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An alien invasion movie will be completed in Tayside and Fife in early 2019 following a late spree of public donations.

The money raised is still short of the target needed for post-production which is required to get the film, Tellurian, to Cannes, Sundance and Toronto.

IronStar Films, which is staffed by Graeme Carr, Peter Birnie, Dean Pearson and Allan Jennings who all live and work in Angus, will now look at ways to raise the remaining £3,500.

Inspired by classic 80s sci-fi films and the Netflix series Stranger Things, Tellurian started filming in Tayside and Fife in 2017 following a £4,000 IndieGoGo campaign to get the project up and running.

The original concept was a short film but they finished with 60 minutes of footage and decided to raise the rest of the budget to keep the cameras rolling and complete a feature length movie.

A plea was made to raise a further £5,000 and Mr Carr said they have fallen £3,500 short but are still hopeful of getting the movie over the line.

“What this £1,500 allows us to do is complete filming,” he said.

“We can now confirm plans to do that in early 2019 with much of the money raised going towards location, food and transport fees for cast and crew.

“These remaining days filming will see our team return to previous locations at Scotland’s secret bunker and Dundee Viper Strike as well as a couple of new locations that we can now hopefully finalise.

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“What remains of the money raised after production is complete will be allocated to starting our post production processes, primarily sound and VFX (visual effects).

“It’s at this stage we will have to look at possible ways to raise the remaining £3,500 as this will be the most expensive part of our film due to the number of complex VFX shots, the sound design for each scene and an original soundtrack needed to be created and added.

“Once we complete these stages we will be ready for submission to film festivals worldwide.

“While we are realistic about our film’s potential we are aiming to submit Tellurian to some of the world’s biggest film festivals such as Cannes, Sundance and Toronto in the hope that it strikes a chord somewhere.

“We know how difficult it is to get selected for these huge festivals so we will also be submitting to a number of sci-fi and genre film festivals around the globe as well.”

Filming started at Scotland’s Secret Bunker in Fife before moving to Arbroath’s Rosely House Hotel, Ethie Woods and the former Sunnyside Hospital in Montrose.

Lead roles were given to King Arthur and Outlander star Craig McGinlay and The Gaelic King actress Kerry Browne who plays Breaker which is the movie’s very own version of Ellen Ripley.

The rest of the cast is made up of several actors from Tayside including Arbroath’s Chris O’Mara and ‘rapping Proclaimer’ Billy Boyd who is best known for The Great Hip Hop Hoax.

Mr Carr said: “Our ambition for Tellurian is huge and we know that given the chance it will provide sci-fi fans the world over with an original story that doesn’t rely only on the spectacle of action and CGI.

“While our fundraising campaign has now ended if anyone would like to help or contribute to our fundraising effort you can contact us directly via social media to donate directly via our Just Giving page.”

People can go to https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/tellurian which will be open for the next 120 days.