Starring role for Aston Hall
A 376-year-old Birmingham museum has become a worldwide internet hit thanks to Indian pop superstar Sarbjit Cheema.
Aston Hall features prominently in the video for Cheema's latest release YAARI , which has shot straight to the top of the Punjabi charts.
Shot and directed by Stewart Addison and Jazz Virk of Birmingham based production company Film Division Productions, the video is also proving popular with music fans in the UK and Canada, while an upload on YouTube has also been watched over 10,000 times in less than a week.
Now Birmingham City Council's Cabinet Member for Leisure, Sport and Culture Cllr Martin Mullaney is hoping Aston Hall's starring role will lead to more requests to film at the community museum, which reopened in July 2009 following a £12.75m refurbishment and restoration project.
He said: “We're very proud of the Aston Hall restoration project and now the Hall can be seen in all its glory by a whole new audience. Who knows, maybe this could lead to more location filming in the future.
“The Sarbjit Cheema video came about when the production team contacted us via the council's Film Birmingham unit and said they were looking for a special location that had an old fashioned English feel to it.
“They filmed at Aston Hall a couple of days before Christmas and the end results are quite stunning. I know the producers were very pleased with the outcome and so are we.”
Director Jazz Virk added: “Sarbjit Cheema is massive. He's not only a pop star, he's done films too and has a huge worldwide following - not just in India but anywhere with a big Sikh community.
“He mentioned Aston Hall when we were looking at locations for this video and we're all delighted with the final outcome - it looks fantastic and the staff could not have been more helpful.”
ENDS
The video can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=da6Ro8GaEpQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Aston Hall and Park re-opened in 2009 following a £13 million development project.
Home to the Holte family, Aston Hall is one of Birmingham’s most treasured buildings. Redisplayed as part of the development project, Aston Hall boasts sumptuous interiors from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, including the magnificent Long Gallery.
Display rooms illustrate the part Aston Hall and it’s residents played in key moments in history, including the English Civil War, and how it prepared to receive royalty on more than one occasion.
For more information go to:
Film Birmingham is Birmingham City Council’s Film Office, providing the following free services for the film and television industry:
- Film Permitting
- Film Locations
- Crew & Facilities
Birmingham’s Film Charter shows Birmingham City Council’s commitment to making filming as easy and efficient as possible.
Info about Sarbjit Cheema
Jazz Virk is an award winning, internationally acclaimed music video director. Jazz has over ten years of professional experience in film and television, ranging from TV commercials, music videos, TV magazine shows, documentaries and films projects.
Jazz has worked with such artists as Nelly Furtado, Jazzy B, Ghetto Concept, Choclair, Sonu Nigam, Gunjan from Thievery Corporation, Babbu Mann, Aman Hayer, Jaz Dhami, Jassi Sidhu, Rishi Rich Project, Veronica, Hunterz, Charlene and Slarta John from Basement Jaxx.
For more information about Jazz and Film Division Productions, go to: http://filmdivision.co.uk/
For more information contact Geoff Coleman on 0121 303 3501
There are real opportunities to film Hollywood blockbusters in Birmingham if only Screen WM would emerge from its cocoon of TV/low budget Britflicks and the City Council were willing to engage with investors.
Come on Birmingham - before London or Manchester beat us to it!