This Is Purgatory was filmed by Jimmy Edmonds for Random Stroud, an arts project in which 24 artists were invited to respond to randomly selected map references in the Stroud Valleys area of Gloucestershire, England. Jimmy’s map reference was Purgatory Wood a small copse just to the south east of Swift’s Hill in the Slad Valley.But what starts out as an attempt to find out why Purgatory Wood is so called quickly becomes a fascinating series of character studies and a reflection on life now and the life hereafter.

"This Is Purgatory’ is a very funny and wonderfully human film where Jimmy dips into various people’s lives asking them what they think purgatory is, and in so doing explores a range of attitudes to death. Purgatory in a local context is a small wood near Slad in the Stroud Valleys, Gloucestershire. Throughout the film we have recurring glimpses of the wood, rustling, cracking, moving in the wind, a timeless picture of nature doing its thing, the continuum of life, the seasons, continual birth and death. The ‘characters’ in the documentary all speak their own wisdom, and the audience watching the film chortle at the individual beauty of their attitudes to death."

Jimmy Edmonds:
Filmmaker, editor and photographer Jimmy Edmonds is a Winston Churchill Fellow and BAFTA award-winning filmmaker. He has several critically acclaimed documentaries to his name.
Jimmy’s life changed forever when he lost his 22-year-old son, Joshua, in 2011. Alongside his wife, fellow filmmaker Jane Harris, Jimmy co-founded and runs The Good Grief Project, which makes inspirational and uplifting films about grief and seeks to help others find creative expressions of their own grief.