A film project by a group of disabled people in Aylesbury has been stopped in its tracks after a key investor pulled out and they have until Monday to raise enough money to complete it.

In 2015, I Have a Voice too, a group of over 25s with both physical disabilities and learning difficulties began working with the arts organisation Creating Freedom to make a short murder mystery film, The Fortunate Mr Spencer.

Creating Freedom, founded by Alex Dower, seeks to inspire, empower and assist marginalised groups around the world including refugees, prisoners, people with mental health issues, disabilities and learning difficulties.

Associate director Maya Lindh, from Simple Life Productions, wrote and is directing the film with partner Siggi Holm. She explains their sticky situation: “As we were finding a producer this investor got in touch who then said he would invest quite a lot of money in the project.

“It was very genuine, it was about to happen and we budgeted with that money in mind and started filming to a very high standard of production quality and with costumes and locations and very good people on board. Once we had finished about 70 per cent he just disappeared basically.

“We had to hold fire and hold everything back and sort everything out in terms of all the fees we had to pay. Once we had done that we could get the production back on its feet so we began this campaign for the bare minimum that we need to finish the shoot.”

Aside to the simple frustration of not being able to finish something they started, the project has benefits to the group that go much further.

“In my experience anyone who works within the arts and gets to do something creatively really grows and really has a sense of their own capacity and you get to learn how to work in a group, such a valuable benefit with working on the project but also for the rest of the world to see what you can achieve and what anyone can achieve if they get the chance.”

Film, Maya adds, is a particularly rich medium for the group.

“We chose a short film because when you learn a lot of lines for a whole play you have to learn them and carry that through which can be quite a problem if you have learning difficulties. With a film it’s much easier because you don’t have to learn all the lines for the entire piece and we can retake if something happens.

“It’s a really great medium for them to work within and it’s been very collaborative on set. They’ve learnt so much and it’s been really, really inspiring. The group has really grown with the project.”

If the team manage to raise enough money to finish the film they hope to premiere it in Aylesbury and then London, before taking it to festivals and doing what they can to reach a varied audience.

Maya adds: “The disabled are a very overlooked group in society, if this film gets seen and gets attention we can raise awareness of how much these people can achieve and how undermined they get and for them to have a sense of achievement.”

The group are trying to raise £2,920, to donate click here.

To find out more visit call 07968 484843 or visit creatingfreedom.co.uk