Sweetheart at Saffron Screen: Q&A with Eddie the Eagle, This Is England and After Life actress Jo Hartley

Actor Jo Hartley will return to Saffron Screen for a question-and-answer session after a screening of new coming-of-age drama Sweetheart on Sunday (Oct 17).

The 49-year-old, who was Taron Egerton's mum in Eddie the Eagle, plays the mother of AJ, a socially awkward teenager who is unimpressed at being dragged to a coastal holiday park by her painfully ‘normal’ family as she navigates troubled family dynamics and first love.

Hartley, who started acting at 11 in a school production of The Sound of Music, landed her first film role in Shane Meadows' 2004 crime drama thriller Dead Man's Shoes. She appeared in Meadows' This is England – as well as the three TV mini-series spin-offs – and in Young Victoria, starring Emily Blunt. Her TV credits include Ricky Gervais’ After Life, Sky's Bliss with Stephen Mangan and BBC Three's In My Skin.

Saffron Screen programming manager Rebecca del Tufo said of Sweetheart: “This is a confident, sweet and funny film, and we can’t wait to welcome back Jo, who always delivers a wonderful Q&A and is much loved by everyone at Saffron Screen."

Also showing is I Am Belmaya, a new documentary which follows a young woman’s transformational journey from oppressed wife in a poor Nepalese community to pioneering film-maker.

This inspirational and moving film will be screened on Monday (Oct 18). Audiences will be treated before the screening to traditional Nepalese folk dancing from the local Tang Ting Association and afterwards a Q&A with the film’s director, Sue Carpenter.

These films mark the end of Saffron Screen's For All The Brave Women season, which on four successive Sundays has showcased female talent both in front of and behind the camera and brought women’s stories to the fore. The season of British and Irish films started on September 26 with Wildfire and also included Our Ladies and Herself.

Tickets are available to buy in advance only, either online at www.saffronscreen.com or at the Tourist Information Centre in Saffron Walden.

Saffron Screen is a not-for-profit independent community cinema at Saffron Walden County High School in Audley End Road. Its professional auditorium boasts a full-size screen, 200 cinema seats and Dolby Digital surround sound. Parking is free.