Films from the East 2013

In the House, 5 mins, Living Films. A documentary by Richard House Children’s Hospice filmmakers’ group from Beckton.

Turn Back Time, AbPhab, 18 mins, 2010. Produced and filmed by a group of young people from the Ab-phab group in Barking and Dagenham. The group spent a year exploring local archives, visiting museums and finding out about their local history, as well as learning camera, filming, oral history interviewing and editing skills. They also explored the history of disabled workers from REMPLOY in Dagenham and discovered a wonderful resource of archive film footage which is included in the film.

The People’s Park, AbPhab, 20 mins. The People’s Park. In this film, AbPhab meet older residents from Barking and explore the history of their beloved park.

We’ll Meet Again, AbPhab 3 mins. As part of their Making Music project, AbPhab recorded their own version of Vera Lynn’s ever- popular song We’ll Meet Again.

A Job for Me, Ab-Phab, 10 mins, 2012. Made by the young people from the Ab-Phab youth group in Barking and Dagenham, the film explores the opportunities for young disabled people in looking and finding a job, and tells moving stories of their hopes, aspirations and dreams for the future.

Memory Games10 mins, 2012. Paralympics Gold medallist Beverly Gull MBE describes her journey to become the best swimmer in the world, winning 8 gold medals for Britain in the 1988 and 1992 Paralympics Games. The film also features local sporting heroes from Barking and Dagenham, including disabled world swimming record holder Craig Moate.

Voices from The Green PlaceEast London NHS service users, 12 mins, 2011. A video diary by an allotment group telling the story of what can be done when people work together to get back on their feet.

Together! Talking Point: Breakdown in Communication, Film Workshop Participants, 12 mins, 2012. Participants made this at the Together! film-making workshops with Gary Thomas on 5 & 6 December 2012. A round table discussion takes place between disabled and Deaf people. Are the barriers that Deaf job-seekers face solely due to lack of awareness of the Access to Work scheme? Or do the real problems begin at the JobCentre?

Narrowthon, David Morris, 12 mins, 2009. At first this simply appears to be a fairly amateurish attempt at recording the London Marathon, as the late David Morris and his PA watch the runners in their colourful charity fundraising costumes. As the film progresses, though, the choice of imagery and music tells another story too. The whole world appears to be represented among the ‘runners’ — many at this stage are strolling — but not Morris and his peers.

As the final sub-titles tell, only ‘elite’ wheelchair athletes are allowed to compete. Morris is banned from taking part, because he is a ‘health and safety risk’ and ‘does not display athletic endeavour’ — both statements which might sound reasonable, had they not been juxtaposed with footage of hundreds of athletes who could more easily be put into that category. Instead Morris is destined to be the subject of the charity, the beneficiary of other people’s good will — with the ultimate goal, of course, of preventing people like him from being born. Nonetheless, some of the final shots show him disappearing up the street after the rest of the competitors, as he defiantly and characteristically joins in regardless.

Narrow, David Morris, 6 mins, 2009. Narrow — also filmed near Narrow Street — reflects the late David Morris’s growing love for and interest in his adopted East London home and the ever-present Thames. Video footage of the river and his immediate neighbourhood from his weekend walks are accompanied by Morris reading Thomas Burke’s 1916 descriptions in Limehouse Nights, before he segues into his own poetic responses in Burke’s style. Accompanied by Morris’s characteristic use of video filters, the work highlights the darker undercurrents masked by the ‘new’ Docklands.

Atos Stories, Act Up Theatre Company, 13 mins, 2013. An excerpt from Act Up’s powerful drama about the impact of Atos assessments on disabled people.

Dodge Wood, Living Films, 4 mins. Richard House Children’s Hospice filmmakers’ group from Beckton present a comedy Western.