Date set for Occupation-based film premiere

Sunday 05 February 2017

A film directed by Emmy-nominated Christopher Menaul telling one of the most tragic stories of the Occupation is to premier on 24 March.

Another Mother’s Son is based on the life of Louisa Gould and has been written by her Jersey-educated, great niece, Jenny Lecoat.

During the war, when Louisa Gould found out one of her sons had been killed, she decided she would help someone else’s son. This led her - together with her sister, Ivy Forster, and brother Harold Le Druillenec - to hide a number of escaped Russian slave workers.

They were betrayed by neighbours and both Louisa and Harold were sent to concentration camps. Louisa was gassed in Ravensbruck, and Harold was the sole British survivor of Bergen-Belsen. The Russian at the centre of the film, ‘Bill’, managed to stay hidden until the Liberation and was able to return home to the Soviet Union. He was able to visit Jersey on the 50^th anniversary of the Liberation.

Louisa, Harold, and Ivy were amongst the first recipients of Her Majesty’s British Hero of the Holocaust Awards in March 2010.

Jenny Seagrove plays the role of Louisa in the film, and singer-songwriter and former member of Boyzone, Ronan Keating, the role of Harold. John Hannah and Amanda Abbington play the remaining members of Louisa’s family, whilst Emmy Award-winning Susan Hampshire, Nicholas Farrell and Peter Wight make up the British contingent. The film also introduces an exciting young actor, Julian Kostov, as the young Russian POW.

Distributors for the film say they hope to see the film shown in Jersey, but so far no plans have made or dates fixed.