THE force may be with Wellington this autumn as part of the town’s long-awaited

inaugural film festival.

A Star Wars-themed event could be one of the three-day festival’s highlights

- thanks to movie fan and town Cllr Sean Pringle Kosikowsky.

Cllr Pringle Kosikowsky wants to invite members of the fan group the

501st Legion to parade in the town as the Wellesley Cinema screens the 1977 first

Star Wars film ‘A New Hope’ – later titled ‘Episode IV’.

The 501st Legion is an all-volunteer group formed 25 years ago to bring

together costume enthusiasts and promote interest in the movie franchise.

The move could see hundreds of members wearing replica Star Wars outfits

descend on Wellington in a spectacle likely to attract visitors to the town from far

and wide.

The Legion attends community events in return for donations to charity as part

of its mission to ‘brighten the lives of the less fortunate and to bring awareness to

positive causes on both a local and global scale’.

Cllr Pringle Kosikowsky, who is standing for re-election in Wellington South in

next month’s town council elections, is a member of the council’s working group

which has been planning the film festival since before the Covid pandemic struck.

The project was twice postponed because of national lockdowns but work

on planning the event continued with the aim of attracting visitors to Wellington to

help boost the local economy.

Cllr Pringle Kosikowsky told the Wellington Weekly: “Helping plan the upcoming

film festival is an opportunity to take a passion of mine and share it with everyone.

“All of the local minds that are involved in shaping the film festival come from

very different angles of film appreciation but are bringing shared interests and

projects together under one forthcoming event, the Wellington Film Festival.”

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By WWN REPORTER