"Rheged: The Lost Kingdom"

Still from "Rheged: The Lost Kingdom", supplied by Rheged The Upland Kingdom Discovery Center.

"The Lost Kingdom" is the first all-British made, all British financed large format film. On 2D 870/1570, it lasts forty minutes and is primarily a destination film for the Rheged centre to be opened in Penrith (the word Penrith means Head of the Valleys) at the gateway to the Mountains of Northern England. The Film is made and financed by Westmorland Film Ltd.

The Rheged Centre opens in May 1999 and will be the largest indoor visitor attraction in the North of England. It is themed on the sixth century celtic kingdom which controlled Northern England between the departure of the Romans and the arrivals of the Angles, Saxons and then Danes from the continent of Northern Europe. Situated within the area of the Lakeland Hills where mountain exploration and climbing first developed in the world, the Rheged Centre will also contain the World Mountaineering Heritage Exhibition, spearheaded by world pioneering climber Sir Chris Bonington and the British Mountaineering Council.

The Story of "The Lost Kingdom" charts the journey of discovery of a young American seeking his roots in the mountains of the North. It is a ghost story involving a series of Celtic dreams of lost ancestry. The film features a reconstruction of a sixth century battle between Urien the king and a horde of invaders from the Northlands, and a classic emotional climax as the Kingdom, and the traveller's place in it is discovered.

Although intended for a mainstream audience of all ages the film features poetry, violence and nudity, and adopts a frank and uncompromising stand in its historical reconstructions. It also includes some strong special effects unusual for the large format screen and some stunning cinematography of one of the most beautiful landscapes in the Western World - the place where tourism originated.