Hedd Wyn

News from Yr Undeb Geltaidd - Cangen Cymru Wales Branch Celtic League

HEDD WYN

Our colleagues at Yr Undeb Geltaidd - Cangen Cymru Wales Branch Celtic League have an interesting post (lifted from History Wales) about the biopic on Welsh writer and poet ‘Hedd Wyn’ (Ellis Humphrey Evans) who was killed in WW1. He was posthumously awarded the bard's chair at the 1917 National Eisteddfod.

The film premiered twenty years ago today and eventually was the first Welsh language film nominated for an Academy award.

I saw the film many years ago and despite my watching via the medium of sub titles it was a powerful drama and made a lasting impression so that years later – with some difficulty I sourced a DVD copy.

The most moving scene is the closing sequence when the bard’s chair robed in black is carried back to his parents home after the posthumous award.

It is to be hoped this great film biography will get further airings via S4C so more people can enjoy it:

Text from the Wales Branch Facebook pages here:

“30th July 1996 saw the video premiere of the film Hedd Wyn

Hedd Wyn is an anti-war biopic based on the life of Ellis Humphrey Evans, a Welsh soldier killed in WWl. The title is the bardic name chosen by Evans, under which he was awarded, posthumously, the Eisteddfod Chair in 1917. The film starkly contrasts the beauty of the Meirionnydd landscape of the poet's home with the horror of the trenches at Passchendaele where he died. Evans, played by Huw Garmon, is portrayed as a tragic hero with an intense hatred of war and nationalism. Writer Alan Llwyd and director Paul Turner won several BAFTA Cymru awards, and the film was voted the Best Single Drama by the Royal Television Society. It was the first Welsh language film to be nominated for an Academy Award.”

Link:

https://www.facebook.com/TheHistoryOfWales/photos/a.320430204744335.76210.254090978044925/956337914486891/?type=3&theater

https://cy.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedd_Wyn

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedd_Wyn

BERNARD MOFFATT
Public Relations Officer Mannin Branch

Issued by: The Mannin branch of the Celtic League.

TEL: 01624 877918 or 07624 491609

30/07/16

THE CELTIC LEAGUE

The Celtic League established in 1961 has branches in the six Celtic Countries including our own Mannin branch. It promotes cooperation between the countries and campaigns on a range of political, cultural and environmental matters. It highlights human rights abuse, military activity and socio-economic issues

The link for the main web pages is below:

http://celticleague.net