Lanarkshire filmmaker hits promotional trail with debut movie ahead of hopeful spot at Glasgow Film Festival

A Lanarkshire filmmaker is on the promotion trail with his debut flick as he hopes his work will earn a spot at next year's Glasgow Film Festival.

As Lanarkshire Live reported earlier this year, Alan Main shot experimental movie True Sickness in his Coatbridge home, Monklands’ West End Park and Dunbeth Park and in Bargeddie.

The 22-year-old spent a year working on the production, which started life as a short film, and is now preparing the finished product for applications to film festivals this summer.

As part of the promotion for True Sickness Alan was a guest as a guest on the Rebel City Radio podcast to discuss the production of the project.

Alan told Lanarkshire Live: "I heard that Rebel City Radio had a filmmaker from Lanarkshire, Paul Morris, who had been on talking about his feature film Angry Young Men, w hich premiered at the Glasgow Film Festival this year, so thought I'd reach out and see if they were interested in talking about my project.

"Being invited on the podcast was a fantastic experience and gave me the chance to delve into the themes and production insights I had never properly discussed in-depth up until that point. It became a really cathartic opportunity, which I was extremely grateful for.

"The guys at Rebel City really connected with the provocative story and confrontational messages of True Sickness , due to their own struggles with mental health, which I thought was both moving and inspiring."

True Sickness is a study of mental health and features Alan’s protagonist waking from a nightmare questioning if it was a dream or a warning.

Forced into violence, he finds himself in a “depraved, distorted world of self-reflection and journeys to the deep nature of who he is truly is”.

Former Coatbridge High School pupil Alan said: “The film deals with challenging and provocative aspects of mental illness, which I thought would be an interesting story to write about.

“The plot only features one character throughout the entire film, which I believe is a totally unique and creative new voice in filmmaking.

“The film lasts an hour and 15 minutes. It started out as a short movie which we shot during heavy snow last February.

“We thought it was looking really good so decided to shoot more stuff and add to the story, which led to it becoming feature length.

“I am very happy with the finished film. I think it’s truly original and I’m very proud of it.”

And Alan's ultimate aim is to see his movie selected for the Glasgow Film Festival.

He said: "For further promotion I'm planning on releasing True Sickness posters all over Lanarkshire and Glasgow with a QR code attached which provides an instant link to the trailer when scanned with your phone.

"Right now, another teaser is being edited promoting the poster's release, and in December I'm planning on releasing music from the soundtrack on Spotify to build up its hopeful premiere at next years Glasgow Film Festival.

“Hopefully it will get picked up as that would be absolutely fantastic, but we’ll see what happens.”

Regardless of the success of his festival application, Alan is already turning his creative eye to his next project.

He added: “I have the taste for filmmaking now and I’m going through the process of applying for a Prince’s Trust grant.

“I am filming the first two scenes of my next movie in August and hopefully, if I can raise the funding, plan to finish it early next year.

“It will also be shot in Coatbridge as it’s full of perfect locations.”

For further information on Alan and his work, including behind-the-scenes shots from the True Sickness production, follow @playmainfilms on Instagram.

To listen to Alan's appearance on the Rebel City Radio podcast, head online.

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