Y WERIN / HIRAETH

A non-exploitative and honest insight into a town considered to be the most deprived area in Wales. Two creatives explore how the people and landscapes of Merthyr Tydfil have impacted their lives and art.

  • Ella Spottiswood
    Director
  • Adam Evans
    Director
  • Adam Evans
    Producer
  • Ella Spottiswood
    Producer
  • Keefa Chan
    Director of Photography
    Fog of Sex; Blood on the Crown
  • Gareth Pugh
    Editor
    The Palace; Miss Curvy
  • Penguin Cafe
    Music
  • Jonny Owen
    Key Cast
    I Believe in Miracles; The Three Kings
  • Charlotte James
    Key Cast
    Doss House; Ffasiwn
  • Jack Sauverin
    Assistant Director
    Solo: A Star Wars Story; Rogue One; The Souvenir
  • Connor Matheson
    Assistant Camera
    The Doom Doc
  • Mighty Sky
    Aerial Photography
    Sex Education; Apostle
  • Aaron O'Connell
    Second Assistant Camera
    Sherlock; Muse
  • Walter Waygood
    Archive Photography
  • Callum O'Keefe
    Additional Photography
    VICE; British Journal of Photography
  • David Anderson
    Gaffer
    Love Bomb; BT Sport
  • Adam Chestnutt
    Sound
    Killing Eve; Poldark; Prevenge
  • James Bamford
    Colourist
    Gucci Love Parade; John Lewis Man on the Moon
  • Bethany O'Flaherty
    Set Dresser
  • Clayton Reid
    Makeup Artist
    Doss House; Erdem
  • Ellie Richards
    Production Assistant
    Bracia; Collection Only
  • Cinematic
    Post-Production
    Havoc; Under Milk Wood
  • George Smith
    Graphic Design
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short
  • Runtime:
    15 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    March 10, 2023
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    RED 8K, Canon 4K, Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    4:3 & 16:9
  • Film Color:
    Black & White and Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Ella Spottiswood, Adam Evans

Award-winning in their respective fields, Ella Spottiswood and Adam Evans have worked for industry-leading agencies across PR, production, directing, advertising and film – with clients including the Academy Awards, BBC, Lionsgate, Amazon & BAFTA.

In 2022, they combined their years of industry experience to establish Soldi Films, a new production company based in South Wales which tells untold stories through documentary and scripted filmmaking.

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Director Statement

Y WERIN / HIRAETH is a meditation on what it is to be from somewhere. What it is to belong.

We wanted to explore this through the prism of two untranslatable Welsh words and our home in the valleys of South Wales, Merthyr Tydfil.

Merthyr is unapologetically working class and calmly nostalgic, despite being perpetually exploited by reality TV producers as fodder for poverty porn. It has inherited universal truths because of its industrial past and evolved an insatiable creative hunger because of its adverse present.

Y WERIN / HIRAETH is about finding beauty in the ordinary, fashioning an artistic voice for a town that has never been given that, or any, opportunity. It is about our relationships and fixation on hope through hardship, like WINGS OF DESIRE, COLD WAR or Italian neo-realism. It is a love letter to our, and everyone’s, home.