Filmmaker Steve Nesbit returns to film in North Yorkshire

Steve Nesbit, who has returned to Easingwold where he grew up, plans to harness the success of his first film, Curio, and to set up a North Yorkshire movie company.

Curio was filmed in Whenby, near Sheriff Hutton, and tells the story of an American mother and daughter who inherit a house on the North York Moors, which Mr Nesbit said provided the perfect backdrop for the supernatural thriller.

He said the film made a splash at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, attracting a number of offers from agents, and will be entered in other festivals before it is released next Easter. Curio won a Bronze Palm award in the Mexico International Film Festival and six awards at the Los Angeles Movie Awards, including Best Actor, Best Special Effects and Best Supporting Actress for seven-year-old Sydney Wade, from Wetherby.

Mr Nesbit’s next film, Mawken, will be filmed in Harrogate later this year. Again a thriller, Mawken, the Romany word for scarecrow, will be a dark film about a vet who sets up a practice in a remote North Yorkshire village.

The film will feature singer-songwriter and former Blur guitarist Graham Coxon, who wrote and recorded the soundtrack for Curio, in an acting role, said Steve.

Mr Nesbit said he intends to film another in the next 14 months.

He said: “My aim is to continue producing films in North Yorkshire and taking advantage of the locations, talent and skills levels and also create a sustainable business for local investors instead of sending all the profits back down to London.”

The former Easingwold Primary and Easingwold Comprehensive School pupil went on to the former Bournemouth Arts Institute before moving to London where he concentrated on filming advertisements.

He also worked in the US on various projects, and set up and sold a business which helped new recruits get their first film job in filming advertisements for small companies.