28 May Actor Jim Broadbent to feature in Basildon film
by Tasha Turner
Celebrated actor Jim Broadbent has been confirmed to provide the voiceover for the feature documentary New Town Utopia, a powerful, challenging documentary film about Basildon in Essex.
It is a film about grand utopian dreams and harsh concrete realities… Basildon was a town designed with new ideas and poetic ambitions, but 70 years on, it has a bad reputation, fragmented community and failing economy. What happened to the utopian dream?
Basildon’s story mirrors that of many British towns – wounded by globalisation, failed by national policy and barely surviving in the shadow of London. It’s seen as a political barometer of the state of the nation… from being ‘Little Moscow On The Thames’ in the 70s to home of Thatcher’s ‘Basildon Man’ in the 80s. It turned to Blair in the 90s and Brexit in 2016. Over the years it’s been labelled many things – most of them bad.
Jim Broadbent will play the voice role of Lewis Silkin, the driving force behind the building of British New Towns by Britain’s post WW2 Labour government.
Director, Chris Ian Smith said: “This is a film that needed to be made now – as the housing crisis grows, globalisation decimates traditional high streets, and the Brexit vote revealed the depth of dissatisfaction of people with their lot.”
New Town Utopia is Directed by Christopher Ian Smith. The Executive Producer is Margaret Matheson. It is due to be completed in June 2017 before playing at film festivals worldwide.
