Monday 3 September 2007

History comes alive at Atonement regional premier:

Dunkirk veterans will be among special guests who are beating the queue to see 'Atonement' before it goes on general release.

They will be among the 266 strong audience at The Regent Cinema in Redcar on Wednesday, September 5, for the official Community Premiere of Joe Wright's adaptation of Ian McEwan's novel 'Atonement'.

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council has worked with Northern Film and Media, Universal and BAFTA Films to bring the multi Oscar tipped film to the town where some of its most memorable scenes were shot for the official regional premiere.

Last Autumn the beach and a section of the Promenade was turned into Dunkirk for the filming of the movie Atonement, which involved 1,000 local people as extras.

And a living history group will be bringing war-time memories back to Redcar as the Council kicks off the free community celebrations with a 1940's Spectacular Event at 11am.

Visitors will step back in time as members of Hartlepool Heritage Memorial Society give up their time to turn parts of The Esplanade and beach into wartime 1940's.

To really get that wartime feel, Hartlepool Military Heritage Memorial Society re-enacts an encampment, complete with camouflage netting, field kitchen, mortars, sandbanks and ammunition including two 25lb guns and one Bofors, automatic, double-barrelled, anti-aircraft gun.

Founder, Neil Forcer, said: "We don't celebrate or glorify war. We like to think of ourselves as a living museum, where people can participate in what we're doing.

"They can touch the uniforms and artifacts and really get to grips with it and even eat food of the era as we'll be cooking up Bully Beef on the day for people to try!

"What we provide is a completely different experience to that of visiting a museum where exhibits are often behind glass and remote. We'll also be in simple Royal Artillery gunner's uniform, so we'll be very much the common man soldier."

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