A FORMER Harrow Way School pupil has received critics’ acclaim for his feature film.

Ian Fielding won Best Feature Film 2019 at this year’s London Independent Film Festival, with his motion picture Dead Unicorns.

It tells the story of Amy, a struggling artist, who hears of the disappearance of her beloved mentor and is determined to discover her whereabouts.

She looks at the lives of her peers, delving into the underbelly of the contemporary art world, but finds herself caught in a web of deceit, corruption and murder, where signs point to a dark secret from her own past.

Ian, who was born in Chilbolton and moved to Charlton at the age of two, said: “I would describe it as a missing person mystery, with surreal and darkly comic elements.

“Probably the most unusual thing about this film is the way in which we shot it. Instead of shooting continually over a set period of time we would shoot on consecutive weekends sometimes with months between filming. In this way we could see the film develop during the filming process itself.”

The screenplay has racked up awards and nominations, winning Best Film 2018 at Orion International Film Festival, Best Feature Film at the London Film Awards, and Best Direction at The Monkey Bread Tree Film Awards. It is also expected to featured at Cannes Film Festival later this month.

Much of the production was handled by Ian, along with the writing and directing, for which he has received high praise.

Ben Rider, festival director at The Monkey Bread Tree Film Awards, said: “Fielding has merged genre with installation, and art, and performance, or even perhaps performative art. The film is rich, a multilayered high rise full of personas, noises and dark rooms. It is a relish worthy event, and a bloody fantastic second feature.”

And there are filming locations which some eagle-eyed viewers might recognise.

Ian said: “There is some local interest in that a few indoor and exterior scenes were filmed in Whitchurch and Andover, there are no specific landmarks but you might be able to guess which ones they are.”

The success has not stopped Ian’s workload as he has already begun working on his next screenplay which focuses on virtual reality and he hopes to start shooting later in the year.