This is the
second community short film I’ve produced in two years with funding from
Southwark Council’s Neighbourhood Fund. It was twelve months in the making, on an
excruciatingly low budget, drawing on tons of favours and goodwill and leaving
me a bag of nerves.
Never one to
make life easy for myself by following the exact same model as its companion, ‘The Old Cow in the
Kitchen’ completed in 2024.
https://www.southwark.gov.uk/southwark-presents/film-month-old-cow-kitchen-and-other-stories-2024)
I wanted this film to generate some new creative work so I invited Paul Taylor to write a
poem using some of the old photographs of the area. He produced three stunning
poems. Sara Byers composed a song based on some of the accounts of
cinemagoers to the iconic and long demolished Trocadero Cinema.
Our filmmaking
process to the onlooker must have appeared lackadaisical and random but it was
a deliberate decision on mine and filmmaker Ludmilla Andrews’s part not to simply
‘interview’ people. We wanted to take our time, share conversations, laughter
and cake, trusting that the stories would eventually unfold. This meant that we
built lasting friendships but also that Ludmilla had a huge task editing all
the material. It also meant that some surprising stories emerged.
How many
times have people said, mainly at funerals, ‘I wished I had asked them about...
and now we’ll never know.’ Another aim of the project was to remind people to have
those conversations and overcome any shyness about asking certain questions.
Working on
this project also held up a mirror to my own writing process reminding me that I
always start a writing project with a character who interests me and often come
up with a title long before the story is fully formed. Then comes a first draft
followed by a long editing and cutting period.
So as the holiday
season approaches and family and friends gather, now might be the perfect time
to ask those questions. Go on I dare
you!
3 comments:
Wonderful!
Really interesting , Lynda. Must have been so satisfying to hear all these stories and capture them too. Well done. What a great post!
Lynda here - Thank you Pippa and Penny. It was very satisfying to feel I was capturing memories at a time when the area is changing so dramatically ; endless blocks of overpriced student accommodation, beloved local schools closed and the rise of AirBnB!
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