Formative films: Introduced by Jess Steele
Local Hero - plus Q&A
A British classic with memorable characters and score by Mark Knopfler.
Director: Bill Forsyth
Cast includes: Burt Lancaster
Introduced by jess Steele
111mins / 1983 / UK
This lovely comedy by Forsyth (Gregory’s Girl) sees Mac, a young American executive flying to Scotland to purchase an entire town on behalf of the oil company he works for, run by near-psychotic Happer (Burt Lancaster).
The townsfolk seem happy enough to part with their town, although they drive a hard bargain. Meanwhile Mac, who was wrongly thought by his boss to be of Scottish descent, begins to take a liking to the little village…
Our Formative Film screenings invite special guests to present a film that was influential to their lives and to share the reasons for their choice.
Local Hero is introduced by Jess Steele, OBE. Founder and director of Jericho Road Solutions. As a grassroots activist and entrepreneur, she set up community enterprises in publishing, heritage, tourism, childcare, financial management, workspace, and neighbourhood development. At a national level she led innovation through membership organisations. In Hastings, she had a key role in the rescue of Hastings Pier, has redeveloped Rock House as a creative, collaborative capped-rent space, and founded the Heart of Hastings Community Land Trust to tackle the threat of gentrification and enable DIY Regeneration.