ELLIOTT HASLER

WRITER|DIRECTOR

Elliott Hasler is a British film director and screenwriter, best known for his upcoming professional feature debut, ‘Vindication Swim’. The film has undergone three years of production with filming taking place in the English Channel itself, followed by a year of post-production at Warner Bros. De Lane Lea Studios. The biopic’s development has been featured in the likes of Variety, Deadline, The Times and the Daily Mail, as well as being documented by BBC and ITV news.

Hasler’s passion for filmmaking began at a young age, with the production of ‘WWII: The Long Road Home’. Made whilst at school and completed in 2017 when Hasler was just 16 years old, the film garnered praise from New York critic Graham Fuller who described the film as "a miracle achievement for a schoolboy director”. That same year Hasler founded the UK based independent film company, Relsah Films.

Before pursuing ‘Vindication Swim’, Hasler developed his directing and writing style further by making a series of short films, including ‘To Hunt a Tiger’, a film about tiger preservation, which was shot in Sri Lanka at the same locations as David Lean’s ‘The Bridge on the River Kawi’. ‘To Hunt a Tiger’ premiered in July 2019 at Soneva Jani's over-water cinema in the Maldives.

WARNER BROS.

DE LANE LEA STUDIOS

Post-production on ‘Vindication Swim’ was completed at the world-class Warner Bros. De Lane Lea Studios in the heart of London’s Soho district.

The team worked closely with BAFTA winning colourist Asa Shoul (Mission: Impossible, The Crown) to create the distinct colours of the film. A Technicolor two-strip look was replicated to pay homage to the era in which the film is set.

Award-winning sound designer, Markus Moll (Skyfall, Rare Beasts), has carefully crafted an intricate and complex soundscape. With a level of detail unheard of in most independent films, ‘Vindication Swim’ promises to provide an audio/visual experience that throws you into the tempestuous waves of the English Channel.

SOUNDTRACK

Emmy winning composer Daniel Clive McCallum was flown over to the UK in October, around the same time in which Mercedes Gleitze conquered the English Channel, so that he could properly immerse himself into the world of the film by spending time in the water to get a greater sense of what Mercedes experienced.

For the score, a sweeping classical string-based arrangement was decided on to pay homage to the British seafaring musical tradition.

To complete the grandiose sound that was required to complement the expansive widescreen cinematography, a 60-piece orchestra in Eastern Europe was hired to perform the soundtrack.