Hillside stalwarts all set for the big screen

Independent film, Addicted to Sheep, charts a year in the life of a tenant hill-farming family as they try to breed the perfect sheep.

Its subjects are Tom and Kay Hutchinson and their three school age children who farm a flock of pedigree Swaledale sheep in the beautiful, but remote village of Forest in Teesdale in County Durham.

The film is produced by Magali Pettier of Provenance Films and Jan Cawood of Tin Man Films, who ran a crowd-funding campaign raising more than £8,000 to fund their work.

Some 62 hours of raw footage was condensed to produce the 85-minute documentary and the pair were supported by Teeside University with the post-production phase of the project.

Members of the local community were given a sneak preview of the finished footage this week.

On-screen star, Tom Hutchinson said: “Seeing yourself projected onto a movie screen was quite a revelation, but we are all delighted with the finished product and feel it portrays our life and work in Upper Teesdale in a positive light, showing both the highs and lows of farming in the North Pennines.”

The producers are now in the process of entering the film into several international film festivals and the first preview to take place in a cinema is planned for February to coincide with the Lunar Year of the Sheep.