Florence Nightingale film director launches £11,000 appeal in Derbyshire

The team in the film Florence Nightingale: Scenes From A Life.

George Gunby aims to premiere the creation on Florence’s birthday, May 12, 2022, which is International Nurses Day.

The film, entitled Florence Nightingale: Scenes From A Life, will be made available free of charge to schools, universities, colleges, nursing schools and all educational establishments worldwide.

George said: “Profits from other screenings will go to nursing charities. We hope Florence's words and actions inspire men and women to become nurses.

Florence Nightingale was the pioneer of modern nursing.

"Ask people about Florence and they'll talk about the Lady With The Lamp, the Crimean War. Yes, she was the founder of modern nursing but she did so much more. The film brings us Florence the social reformer, statistician, feminist, mathematician and theologian. And we highlight the dislike she had for the upper classes she moved in, what she called 'her gilded existence'.

"Now, over 160 years later, her name and fame still resonate. During the pandemic emergency hospitals, test sites and vaccination centres operated under the Nightingale name.”

Fliss Goldsmith, a graduate of LIPA and an actress with more than 20 years experience, will play Florence in the film for which shooting will begin at the end of the year.

Meanwhile, a crowdfunding appeal has been launched to raise the final £11,000 needed to make the film.

A new film capturing the life of Florence Nightingale is in the pre-production stage.

The idea for the film arose from George’s play, Kissing Miss Nightingale’s Shadow, which he wrote to be performed in 2020. George said: “By the end of 2019 performances were lined up with a dozen scheduled around her birthday. Then the lockdown came and everything was cancelled. We talked about alternatives and a film, with the script adapted from the play, seemed the sensible solution.

“The pandemic put an end to celebrations for Florence's 200th birthday in 2020 but we were inspired to continue by the nurses who fought so hard against Covid-19.”

To find out more about the crowdfunding appeal, go to https://www.indiegogo.com

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