A FILMMAKER is celebrating after scooping a number of awards for his documentary.

Patrick Gillespie, from Sychdyn near Mold, recently directed a short documentary about the impact of the falling dairy prices on his friend’s family farm in Rhosesmor.

The documentary, Land of our Father, has just finished its festival rounds where it was nominated for and won several awards while being featured in festivals all around Wales, the United States and Europe. 

Land of Our Father - Award Winning Short Documentary- Trailer from Patrick Gillespie on Vimeo.

Mr Gillespie, who is currently coming to the end of a degree in film production at the University of Gloucestershire, told the Leader: “The film follows the Jones family of Rhosesmor as they struggle to continue running their family dairy farm because of the drop in the dairy prices within the farming industry. 

“The boys are some of my best mates and I had been working with them quite a lot before uni. I’d been back with them in the summer of 2015 and they were telling me how low the prices had got and how close they were to having to shut up shop.

“I always wanted to make a film about them, knowing the difficulties they’re going through.”

So far the film has been awarded best student short at the Wales International Documentary Festival 2017, a gold award at the Spotlight Documentary Film Awards 2016 and Remi winner at Worldfest Houston International Film Festival 2017.

Its nominations include best student short at the Cardiff Independent Film Festival 2017 and best short documentary at Camarthen Bay Film Festival 2017.

Speaking of the reaction the film has received, Mr Gillespie added: “There’s nothing better than seeing a film you care about being enjoyed by others.

“The awards are ace and I’m really happy people have been watching it.”

The documentary took about eight months to make including filming and production, which Mr Gillespie undertook with producer Ana Fernandez Taboada, editor Sam Carter, cinematographer Jake Desmond, sound designer Joe Crouch and assistant director Jamal James.

Mr Gillespie added he intends to release the film on Vimeo in the next week and is hoping that by promoting it the site may promote it in its ‘staff picks’ which would mean it reaches an even bigger audience.

For more information, visit www.patrickfgillespie.co.uk/ or search for ‘Land of our Father’ on Facebook.