The Islands and the Whales

Scottish documentarian Mike Day's film about the Faroe Islands tells an evocative tale about the connection between the islanders and the need to live off the sea around them; the whales are a source of nourishment as well as income and livelihood.

Yet in recent years this relationship is coming under strain due to a depletion in numbers of whales being caught but the toxicity of the whales putting the well-being of the islanders at risk due to the high poisonous levels within them.

The film has brilliant access to the community showing how closely connected to the sea and to nature the people are embedded in terms of tradition, and how the news of toxicity is putting a conflict into many people especially in mind for the children and future generations.

The film has some wonderful landscape cinematography which coupled with an amenable eye on the community makes for a brilliant combination. It has been a labour of love for director Day, who has taken 5 years of covering the native Faroese to making this winning documentary.

Mike Day - Director

It reminded me of another film in the same vein Village at the End of the World (Sarah Gavron, Denmark/UK, 2012) which also showed the relationship between a village reliant upon the sea but the sea that bites back.  A tale for our times in light of recent news about the polluting of our worldwide seaways, and how we have to take greater care of our world and its creatures.

There is a special screening with Q&A taking place at Picturehouse Central with Mike Day and Channel 4's Jon Snow on March 29th in readiness for the cinematic release.

THE ISLANDS AND THE WHALES is released in UK cinemas on 29th March
http://theislandsandthewhales.com/screenings

Follow The Money - Ben Unwin Interview

Following on from my review of Follow The Money last week and on the eve of the film's European Premiere at the East End Film Festival at the Hackney Picturehouse on Saturday 17th June, I was granted the opportunity to interview Ben Unwin - one of the three intrepid British travellers - who follow a single $10 dollar bill across America where they encounter all manner of people from the centre of America to a shining sea in California.

Where did the idea for the film come about?

Steve and John met to watch football and Steve told him that he was writing a book about his experiences following a ten dollar bill around the states. John thought it would be a great idea for a documentary and told me about it. We then got Steve drunk and persuaded him to do it again! 

When was this filmed? Did you plan the trip and say a specific time or was it a now or never situation to commit to?

We filmed it a few years ago but due to work commitments and being self funded it took around three years to edit and do all the post production. I guess we filmed it at the time as that was when we had the money to do it. I had just earned some extra money that I had never expected cutting a commercial and I thought well it is now or never. 

From left to right: Steve Boggan, John Hardwick, Ben Unwin

Watching the film it is like a documentary on how to make a film when you guys look at each other in point of view or at the conclusion when you don't know what to do? Was it fun or stressful?

I won’t deny that there were stressful moments most probably due to lack of sleep. We had to spend one night sleeping in the car and I remember thinking I am too old for this shit. However in general I loved the experience. At the risk of sounding pretentious how often does one have a truly existential experience with the process of decision making being removed form everyday life? 

You say in the film you preferred to not know what was coming. Was that the same for everyone?

For me yes and I think in general for all of us. Perhaps late on in the process it may have worn a bit thin for Steve but then he had been through the whole process before. 

Had you travelled to America previously? How different was this trip?

John had studied in America for a year, Steve had been a reporter there and I had lived in LA for a bit trying to make films. I had not experienced this amount of variety before though and that was what has made it a lifelong memory. I mean when else am I going to hang on a ranch with genuine cowboys? 

What was the most surprising experience?

In reality the fact that no body said no to being in the film. Americans just love a big idea and their warmth and hospitality never ceases to amaze me. 

Did any interview have to be cut? (i.e. the Texas trip in the bar?)

I would not say cut exactly but very careful thought was put it as to what to include and what to leave out. One individual had some views about Obama not being born in America. In an hour long program about them you would delve into this but when you only have five minutes to show on them that is not fair. They were decent kind-hearted people but just misinformed by certain media. I figured of you include that in a five minute segment it is what the viewer will remember about them rather than a true reflection of their characters. Obviously if they had been screaming members of the KKK that would be different but this was not the case. 

What did you take away from the whole trip?

That you can’t use phrases like “Americans think this or that”. The USA is like a hundred different countries under one flag. A person from Nebraska is very different from and person from Chicago. Having said that I was constantly amazed at how warm people were. At the end of the day real people may have differences of opinion but we just have a beer together and get on with it. We don’t end up shouting at each other like politicians. 

Have you been pleased by the critical response at film festivals?

Very much so and it has made me confront some of my own prejudices. In Mississippi we won the Audience Award which was a great honour (and  relief as they have lot of guns there and I did not want to be run out of town!) and also the fact that we were able to have great discussions after the film. I found myself having a beer with a Christian Pastor who was a staunch advocate of gay rights. You have to delve below the surface and you find that there is always a better story below the headlines. Also a guy in Kentucky (where we won best documentary) told me how great it was to see a documentary where Native Americans were portrayed in a uplifting light. You can’t help but feel good when you get that kind of response.  

What is the hope for this film in terms of release?

We just want as many people to see the film as possible. At the end of the day you don’t make documentaries to get rich but if in some small way it makes people feel a little bit better about how we can interact with one another and get on then I will be happy with that. I will also take an Oscar though if it’s on offer. 

What is next for the three of you or in a solo role?

We are all good friends so I am sure we will think of something. John has been mainly directing drama recently (Including the film Svengali, The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret and Delicious for Sky).  Steve has another great book out called Gold Fever and is working on another. As for me I am researching two projects one about the USA and one about Sport. I dare say we will all combine on something in the future but I am definitely not sleeping in the same car with them again! 

Follow The Money won Best Documentary at the Louisville International Film Festival, Audience Award at FSFX, Mississippi and was Highly Commended by the LA Film Review of Los Angeles.

If you have a spare evening then please attend the European Premiere at the East End Film Festival on Saturday 17th June and support British documentary film-making, Follow The Money is the sort of film that will leave you with something everlasting.

Follow The Money

Appearing at the East End Film Festival on June 17th at the Hackney Picturehouse, an incisive unique documentary by three British film-makers, Follow The Money marks its European premiere.

Follow the Money tells the story of three British men - John Hardwick, Steve Boggan, Ben Unwin - who travel to America and decide to follow a $10 dollar bill around the United States of America interviewing and following people who gain possession of the note. They start in the very centre of America and from there they encounter people of all creeds and colours, shapes and sizes. From farmers to rodeo riders, from British students in Texas to transgenders in California.

The film which begins on a whimsical idea becomes this other narrative of people becoming happy with their existence, it is an element of luck that they encounter the man who in his words 'hitch-hiked from Iran to America for 19 months' and now runs a highly thought of guitar store in San Francisco.

The most thoughtful moments come from a Native American in Dakota who says the intrepid trio are on a journey searching for bliss or the transient man who is happy to still being chasing his dream albeit when living out of his car.  They encounter people who have to encounter race relations, sexual relations, notions of being gay in America to poor people.

What comes across the film which is shot through hand-held cameras, mobile phones using a lovely Sepia old-time filter for the showing of moments from a by-gone era - is a genuine warmth for the country they are visiting and navigating. 

You also get a sense of the bewilderment of travelling with the wind, not knowing where you are going to end up and yet there is a good feeling towards these foreign strangers from all Americans, there is a can do attitude from all who are happy to share stories and tales with the interviewers.

In this day and age of fear and terrorism, the sense of Love Thy Neighbour comes firmly across through the power of story-telling, story sharing and friendship with a fascination over the unbelievable. 

Follow The Money is a feel good documentary that will leave you with moments of reflection and pride instead of the usual negative emotional tropes associated with the documentary form.

Follow The Money screens as part of the East End Film Festival on Saturday 17th June

Beyond the Edge

This wonderful new documentary tells the story of how a British expedition attempted to climb Mount Everest and how on 29th May 1953, two men Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay conquered the tallest mountain on Earth.  Hilary was a New Zealand beekeeper and Norgay, a Nepalese Sherpa, who together achieved something thought to be impossible.

Beyond the Edge uses archive footage from those who climbed with the group, still photography from base camps and actors in re-enactments; you get a real sense of the enormity of the challenge facing them all.

Along with fellow ground breakers of the time, Roger Bannister and Donald Campbell, Hilary shared with them a deep desire to succeed and achieve beyond the mere limitations of man.  His sheer ambition coupled with an overpowering perfectionism set Hilary apart from the British climbers, that married with his physiological advantage of having climbed in the mountains of New Zealand which held him in good stead for the expedition.

As noted in the film, this climb was the last hurrah seemingly of the British Empire as it was on its last legs as a new dawn was forthcoming in the coronation of a new monarch in Queen Elizabeth II.  The summit was reached on 29th May, and news reached London five days later on 2nd June, the day of the coronation.  Even in those days, happy accidents or PR gurus were in full effect.

The achievement in a period of austerity provided hope to a nation still suffering from post-war blues in the midst of rationing.  However, the effort of one New Zealand beekeeper and his sherpa helped rally a nation; you also get a sense from Hilary in his taped statement of the climb that he did not want to let anyone down in his task.  A feeling shared by most climbers, as in the Irish documentary The Summit (2012) of a failed K2 climb where 13 people died.

Shot with a marker for 3D distribution, the landscape photography is awe-inspiring, the pay off being the majestic 360 degree panoramic shot from the point of view of Hilary as he reaches the summit.

Sixty years after the event that still transfixes people, the conquering of Everest gets the treatment and documentation it deserves from director Leanne Pooley who co-wrote the screen story with Matthew Metcalfe.

Beyond the Edge is released on Friday 23rd May by Metrodome.