A film producer from Kent is behind a psychological drama which will be screened at a city cinema this weekend.

Dawn, which is showing at Canterbury’s Gulbenkian cinema, is set in Palestine in 1947, during the British mandate period. The Zionists are fighting for the establishment of a Jewish state. A member of the armed Jewish underground has been sentenced to death by the British authorities. In return, the resistance has kidnapped a British officer.

The insurgents spend the night together, waiting for the outcome of the negotiation. If the British hang their friend at dawn, one of them will shoot the British officer held as a hostage. This is where the psychological drama really unfolds behind closed doors, as four comrades in arms pressure the young protagonist, Elisha, to overcome his moral qualms and commit to the armed struggle.

It is based on the novel by Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel, and sheds new light on a key moment in history.

Co-producer Richard West went to school in Ashford, taught in Canterbury and lives in Whitstable.

In the film’s production notes he says: “Every day in the news we see the conflict rages on in Palestine and on the West Bank. Yet in the dark hours of the birth of the modern Israeli state, history seems to have all but turned a blind eye.

"Dawn reminds us what happened. And what happened is a part of British history.”

See the film, on Saturday, March 21, at 2.30pm. Tickets £8 for adults and £5 students. Visit www.thegulbenkian.co.uk or call 01227 769075.