The award-winning hit film, Vindication Swim, will be screened at the historic Cameo cinema on October 24th as part of Picturehouse’s Green Screen programme, which highlights films with strong environmental commitments. In collaboration with Swimmr, the new online swim course platform, founded by Edinburgh-based Olympic silver medalist Dan Wallace, this special one-off screening promises to be an inspiring celebration of sporting achievement, cinematic excellence and environmental responsibility.

Vindication Swim tells the incredible true story of Mercedes Gleitze, the first British woman to swim the English Channel in 1927. As a trailblazing athlete, Gleitze faced challenges not only from the sea but also from a society that doubted her capabilities. This moving biopic, which was all filmed in the English Channel over the course of three years, celebrates her role as a pioneer in women’s sports.

Mercedes Gleitze also had her own Scottish swimming triumphs, notably swimming the Firth of Forth 95 years ago in July 1929 over the course of 11 hours and 22 minutes. Later that year Mercedes also undertook a 26 hour endurance swim at the city’s Infirmary Street Baths, ushering in the New Year of 1930 and tying her legacy to Edinburgh's storied past.

Event Details:

Date: 24th Oct

Time: 19:45

Venue: Cameo Picturehouse, Edinburgh

Tickets: https://www.picturehouses.com/movie-details/000/HO00015418/green-screen-vindication-swim-panel

Vindication Swim stands as an example of how cinematic storytelling can be intertwined with environmental awareness, providing audiences with both sustainable entertainment and insight. Writer/director Elliott Hasler commented, “Given how much of the film takes place in the sea, we really felt it was our duty to protect that environment as much as we could during the filming. The Channel in particular has taken a battering over recent years from pollution, over fishing and the destruction of kelp forests. With this film we wanted to celebrate the sea and really emphasise Mercedes’ love affair with the water, so for us to do that in a way that was actually damaging the sea would be entirely hypocritical and go against everything Mercedes and the film stand for.”

Following the screening the film’s writer and director Elliott Hasler will join Olympian Dan Wallace, who recently completed an English Channel swim, for a panel discussion. Tickets for the screening are now available at Cameo Picturehouse.

Pioneering swimmer Mercedes Gleitze returns to Edinburgh on 95th Anniversary

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