Mark Jenkin Previews Rose of Nevada in Newlyn
Get the Culture newsletter
Daily culture — film, music, books, the trends and ideas worth your attention. Free.
- Mark Jenkin previewed Rose of Nevada at Newlyn Filmhouse — an arthouse cinema housed in an old fish cellar and smokery close to the harbour — telling the Guardian the Cornish screenings make him most nervous because local audiences are the ultimate authenticity check.
- Rose of Nevada follows a Cornish fishing boat and crew that slips through time, and has earned excellent early reviews plus the cover of May's Sight and Sound, which Jenkin said he keeps reposting 'so the more I post it, the more I believe it's real.'
- The production was shot entirely in Cornwall, mostly in the harbours of Hayle on the north coast and Mullion in the south, on 16mm with a clockwork Bolex camera, using a working fishing vessel whose skipper continued fishing during breaks.
- Jenkin and producer Denzil Monk prioritized sustainability, with most props — nets, fish boxes, buoys — now back at sea, and Monk saying they try to 'step very lightly' on the Cornish environment and community.
- Jenkin's track record includes the Bafta-winning Bait, which examined tensions in a Cornish fishing village, and the eerie folk-horror Enys Men, set on an island off the far south-west coast.
- Laura Giles, managing director of Screen Cornwall, called Rose of Nevada a significant moment for Cornish film-making and said other locally rooted film-makers are coming through alongside Jenkin.
Why it matters: Rose of Nevada's Sight and Sound cover and strong early reviews mark a second major critical milestone for Jenkin after Bait's Bafta win, reinforcing Cornwall's emergence as a self-sustaining filmmaking hub rather than a picturesque backdrop — with Screen Cornwall pointing to a pipeline of regional directors building on his example.
Ask SkimNews
