The Forest in Me + Q&A

This special Q&A screening on Saturday 6 September of 'The Forest in Me' offers an opportunity to talk to the filmmaker, the Electric Palace's Rebecca E Marshall, about her film that's been several years in the making.

Hastings Own is a new screening strand shining a light on home-grown talent from Hastings and East Sussex. We are thrilled to invite Rebecca Marshall, founder of the Electric Palace and winner of Best Documentary at the Made in Sussex Film Festival 2025 for the Hastings Premiere of The Forest in Me. 

'The Forest in Me opens out from a personal story about living with uncertainty, to reflect upon quiet possibilities of love and human connection.'

The film interweaves the story of Agafya Lykova, an 80-year-old hermit surviving alone in the Siberian Forest who scares bears away by banging on space-rocket debris, a crew simulating life on Mars in isolation on a Hawaiian volcano, and the filmmaker’s child discovering the world. Juxtaposing Siberian forests and volcanic vistas, she draws images from her personal film footage growing up in Hastings, East Sussex, an archive spanning over twenty-five years. Together, these threads form a 'letter to the future' from a mother to her son, reflecting on resilience and timeless human experiences.

The soundtrack, composed by the ensemble Xylouris White, (drummer Jim White [Dirty Three], Cretan lutist Giorgos Xylouris, Guy Picciotto of NYC [Fugazi]) adds a haunting, immersive layer to the experience. Apollonia Xylouris contributes additional vocals.

“Wonderfully moving, unforced, generous” – New Scientist Magazine

"Rebecca E Marshall brings a poet’s eye and a mother’s tongue to this compelling exploration of what it means to live in isolation whilst all around the hubbub of human existence sets about its busyness. Her here-and-now dissolving into what has-been and what might yet-be….” - Andrew Kötting, Filmmaker.

This film is F-Rated. The F-Rating is applied to all films which are directed by women and/or written by women. Find out more about F-Rating.

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