FILM FOR HUMANITY

I am dog tired. Sure I've worked hard before; teaching 30 disinterested, dysfunctional schoolboys ain't a piece of cake I can tell you, but today was something else. It's the school holidays so I thought I'd get myself a little project (6 weeks can get a bit boring, you know). I was sent an email about a group of film makers who wanted to give something back to the community so they set up Film for Humanity and invited 14 young film makers to come along and make some films to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street. Now family legend has it that my grandfather Sam was at Cable Street and took out a few fascists himself (ok I may have embellished the last part, but hey, indulge me), so of course I was interested. After a week of intensive studying about Cable Street, film making techniques, camera positions, script writing, actor calling, site locating, my partner (Ann-Eve, a Belgian journalist) and I were ready for some 'lights, camera, action'! Now I know why film crews have a gaffer - it would have been wonderful to have someone to lug the camera, sound equipment and tripod around the streets of the East End, but instead I had to do it myself. Still it was worth all the pain. Our film is a spoof government propaganda film set in 2017, 10 years after the government passed an Immigration Act that stopped any more immigrants coming to Britain. As a result Britain has now had an economic collapse, the social fabric has decayed and even the football's boring. The new government has been elected on a promise of returning Britain to her status as the 'Mother Country' once more and this public information broadcast will help to restore the colour back to Britain. You can see the final version, along with the six other films that are being made on Thursday 31 August at the Genesis Cinema, Mile End Road, Whitechapel. I also make my film debut with a brief cameo. Enjoy.

#Posted 21 August 2006 at 9:12 PM