Last week Simon and I had a lunch with quite a senior person in one of the cable/satellite channels. She is a charming, but pretty forthright sort of person, doesn't suffer fools gladly and may even be described as "tough". It just so happens that she was at the Dubai event at which our films for the Rolex Awards For Enterprise were being shown last November. This lady is not the first person to have mentioned to us that Eddie's film about the AIDS orphans in South Africa had her in tears.
Wednesday, 27 May 2009
The Children's Shoes
Last week Simon and I had a lunch with quite a senior person in one of the cable/satellite channels. She is a charming, but pretty forthright sort of person, doesn't suffer fools gladly and may even be described as "tough". It just so happens that she was at the Dubai event at which our films for the Rolex Awards For Enterprise were being shown last November. This lady is not the first person to have mentioned to us that Eddie's film about the AIDS orphans in South Africa had her in tears.
Tuesday, 26 May 2009
Wednesday, 13 May 2009
Hi-Di-Hi Campers!
I imagine that lo-fi indie rock, post-punk, and doom metal probably aren’t the first things that spring to mind when you think of Butlins, but for a couple of weekends a year the seaside holiday resort becomes a Mecca for alternative music fans when it plays host to All Tomorrow’s Parties music festival.
This weekend at All Tomorrow’s Parties: The Fans Strike back in Minehead, Somerset, it struck me (ahem) that this apparent mish-mash of cultures actually makes a lot of sense. Although most of the largely young, trendy middle class crowd would no doubt turn their noses up at spending their summer holidays at a British coastal holiday camp, ATP offers some pretty appealing advantages over other festivals. While the accommodation may have been "basic", the addition of a roof, bed, heating, hot water, cooker, fridge, kettle and tv is certainly a step up from traditional festival slumming, and there wasn’t even a glimpse of any sludgy brown stuff in any of the three indoor venues with their clean, flushing toilets.
But it seemed to me that a large part of the appeal of ATP was the “quaint” little Butlins touches. There was something quite refreshing about seeing pretty girls in vintage floral dresses and skinny boys in tight jeans totally immersing themselves in playing on 2p machines, visiting the waterpark, playing bingo or (in my case) stuffing their faces at the all-you-can eat Pizza Hut buffet. What Butlins essentially offers is the chance for everyone to act like a big kid and have some good, clean, simple fun. And regardless of your age, class or taste in music, no one can turn their noses up at a round of ten-pin bowling or a ride on the waltzers. Plus I’m sure I saw Beirut munching down on what looked suspiciously like a battered sausage. It’s not every weekend you can say that.
Art, Fragrance and Excess baggage
The pleasures of filming on location seem to diminish with each passing trip. Last week cameraman Chris Morphet and soundman Paul Nathan and I flew to Berlin via Heathrow's Terminal 2 and Tiegel airport. Terminal 2 is now about as glamorous as Doncaster bus station but not as efficient. At Tiegel passengers were herded through passport control in a way my father wouldn't have allowed his cattle to be treated. We then waited thirty minutes while the single baggage handler got our luggage on to the carousel.
Our new best friend
We always imagine that our films make a difference, however tiny, but in this case perhaps it is true; the diamond caused a real stir and our film found it's way to a massive audience. It wasn't just uploaded onto various websites, we also supplied footage to news organisations all over the world. The story ran on the BBC but also popped up on ABC, Reuters, South African TV, Genius (I don't know either) and who knows where else.
And the result of all this publicity? A record price per carat for any gemstone sold at auction. Just call that the Proudfoot Effect. Either that or it's a really beautiful, extremely rare thing.