The Luttrell Psalter; you've read the book, now see the film!

The première of the Luttrell Psalter Film and launch of the accompanying exhibition was held at The Collection in Lincoln on 16th May 2008.

The short film is based on the illustrations of everyday life in the 14th c. from the world famous Luttrell Psalter. The Luttrell Psalter was made for Sir Geoffrey Luttrell of Irnham in Lincolnshire and is famous for its depiction of ordinary people. It is a remarkable and precious part of Lincolnshire's heritage.

The film was the inspiration of Nick Loven who devised, researched, directed, shot and edited the film. The film depicted the different activities that went on in the four different seasons and so to accurately represent the seasons, the film was shot over the course of a year. The project became a community-wide collaboration led by WAG Screen community group (a branch of Washingborough Archaeology Group) and was sponsored by local businesses and universities and invoved over one hundred local specialists, craftspeople and performers. It is very much the product of two local degrees; Media Production (The University of Lincoln) and Heritage Studies (Bishop Grosseteste University College), and both faculties have been extremely supportive.

The film took almost two years to make and the small, dedicated team of graduates have worked full time and unpaid for the duration. It was made on a cash budget of around £10,500, but with a great deal of support from local people - one company has allowed us to use two fully-equipped offices free of charge. We even resorted to a medieval bargaining system of exchange of trades; our harrow, for example, cost two hand made Tudor shirts!

We have found the experience extraordinary; we had to overcome awful unseasonal weather, limited funds, sick actors (people and animals) and other unexpected disasters. We have, however, met so many wonderful people and had so much support and goodwill that that experience far outweighs any of the problems we have met. We have searched out and found the local specialists we needed – often in the most unexpected places. The experimental archaeology we have undertaken has at times been ground breaking (literally). We have recorded music from the Psalter which has not been played for over 600 years. We have been involved with the Time Team, and Terry Jones (Monty Python) has become the film's patron. We have also gathered an internet following and now have considerable international interest the film.

WAG Screen's intention, apart from making a short film to inspire an interest in Lincolnshire's medieval history and heritage, was to stimulate the development of a local film heritage industry to create jobs and opportunities for the very talented graduates and undergraduates from the two universities. We do hope that this is the start of something much bigger.