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Vindication Swim<br />
A new film that hits cinemas this spring tells the story of Mercedes<br />
Gleitze, the first British woman to swim the English Channel. <strong>Living</strong><br />
Magazines speaks to director Elliott Hasler about the movie<br />
Every now and then, a story<br />
comes along that reminds us<br />
that life is for living.<br />
Vindication Swim tells the<br />
inspirational true story of Mercedes<br />
Gleitze, who was the first known<br />
person to swim the Straits of<br />
Gibraltar and the first British woman<br />
to swim the English Channel in 1927.<br />
The biographical drama was<br />
directed by award-winning Elliott<br />
Hasler, who spent three years<br />
creating the film with his production<br />
company. It gets its theatrical<br />
release on 8th March, to coincide<br />
with International Women's Day.<br />
“The movie started off as quite a<br />
14<br />
Kirsten Callaghan plays Mercedes Gleitze in the movie<br />
Photo: Studio Essy<br />
small project so it’s nice seeing it<br />
evolve into this huge thing," says<br />
Elliott.<br />
Mercedes, like Elliott, was born in<br />
Brighton.<br />
"For me, there was that immediate<br />
connection with someone local to<br />
myself and we were born almost<br />
exactly a century apart. That<br />
cemented my interest in Mercedes<br />
and her story. Her achievements<br />
captivated me so it was natural that<br />
I'd want to make a film about it.<br />
"Most filmmakers wouldn’t even<br />
consider the idea of filming out<br />
on the open water but that made<br />
me want to do it even more. The<br />
challenge of filming all the scenes<br />
in the English Channel itself was<br />
another very big draw for me."<br />
Mercedes began swimming for<br />
pleasure in the River Thames. In<br />
1923, she spent 10 hours 45 minutes<br />
swimming in the Thames, a then<br />
record for a woman. Then in 1927,<br />
she swam the English Channel on<br />
her eighth attempt, becoming the<br />
first British woman to do so.<br />
In the following days however,<br />
another woman using her<br />
professional name of Mona<br />
McLennan, claimed to have swum<br />
the channel in a quicker time. As it<br />
transpired, Mona's claim turned out<br />
to be a hoax, and this undermined<br />
Mercedes' record.<br />
As a result, and under pressure<br />
from the media, Mercedes agreed<br />
to undertake a 'vindication swim'.<br />
Like Mercedes, director Elliott<br />
didn't do things the easy way.<br />
"I'd never wanted to do anything<br />
simple or constrained and the<br />
appeal of filming out at sea really<br />
drew me to it. We started out as a<br />
very small production and people<br />
had never heard about Mercedes.<br />
But as we progressed, it was very<br />
much word of mouth and people<br />
started coming on board and it all<br />
snowballed. Now we’re looking at a<br />
theatrical release, which we could
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