Actor to direct mental health documentary inspired by 'magical' Hastings garden

Furst, who is best known for his roles in Little Britain, Matilda the musical, and as the face of mobile network ‘Orange’, told guests how local man Glenn Veness inspired him to step behind the camera for the first time.

“Glenn is a completely unique character with a relentless energy and desire to help others,” explained Steve.

“He and his wife Kath have suffered an unimaginable loss, but have poured their energies into turning their garden into a magical natural world - and its here that they welcome the Hastings Mens Network, who meet to share their challenges and support one another.”

Steve’s partner, film maker Rhys James explained: ‘The film intends to follow a year in the life of the garden and shine a light on male mental health, and how traditional stigmas of sharing feelings can be overcome.”

At the event, the pair screened a short teaser film in which Glenn talks about losing his son to suicide in 2009 and how gardening and helping others has helped him to cope.

“When it happened, my wife and I had no support and there was nobody who we could talk to about it. And so we wanted to change that and be open about our loss, so that it can help other people who are going through a difficult time.”

Suicide is the number one cause of death for males in the UK under 50, and Furst has partnered with mental health charity BEDER for the project.

“We hope that the film can help to raise awareness of things that we can all change in our day to day lives to help one another - certainly Glenn has inspired me and countless others so we hope the film can help to spread that message.”

The event also included a talk from Chris Richards from the Hastings Mens Network, and musical performances from Nashville artist Mike Willis whose work has been inspired by Glenn’s garden.

Furst and James are working with Hastings based production company Yellow Lens, and looking to raise between 6 & 12k before their deadline of April 15 to cover production costs for the 40-minute film which they are hoping to screen nationwide in 2025.