Short film from Bolton, The Manananggal, to hit screens in 2023

Chris Jackson, 53, born in Australia but now living in Bolton, is excited to introduce his new short film, Manananggal, featuring actors from across Lancashire, as well as Simon Fisher-Becker who starred in Harry Potter and Doctor Who.

Chris, co-owner of CLJ Productions, first came to fame last year when he released Disaster Dates, which was filmed in Farnworth at the Cricket Club and the feature film was filmed in two days.

The short film has won five first-place awards and had has a few honourable mentions at various film festivals.

Now bringing more action to the screen, Chris has written a new short film where a group of friends come under attack from a legendary creatures of folklore - the Manananggal.

Chris Jackson, Craig Quinn and Reece Ryan (Image: Newsquest)

Speaking about his excitement, Chris said: "The film on The Manananggal is based on mythology in the Philippines, they have the legend of Manananggal which is sort of based on the incubus succubus lore.

"It's set during a global pandemic and it can be any pandemic, so a group of people have got together to let their down because the world has been in a global lockdown for two years so they are letting loose but they don't know there is a creature lurking about and they have gone into her domain and that's when all the fun and mayhem begins.

"We have been filming scenes in Ashton-under-Lyne, in Heywood and we will be shooting some scenes in Breightmet.

"The short film will go out to film festivals at the start of next year in January and then there will be the world premiere in Manchester, and it will later be released on Amazon Prime.

"To see it come together is like seeing the vision come to pass, it's all very exciting."

The Manananggal in action (Image: Chris Jackson)

Reece Ryan, 36, plays one of the main characters, Jamiesonn, he said they are all like one big family.

He said: "I think it's nice because we are all local, all from Lancashire and everybody who has been brought onto the cast are pretty much all local, so we all have ties to the areas.

"It's nice when you keep it in-house because you become a family and it's just good fun."

Assistant director, Craig Quinn, 34, said: "I think it shows to the Bolton community that there are people out there who are doing creative and positive things and I think it can influence other people to know what is possible because there are people in their community doing it."