The new film from the director Mark Jenkin, who has won plaudits for his gritty takes of life in the far south-west of England, is being promoted with Cornish-language posters.
Producers of the film, a folk horror called Enys Men, believe it is the first time posters in Cornish (Kernewek) as well as English are being used to market a major feature film.
The film, which also includes a little dialogue and songs in Cornish, is being released across the UK in mid-January, but before that there are a series of advance screenings, starting at the Newlyn Filmhouse, which is housed in a 19th-century fish cellar and smokery in the fishing port of Penzance, on 2 January.
Producer Denzil Monk said the posters had been produced to mark the south-west run. “As well as drawing attention to the intrinsic use of Kernewek in the film, it’s a brilliant opportunity to share our beautiful language to a broad audience of cinema passersby, who may not be familiar with the Cornish language, and a lovely surprise for those who are,” he said.
“The poster is primarily intended for use in Cornwall, though I’m hoping one or two may find their way to Cardiff, where Welsh speakers will get the gist, and who knows, maybe even out to the handful of Kernewek speakers in Bristol, too.
“This is a Cornish production through and through and a celebration of Cornwall’s rich folklore, its tin and copper mining heritage, its relationship with the sea and stunning natural beauty.”
Jenkin’s previous film, Bait, filmed in black and white, focused on the tensions between locals and tourists in a once thriving Cornish fishing village. Peter Bradshaw called it “hypnotically strange” in his Guardian review.
In the follow-up, dialogue is extremely sparse, but some characters – possibly imaginary - are heard faintly speaking Cornish, and there’s a song written for the film by Gwenno called Kan Me (May Song) performed by female mine workers in Kernewek.
Gwenno, whose Cornish-language album Tresor was nominated for this year’s Mercury music prize, performs the same song over the closing credits.
The film, set in 1973, unfolds on an uninhabited island off the Cornish coast. A wildlife volunteer’s daily observations of a rare flower take a dark turn, forcing both her and viewers to question what is real and what is nightmare.
Last month Cornwall celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Cornish language being officially recognised by the UK government under the European charter for regional or minority languages.
It is thought that Cornish is spoken fluently by a few hundred people, but interest has grown hugely over the past few years, and almost 5,000 primary school pupils have taken part in a “Go Cornish” programme in which they learn some Cornish and celebrate the language.
