Hedd Wyn | |
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Directed by | Paul Turner |
Written by | Alan Llwyd |
Starring | Huw Garmon |
Distributed by | S4C |
Running time
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123 minutes |
Country | Wales |
Language | Welsh |
Hedd Wyn is a 1992 Welsh anti-war biopic, written by Alan Llwyd and directed by Paul Turner.
Based on the life of Ellis Humphrey Evans (Huw Garmon), killed in the First World War, the cinematography starkly contrasts the lyrical beauty of the poet's native Meirionnydd with the bombed-out horrors of Passchendaele. The protagonist is depicted as a tragic hero with an intense dislike of the wartime English/British ultranationalism which surrounds him. The film's title is Ellis Evans' bardic name, under which he was posthumously awarded the Chair at the 1917 National Eisteddfod of Wales.
Hedd Wyn won the Royal Television Society's Award for Best Single Drama and BAFTA Cymru Awards in several categories; and was the first Welsh language film nominated for an Academy Award.
As the camera pans over the intricate carving on the infamous "Black Chair", the voice of the Archdruid Dyfed is heard vainly summoning the poet who signs his work with the nom de plume "Fleur-de-lis" to stand and be chaired. The film then flashes back to 1913.