Talented filmmaker Nicole Pott is celebrating after her film WanderLand was revealed on Friday (6 January) to be on the longlist for the Bafta awards. 

Facing tough competition Nicole, from New Mills, who both wrote and directed the 15-minute short film said: “I am just absolutely blown away.” 

She was out walking her dog when the news came through. “If anyone as around they would have wondered what was going on.” 

The film was picked to be showcased at a number of film festivals which made it eligible to be submitted to Bafta in the British Short Film category. 

WanderLand tells the story of a young girl called Alice as she attempts to navigate the sea front on the search of her missing alcoholic mother over one night. 

Filming for WanderLand took place in New Mills and at the seaside in early 2020. The film is shot from the perspective of the young actress Holly Hajbok playing the lead role who was seven at the time. 

But by the time filming could resume in February 2021, she had grown so the film had to completely reshot. 

“We only had short window in which to film or we would have had to recast the lead,” explained Nicole. “I really didn’t want to do that because Holly is phenomenal.” 

Nicole said she knew as soon as she saw Holly in the audition room that she had found her lead. 

Now she has to wait until 19 January to see if her film has made it to the shortlist. 

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