Mayor attends premiere of film about Brighton woman who swam Channel

The mayor of Brighton and Hove welcomed the audience to the premiere of an inspiring new film called Vindication Swim.

Councillor Jackie O’Quinn had warms words for 23-year-old Elliott Hasler, from Brighton, who wrote and directed the 98-minute movie.

At the Duke of York’s Picturehouse, at Preston Circus, the mayor also spoke about the subject of the film, the Brighton-born endurance swimmer Mercedes Gleitze.

Gleitze became the first woman to swim the English Channel at the age of 26 but a hoax claim made just days later by another woman cast doubt on the remarkable feat.

In the glare of publicity, Gleitze agreed to undertake the “vindication swim” that gives the film its name.

The premiere was held on Friday (8 March), International Women’s Day, when the mayor said: “This film about the iconic Brighton-born Mercedes Gleitze is screened here today in celebration of her remarkable legacy that has been lost to history until now.

“Mercedes once sat in this cinema and it is wonderful to see her story being brought back to life 100 years later.

“As those of you who are familiar with her story will know, it is highly appropriate that Vindication Swim is being screened here this evening in celebration of International Women’s Day.

“Mercedes Gleitze forged an extraordinary open-water swimming career in the male-dominated world of sport in the 1920s.

“Her successes included becoming the first British woman to swim the English Channel in 1927 and the first person to swim the Strait of Gibraltar in 1928.

“She used the earnings from her extraordinary career to create her own charitable trust which is still active today. This film pays tribute to her outstanding achievements.”

The film was followed by a question and answer session with Elliott Hasler and the star of the film, Kirsten Callaghan, who played Gleitze, along with John Locke, who played her coach.

Afterwards, the mayor said that not only had she enjoyed the film but she was impressed that Kirsten Callaghan did not have a body double for the swimming scenes in the Channel.

Councillor O’Quinn added: “The sea was a big star in this film.”

The film is showing at the Odeon, in West Street, all week and at dozens of cinemas up and down the country.

It was made on a shoestring budget, with filming interrupted several times by the coronavirus pandemic.

Most of the locations were in Sussex – from Brighton to Lewes, Newhaven, Eastbourne, Hastings and Worthing – as well as in the English Channel.

Among those in the supporting cast, the Conservative MP for East Worthing and Shoreham, Tim Loughton, played Home Secretary Sir William Joynson-Hicks.

Vindication Swim is not Hasler’s first movie. He started shooting WWII: The Long Road Home – his first feature film – while still at school at the age of just 14.