Rhiwbina Living 61

never have anticipated.
"Filming out at sea was one of the
more challenging aspects of the
project. It took three whole years
to get the production done and
out there into the world. We were
limited to the summer months
because it was too cold outside
of that window. We really were at
the whim of Mother Nature. Our
work was dictated by the wind and
the tide and the swell. Sometimes
we’d get out there and we’d get
two shots and have to come back;
sometimes we wouldn’t get out
there at all.
"It was a long process but an
incredibly rewarding one. When you
do get the shots and everything
goes according to plan, it’s an
amazing experience. You know how
hard it is so the reward of getting it
in the can is extra rewarding."
Vindication Swim is Elliott's
professional debut feature.
"I began film making from around
the age of 10 years old - small,
short films with friends and family
and the quality grew over time. I
never went to film school or studied
film formally. Everything I learnt was
through trial and error on my own
little projects. When I was 14, I made
a film called World War II: The Long
Way Home, which was about my
great-grandfather’s experiences in
the Second World War.
"It was an amateur project; I was
at school at the time and it was
friends and family who were acting
in it but it got picked up for a UK
and US release. It was in the Top 25
on Sky for a while and did very well
in UK DVD sales too. It was quite
shocking actually that an amateur
production that I’d made while I was
at school, to see it take that journey
was incredible. Off the back of that
success, Vindication Swim was
able to happen. I’d always wanted
to do another film after The Long
Way Home and Vindication Swim
seemed like the perfect fit."
The movie also has some local
connections to Cardiff.
"We played the movie at the
Cardiff Film Festival in 2022 where
it was a finalist for Best Feature
Film," says Elliott. "Then there's the
authentic footage of Mercedes
swimming at Barry Island. I believe
the footage was shot in 1929. It was
unseen footage so anyone who
hasn’t seen the film won’t have seen
it.
"Someone in Sussex found it –
their father had shot this film back
in the 1920s and had been put in
a box and put away and left for
nearly 100 years. They heard about
the film and got in touch and said
‘I’ve got this footage of Mercedes
Gleitze at Barry Island and would
you like to use it in the film?’. So we
looked at it and it was a great piece
of footage - for an amateur piece
of footage back then; it was really
good quality."
The footage was the perfect
addition to the film, showing
Mercedes herself in her natural
element.
"The difficult thing was getting it
digitally restored and put into the
film. It was on nitrate film which
a lot of the restoration houses
wouldn’t touch because it’s so
highly flammable and it was a risk
to their workspace. Old nitrate
films are even worse because they
deteriorate over time and become
more unstable. We did find one
specialist place in East London who
would take it and they did a great
job. So we have about two minutes
worth of footage of Mercedes in
Barry Island as it was in the 1920s.
“This all happened by the time
we’d wrapped up filming so
we added it at the end. It was
the perfect fit for us – a closing
montage. As for the film itself, I first
heard about the story back in 2018
when I came across this article and
was fascinated by it.”
Mercedes’ family weren’t involved
in the making of the film but they
were very kind and generous to
Elliott and his production company.
"We even managed to get a blue
plaque put on her house," beams
Elliott, "and one of her family did a
people
nice job with the press around the
movie. We hope the movie does
Mercedes justice.”
The film is one of identity and
Mercedes trying to find hers as a
British-born woman with German
parents shortly after WWI, which
was a very difficult place to be.
"She was faced with the prejudices
of her German heritage and also of
being a woman in that era. Here’s a
woman who wasn’t just working in a
factory. She went out to defy all that
and swim the English Channel and
broke those societal barriers that
were in place. The film is about her
trying to figure out who she is in this
changing landscape. There are also
themes of determination in the film.
She was never going to be told ‘no’,
which is what I found so fascinating
about her. She just went out there
and did this with no regard to what
people thought or said. She wanted
to do it no matter what.
"There’s a strong element of
determination and following your
dreams and turning them into a
reality. It’s an inspirational film. Its
theatrical release has been chosen
to coincide with International
Women’s Day. It’ll have a digital
release then in June.”
In a world where inspiration and
hope are much needed, it’s perhaps
Mercedes Gleitze and her incredible
story who can provide that.
Find out more about the film at
www.vindicationswimfilm.com
Director Elliott Hasler has been making films since his childhood
Photo: Stewart Weir
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