Working in partnership for the people of Herefordshire
The River of Life (Phase 2)
Following the success of the one-year ‘The River of Life’ project in 2004, the Borderlines Film Festival team came back with a three-year long project. Once more looking for archives of film and video materials, The River of Life (2) project broadened its scope.As before, research was done nationally and regionally as well as locally, but this time the local element had evolved. The research also included a certain amount of concentration on finding films and videos that were in private hands, either from individuals or businesses. All the materials discovered were catalogued and a number of them were selected for a rights clearance and licensing process before being adapted, transferred onto broadcast formats and made into a series of short films, which can be seen alone or as one whole. Copyright remains with the donor.
For this second, and longer, archive project, the team were looking for more recent footage from the 1960s, 1970s, and beyond, alongside the very early footage that was still being found. The films sourced were picked to directly reflect the distinctive historical, environmental and cultural aspects of the rivers and floodplains of the four rivers within the LEADER+ area.
The materials selected were screened to (primarily) local audiences annually during the Borderlines Film Festival, which included screenings at The Courtyard as well as Flicks in the Sticks venues. This was not only entertaining, but furthered the knowledge, awareness and appreciation of Herefordshire’s unique environment, landscape and culture. A wider aim of this project was to raise the profile of Herefordshire locally, and throughout the region and the nation, as an innovative county.
In addition to presenting the films during these three festivals, other important elements of the whole project were
- To undertake on-going evaluation with audiences
- To prepare marketing and promotion for screenings during the Festival
- To write-up and publish the research findings and evaluation results
The project allowed people to get involved through searching their own attics, cellars, and cupboards to find archive film as well as being an audience member at the screenings. It delighted in encouraging residents, old and young, past and present, to be a part of this preservation of Herefordshire’s history and heritage.
Naomi Vera-Sanso
Tel: (01547) 540159
Email: naomivs@borderlinesfilmfestival.co.uk