Film celebrating Somerset premieres in Taunton tonight

Shot on a windy evening at the top of Glastonbury Tor. Credit: Somerset Film

A new film celebrating life in Somerset is being premiered in Taunton this evening.

The unique look was achieved by using a Super 8 cine camera and then developing the film in Somerset cider instead of the usual chemicals. It's part of an international project set up by a film centre in Los Angeles.

The film has been made by a team of professional and amateur filmmakers, and it's part of an international project set up by Echo Park Film Centre. The film will have a stateside premiere later this year.

It was shot on old fashioned celluloid film which was developed, not using the normal chemicals, but with Cider.

Andrew Buchanan - a trustee of Somerset Film, based at the Engine Room in Bridgwater - demonstrates the process. You need an acid, in this case the cider, and an alkali, like washing soda. It's massaging the film in the cider that gives A Somerset County Symphony the blemishes that make it look like old archive footage.