Independent film maker Jay Martin is celebrating after his unique political documentary about the unprecedented political shift in Mansfield scooped two awards.

REDt’BLUE tells the story of how the mining town of Mansfield, a rock solid Labour ‘safe’ seat, switched to the Conservatives for the first time at the 2017 General Election… and remained Blue two years later.

Jay, 22, a former student at The Brunts Academy, Mansfield, said he hoped the film finally gave the town a voice – a view backed up by judges at the Independent Film Awards in Bristol, which named the film Best Documentary Short.

REDt’BLUE also won the same award at the international Golden Nugget Film Festival.

Judges praised the cinematography, editing, the original score and “beautiful” shots of Clipstone headstocks.

Jay, who wrote, directed and produced the short film, hopes to see it on the big screen at a premiere in Mansfield for local people to view once coronavirus restrictions allow.

He added: “All round we have had critical acclaim for the film, which is pretty surprising.

”Redt’BLUE is having a real impact locally and further afield as well.

“The team is buzzing that the film is being so well received on the festival circuit. Clearly we’ve made something we should all be truly proud of.

“Festivals are beginning to see that REDt’BLUE is not just a film that tells a fascinating political story, but a film with a very human story to tell — one of legacy, history, and the soul of Mansfield town.

“People have an interest in learning a bit more about how the red wall fell and the factors that led to the changes that we saw taking place.”

As well as Mansfield MP Ben Bradley (above), whose 2017 General Election success for the Conservatives inspired the film, Jay features interviews with several other political figures from the area across the political spectrum.

They include Ashfield MP Lee Anderson, a former miner who switched from being a Labour district councillor to also turning a seat from Red to Blue when he won the seat at the 2019 General Election.

Independent candidates at the Mansfield election, Sid Pepper and Stephen Harvey, also feature together with Mick Newton, a former miner at Thoresby Colliery and Labour county councillor in the 1990s; Mansfield Constituency Labour Party chairman Martin Lee (below); and district council election candidate Cathryn Fletcher.

Jay said they were determined not to show any political bias in the film and made sure they included interviews from Conservatives, Labour and Independents.

“We thought the story was interesting enough without us putting in our own opinions.

“One of the defining principles of the film was to help create a more receptive and engaged voter base in Mansfield and if we had made Labour or Tory propaganda we would not have been educating people or getting them excited about Mansfield and the local area.

“That is what we tried to achieve and I think we did because of the comments from some of the critics.”

Jay added: “We tried to make the film so that it could have been about any northern pit town, but with Mansfield at its soul. We tried to make it in a way that was engaging to anyone who was not from Mansfield or the area, so didn’t know the story.”

Jay hopes that people, including those who supported the film financially via Kickstarter, can see the film at a cinema premiere in Mansfield once Covid-19 restrictions allow. “It will be a great celebration,” he said.

To watch a full trailer and find out more go to REDt’BLUE on Facebook.

How the idea for short film was born
The idea for the film to tell the story of how a safe Labour seat turned to the Conservatives came to Jay shortly after the 2017 General Election.

After the Conservatives’ Ben Bradley had taken the seat away from long-time Mansfield Labour MP Alan Meale, Jay recalled: “I remember sitting in the pub with my mates asking how it had happened. You just always assumed that Mansfield was Labour.

“Everyone was shocked so I began to do some research into the possible factors that led to Mansfield changing from Red to Blue. It is not one of those things that happens overnight.

“Mansfield had always been a Labour seat for 100 years so I wanted to dig into what the factors were that led to people changing their political allegiance, from the Red Rose of Labour to the Conservatives.

“After I did research I found it was a fascinating story to be told.”

While filming there was the snap 2019 General Election, which further added to the drama.

Jay said he thought there were many factors behind the political earthquake in Mansfield, including that Mansfield had one of the highest number of ‘leave’ votes at the EU 2015 referendum and Ben Bradley gained many of these after the “national collapse” of UKIP.

Jay added that he found many long-time Labour voters had also become disillusioned with Alan Meale and wanted something new.

Filming was completed in February 2020, just ahead of the first national coronavirus lockdown. They then set about post-production during lockdown and ran a highly-successful Kickstarter campaign to cover costs, raising almost £6,000 after Jay had initially used around £3,000 of his own savings to launch the project.

The original score — described by Jay as beautiful and orchestral — was by Jack Bennett, a member of Nottingham ambient rock band Eyre Llew.

Other key members of the Nottinghamshire team included Richard Lozberg, who edited the film and the trailer that can be viewed online, ensuring that it remained politically neutral.

The director of photography and cameraman was Herbie Rowley, who was responsible for some of the beautiful shots of Clipstone Colliery headstocks as well as “capturing the soul of Mansfield and weaving that into archive footage to juxtapose past and present.”