A new series of films showing West Dorset people and their lives has been shot by Windrose, the rural media trust whose old films about the area have delighted audiences in Bridport and beyond.
The new video portraits of ten local people, including balloonist Steve Davis, singer Penny Dunscombe and brewer Darren Batten, form the Forever Archive, which is being shown at Bridport Arts Centre on Tuesday 20 November.
Windrose’s Trevor Bailey said: “We are all part of history. This new show will combine archive film from the past with the new.
“For some 28 years we have been saving old films of life in Dorset. Some of them go back to the 1910s and we have turned up plenty of films from every subsequent decade.
“It is amazing what you find with the help of local people. Work, school, social life, transport, eccentric interests – it is all there on old films because some very perceptive people thought to record it in moving image.
“The shows we have put on in village halls, theatres, arts centres and cinemas over the years have attracted tens of thousands.
“It is vitally important to preserve and copy old films so that they can be seen again. But it is just as important to go on filming new records of life today and of the people who give richness to that life.”
The Forever Archive shows that film archiving goes on for ever, with people’s lives being just as interesting as those of our forebears.
Said Mr Bailey: “To demonstrate that, we have created video portraits of local people, their lives and work and how they see the world around them. These are short pieces which we can show alongside old films.”
James Harrison, who has worked with Trevor Bailey in shooting the new video portraits that will appear in the show and who has had the main responsibility for shaping them, said: “What we have done is to find a very varied group of West Dorset people who are fascinating for themselves and for their view of life in the area at this moment in history.
“We were helped enormously by well-known West Dorset writer and journalist Margery Hookings whose local knowledge and contacts proved invaluable. In fact we ended up making one of the video portraits about Margery herself!”
The people filmed were: Singing teacher Penny Dunscombe, photographer Kris Dutson, Dorchester tour guide Alistair Chisholm, Lord and Lady Sandwich from the Mapperton estate, Palmers head brewer Darren Batten, apple farmer Rupert Best, balloonist Steve Davis, New Hardy Player Emily Fearn and writer Margery Hookings.
Forever Archive – a film show of West Dorset and its people, past and present
Bridport Arts Centre Tuesday 20th November 2012 at 8.00 pm Price £6
Box Office: 01308 424204 info@bridport-arts.com www.bridport-arts.com
