Air Force, starring BAFTA nominee James Bolam (The Likely Lads) and rising Brit actress Rumi Sutton (Ludwig, Mutiny), has struck a chord with viewers and is moving into feature development.
A Memory Owed follows a WWII veteran on his visit to an RAF museum in London. The film includes flashbacks to his time in the war and features a parallel story about his young carer struggling to make ends meet. You can watch it below.
Released late last year, the short by writer-director Martin Hemingway-Moseley has surpassed 600k views on YouTube, maintained a 99% approval rating and has a strong following across social platforms. Stephen Fry has praised the film as “impressive and moving”. Zoe Lewin produced.
The creative team is currently developing the treatment and preparing to engage potential partners about the longer version. It has already attracted an unsolicited contribution from a viewer who wanted to donate towards its early development and interest from at least one distributor. No formal talks with the actors’ reps yet but both are understood to be supportive of the longer version of the project.
Hemingway-Moseley said: “The response to A Memory Owed has been overwhelming. The community that has grown around the film, and the personal stories that are shared with us daily, has been more than we ever imagined. Developing the feature allows us to honour those experiences and explore the legacy of Bomber Command on a larger canvas both at the time of its operation and its impact 81 years on. While the short was a love letter to the museum at which it was filmed (Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre), the feature is intended as a love letter to Bomber County as a whole. Watch the short then imagine it with a road trip.”
The short has also attracted interest from educators, veterans’ organisations (RAF Benevolent Fund), and community groups, many of whom have requested screenings and discussions.