This film is one of eight major dramas made by second year students studying Film BA(Hons) at the University of Westminster, an internationally acknowledged course with notable alumni such as Asif Kapadia (Amy, 2015) and Neal Purvis (Spectre, 2015). We have a strong and hardworking crew for Bella  who are all determined to bring this story of mystery, loss and family to the screen in the most powerful and visually stunning way possible. 

Our script is very ambitious, requiring both a full set inside our purpose-built studio and multiple locations too, so we need your help! From the cast to the crew, everyone involved in Bella is giving up their time and energy purely out of passion for the project; we're determined to do this story justice by exploring it in a fresh way that can be appreciated on a wider scale and bring this legend to a new audience...but we need funding to bring Sigourney's world to life. 

The true story:

In 1943, four young boys, trespassing in Hagley Wood, Worcestershire, discovered the corpse of a woman in a wych elm tree. Forensic experts estimated that she had been hidden there for eighteen months, having been suffocated. In addition to this, police made the unnerving discovery that one of the woman's hands was missing. Not long after, a haunting question was left annoymously, scrawled across the town's war memorial: 'Who Put Bella in the Wych Elm?'. To this day, the Hagley Obelisk is periodically graffitied with the note, begging the question: does someone know something more?

Our story:

We follow the character of Sigourney who, fresh out of university, returns home intending to start work on her first novel: a story inspired by her father's fascination with the mystery of 'Bella in the Wych Elm'. As she spends her days digging through her father's research, Sigourney's nights become haunted by nightmares she hasn't experienced since she was a child. Upon returning to the woods she visited as a child, Sigourney meets Marlene, an elderly woman searching desperately for something that is no longer there. The two form an unusual bond and find themselves delving into their pasts together.

Sigourney - Having just finished university, Sigourney is ready to leave her childhood home behind her, yet the place's prominence in her paternal memories and the haunting story that her father shared with her have brought her back one last time. Hoping to finally find closure after her father's death, Sigourney indulges her morbid imagination and begins writing a novel based on the local legend her father was researching when he died: Bella in the Wych Elm. 

Marlene - In her 70s, Marlene is in the early stages of Alzheimer's and is starting to struggle in her day-to-day life. She swings between vulnerable confusion and the fiery personality at her core. Having had an unusual relationship with her mother, Marlene often fixates on this during her darker moments as she searches for something once lost in the woods.

Kim - The ever-loving mother of Sigourney, Kim she has struggled to connect with her daughter since she's moved out. The two share a strong bond, but Kim has always felt left out of her husband and daughter's fixation on the Bella story - she lost her husband to Bella, and is worried that she will lose Sigourney now too. 

"To me, Bella in the Wych Elm is first and foremost a story of home and family and those connections to certain places that form the basis of who we are. Being from the Midlands myself, on hearing the script for the first time it instantly brought back flashes of home to me and that strange feeling of returning home after a long period away is something I think almost all of us can relate to. The character of Sigourney is at a crossroads in her life, fresh out of university and faced with all sorts of possibilities, but she chooses to return home, back to her mother and back to the story that formed her childhood. Meanwhile Marlene is a woman trapped between the present and the past, in her own way, trying to return to the family she once had. The story of the relationship built between these two very different women, against the backdrop of the unsolved legend of Bella, is one I am extremely excited to explore. What I hope we will achieve with your help, is a visually stunning, engaging and moving tale of ghost stories, lost families and rediscovering the past." ~ Grace Blick, Director

Our team has already started work on designing the style of the film. Here is a mood reel put together by Eli Beristain, our DoP, to give you an idea of the mood we are aiming for with Bella:

As an ambitious 15 minute short film, Bella's full budget will be close to £2500, so any contribution you can make would be greatly appreciated!

Here's a breakdown of our costs to let you know how your money will be spent:

All funds raised will go to the production of our film or its entry into film festivals, and we have some exciting perks for anyone who contributes over £10. These include early access to the film, signed posters and a credit on the final movie! The more money we raise, the better our final film will be - we have so many ideas that we're dying to put into this project, so please donate what you can!

Any donation will be greatly appreciated, but even if you can't help yourself, we'd love it if you could share this page to help us reach a wider group of people - it's time to bring Bella to a wider audience!

We have such a committed crew for this project, so we're determined to make this film regardless of the amount of money we are able to raise. However, we have some challenges to overcome:

• Difficult locations (e.g. woodlands). Any area 'off the grid' makes a shoot harder for crew and cast both logistically and creative, however we have test shoots and recces planned to keep this process running as smoothly as possible!
• Bella's 'Ghost'. Trying to balance the genres of drama and horror can be difficult, but we have a strong creative team keeping this in mind, intent on finding the best way to keep this balance using inspiration from existing films and their own innovative ideas.