TEN years ago, the idea that our world might be owned by a tiny group of billionaires was put down as a conspiracy theory. In recent times, we’ve come to accept that kind of thinking might be a possibility. Enter the 1%.

A Welsh feature film shot on a shoestring budget and made in mid Wales, uses the concept to poke fun at the elite, staging its story in the fictional village of Abertaff. The independent movie Greed, has just been released to download on Amazon Prime.

Greed’s writer and director Nigel Evans says: ‘Given the overtly anti-corporate theme of the film, it might seem controversial to have done a deal with Amazon Prime. But it’s the only game in town really. There’s a few other streaming platforms but Amazon seemed the fairest.

“It seemed like the best way to reach as many people as possible. Cinema’s are struggling and only deal with big budget movies and DVD releases appear limited to family film, rom-coms and high action FBI templates.

“It’s unlikely that Dreamworks are going to pick up on a micro-budget independent musical shot in the Welsh valleys. They might one day. In the meantime, you can watch Greed on TV with Amazon Prime in the UK and the US. It’s pretty amazing.”

Starting life as Greed The Rock Opera, a stage show toured in Welsh theatres, the musical ran its course and took another direction. From stage to screen as they say.

Evans the director says: “We were doing Greed The Rock Opera onstage for 200 people a night and I thought we could reach more people with a full length feature film. I’d never made a film before but how hard could it be?

“It took a year to film and edit. We learned how to make a film as we went along. I got a mid-range DSLR camera and some free download editing software. If you shoot your movie mostly outdoors, you can get away with the bare minimum of lighting.

“Wales has great daylight during the early evening, so we shot mostly then. Hollywood calls that light the Golden Hour, as its kind of orange. Films like The Revenant were shot entirely at that time of day.

“You can learn a lot about filmmaking on the internet. I also learned that you need to enter your film into film festivals. Now, that’s a whole new black hole in the film process. I entered into about 30 worldwide and Greed got accepted into eight film festivals – in Copenhagen, Barcelona, Glasgow, London, Oslo, Sweden, Belgium and Colorado in the US.”

Greed follows the fortunes of multi-billionaire Jeremiah Rotkin (Ian Milton) and activists Elin Cala (Jenni Davies) and Maxen Cala (Nigel Evans) in the nighmarish slave-town of Abertaff (played by Brecon and Aberdare). It’s a battle for equality and with the evil Rotkin controlling everything in Abertaff, there can only be one ending. Evans said: “It’s a microcosm of the world of course and a musical. I’m hoping that in years to come, Greed will have late night singalong screenings all over. With people dressed as the banker Rotkin, Bishop Beti Belcher, the gossiping Scrachans and the guerilla activists. A bit like The Sound Of Music. Well, you never know.”

Greed is available to download or stream from Amazon Prime (amazonprime.co.uk in the UK, amazonprime.com if you’re in the US).

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