Lost In Vagueness The Old Market, Hove, Saturday, June 16

THE Glastonbury Festival is, without a doubt, one of the biggest musical festivals in the world. A four-night extravaganza of music, art and much more that envelopes Worthy Farm, the town of Glastonbury itself and, most likely, most of Somerset.

Notable headliners from the festival, which made its debut in 1970, included the likes of David Bowie, U2, Beyonce and Gorillaz – among many other stadium worthy acts. However there is so much more to Glastonbury than just the big names who headline every year.

With more than 50 stages, tents and venues across the massive site, it would be physically impossible to see everything that goes on across the whole weekend.

There areas areas for comedy, art, design, crafts – basically anything you could possibly want to do across the weekend, this mini village is more than likely to be able to accommodate for it.

The festival is taking a fallow year in 2018 to allow the farm site to recover from previous years.

It is the first break Michael Eavis and his crew have taken since 2012. Luckily one film-maker is taking her look behind the scenes of the festival, on tour.

It focuses on one of the most intriguing aspects of the festival itself. One of the festival’s more underground experiences is hidden away in one of the more secluded parts of the site.

Often described as a festival-within-the-festival, Lost In Vagueness started off as a simple cabaret/fancy dress crossover, but as the years progressed and its popularity expanded, the party has since morphed into a fantastically twisted version of the Las Vegas Strip.

Encompassing everything from burlesque to fireworks, robots and even a circus, it’s a bizarre world which only the bravest should set foot into.

On of these fearless souls is director Sofia Olins, who ventured into the belly of the beast to experience just exactly what Lost In Vagueness is all about.

The remarkable detail is that this journey started in 2004. It took more than 12 years for the film to finally see release in the summer of 2017 and now a crowd at The Old Market in Hove will be able to relive Sofia’s experiences. The director herself reveals it was never her plan to spend over a decade on the piece, but that it’s made it all the more worth it.

She said: “I knew it was a story I wanted to make, I had no idea what I was getting into or how long it would take. But now I think that time span makes the story even more relevant as it reflects on the beginning of a social phenomena which is everywhere now.

“Boutique festivals are the norm and documenting your own life through social media hadn’t even started yet.”

Initially she had only wanted to focus on one aspect of the troupe, saying: “I originally hoped it might be a film about women, how they were shifting perceptions around sexually at the turn of the century, I was so spellbound by some of the female performers, I felt what they were doing had to be shared.”

Sofia had worked as a directing assistant before, with her CV boasting the likes of work on Peep Show and The IT Crowd, however she said losing the shackles of the “belt and braces” producing style of commercial television was a freeing experience: “I loved the fact that it all seemed to come together somehow despite the chaos, and was all the better for it.

“There’s a shot in the film where one of the crew is holding up a ‘to do list’ for the camera and it just says ‘what – everything, when – at the last minute’.”

For all the wacky, wild and sometimes downright crazy things you’d be likely to see at Glastonbury, Sofia also explains how she felt that Lost In Vagueness was filling a void the festival had been desperate for.

She said: “It felt like they triggered something in audiences, there was an appetite for a language that could express something more playful and vibrant, something that could release people from the singular masculine or feminine predatory night out experience.”

The screening at The Old Market is, in Sofia’s mind, going to be a particular highlight, and may even have a few surprises thrown in: “The event we’re putting on there is going to be hosting of some of the original Lost Vagueness acts also local to Brighton. We’re so happy The Two Wrongies will be joining us with their naked synchronised swimming show and also the very Lost Vagueness style Future Shape of Sound, a ten-piece shakedown gospel band.”

She added that given Brighton’s history for putting on major festivals, this show is one she hopes will capture the imagination of the audience.

Above all, she hopes it will give the audience something to think about. She said: “I think the film is a human story, not just for Glasto fans, because it looks at the dark side of creativity, it asks questions about where ideas come from and who, if anyone, owns them, so I hope that people also walk away with an additional aspect.”