A Machynlleth woman is hoping to raise £1,500 to help her finish off a five-year long filming project.

Anne Marie Carty has been filming what life is like for people in the Dyfi Valley for more than five years.

In 2017 she began working on the project, travelling around a variety of local villages in the Dyfi Valley and speaking to people about the highs and lows of living in the Dyfi Valley.

“I’ve worked with film in the Dyfi Valley for many years. Over time people started suggesting that we should make a documentary film about life in the area. Something that shows people outside what it’s like to live here.”

“We went to Machynlleth, Pantperthog, Corris, Penygroes, Abergavenny and many other places. We went everywhere.

“The film focuses on how rural communities face challenges, at the time those challenges were austerity and Brexit. Since then we’ve had the Covid pandemic and the cost of living crisis.”

Not only did the pandemic influence the lives of rural welsh people, it also impacted Anne Marie’s filming. She originally hoped to finish editing the film in 2022, but the impact of the pandemic meant she was unable to do so.

Since then, Anne Marie decided she would go back to filming, hoping to cover how recent events like the cost of living crisis and the pandemic have impacted people in the Dyfi Valley.

Anne Marie Carty said: ”we’re looking to raise enough money to pay local film editor Jay Bonser to put together a comprehensive first draft of the film that we can then tour again around the villages so that local people can see how the film is progressing, discuss current issues and make suggestions for the final film.

“We’ve got over 100 hours of footage, so another person on board with the editing will help us bring that down to about an hour to hour and a half film, whilst still doing justice to the weight of the topic.”

Anne Marie expects the film will be complete by 2025. If you would like to donate to her project, you can find her Gofundme here.