Friday 14 September 2012

A Journey Into Darkest Easton…

Sometimes, you come across an article that you suspect might just be a parody:
As a Clifton resident for 25 years, poet David C Johnson knows the middle-class district as well as anyone, but it was when he left behind the comfortable latte-sipping, knit-your-own Audi world of Whiteladies Road, to explore one of the most economically deprived parts of the city, that he found inspiration for a new poem.
Oh, boy..!
Clifton to Easton contrasts the lives of the wealthy Cliftonians with the down-at-heel cheerfulness of Easton folk.
Does it include chirpy chimney-sweeps too?
Now a short film of the poem, produced by Diana Taylor of Redcliffe Films, has won a coveted place at the Berlin Zebra Film Festival – the world's leading festival for poetry films.
Who knew such a thing even existed?
"It's quite an achievement to get the film shown in Berlin," David says.
"Only around one in 10 poetry films submitted for the festival is actually offered a place, so we're delighted to have been chosen.
"I think there is probably something universal about the poem that works for people across Europe, or indeed the world – it's not just about Clifton and Easton. Every city has the dramatic contrast between the wealthy middle-class areas and the economically deprived areas, and often they're very close neighbours. "
Indeed. Sometimes uncomfortably close, with predictably horrific results.
"I have to admit, I'd felt a bit nervous about going down to Easton alone with a digital video camera and filming people," says former BBC producer Diana, who lives in Redland. "But when I went down there one weekend I was so warmly welcomed.
"When I explained about the film I was making, strangers on the street guided me around the area to show me the best greengrocers shops, cafes and mosques that I could film to give a real sense of what life was like in Easton – economically deprived compared to Clifton perhaps, but warm, colourful and ethnically diverse."
Maybe you should ask your ex-colleagues about the benefits these areas bring, Diana?
"It may only be three minutes and 56 seconds long," David says. "But I hope the film encapsulates something quite profound about the way lives are lived across the economic divide, right here in our own city.
"Clifton people would generally be afraid of visiting Stapleton Road and walking around its shops, but that's a real shame, because they will find some wonderfully exotic experiences – from greengrocers that sell six different varieties of yam, to religious studies shops selling Muslim prayer mats and ornate copies of the Qur'an.
"It's an enriching part of a multicultural city, and I think it's a shame that people miss out on seeing it."
That’s their choice, though. Just like my choice is to avoid like the plague any poetry and poetry-related films.

17 comments:

Farenheit211 said...

""It's an enriching part of a multicultural city, and I think it's a shame that people miss out on seeing it.""

Sounds like the sort of wanky guff that Herefordshires Rural Media Project (or any other local authority film project produces**) would come up with. Council funded films, like something produced by Goebells but less popular and watchable.

**I've worked on similar projects and the art it produces is either politicized (guess which side) or completely cack.

Tatty said...

Y'think this one positive poem/film sickly concentrated on the **"positive" side of Islam will stop it's followers who are currently rioting, murdering and burning everything in sight as immediately as that other film did ?

Nah, me neither.

**Beats me why something so completely utterly normal to muslims is being presented as something completely utterly brilliant everyone else simply MUST know about.

When was the last time the fact that a village had a couple of pretty churches and an Asda where you could buy food and mabye a copy of the Bible given so much lavish attention and praise ?

No, they're trying way too hard and it's just not working for anyone...not even themselves.

Anonymous said...

A Pome : by E J Thribb 14⅞

Todae I wenta Easton
Me mummy made me sarnies an packed me a bottle of pop
I hant never before been to Easton
and I shant never go there agin
Its shite ..
But the sarnies was nice

Can I ave me prize now ....

Farenheit211 said...

Anon,sadly that poem could equally be used for places like Tower Hamlets, Newham, Walthamstow, Bradford and coming to a town near you.

DJ said...

Copies of the 'Quran'? Prayer mats? Mosques?

Sounds like 'multi-cultural' Easton turns out to be mightily mono-cultural after all.

DJ said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Farenheit211 said...

DJ, head nail hit

Andy said...

Clifton folk dont go to Easton because they know exactly what its like and they dont want it.

Noggin the Nog said...

Sounds like that bollox from Benjamin Zephaniah a few years back.

Dr Cromarty said...

I lived in Clifton for 9 years. It's lovely. Easton is a shithole. Why anyone would go there in anything other than an armoured personnel carrier is beyond me.

With the growing number of Mohammedans there an armoured personnel carrier may soon be the only way to get there.

Farenheit211 said...

Tatty, when something is so obviously propaganda it turns people off. This is why so much of the pro diversity/pro multiculturalist programming is funded not by those who wish to watch it but by money extorted from the taxpayer.

Furor Teutonicus said...

XX the Berlin Zebra Film Festival

Who knew such a thing even existed? XX

Ahhh, quite, and I bloody LIVE here.

Furor Teutonicus said...

Or do they mean Berlin New-Hampshire?

Blue Burmese said...

Ah, Easton. Famous for Stapleton Road, where you have more chance of getting stabbed than anywhere else in the country, where the clientele of the Job Centre Plus are 80% foreign, and where my wife and her friend were told in no uncertain terms to get the fuck out of there or else by a Somali gang.

blueknight said...

..he is Yasmin Alibi Brown and I claim my £5.

JuliaM said...

"Sounds like the sort of wanky guff that Herefordshires Rural Media Project (or any other local authority film project produces**) would come up with."

I suppose ol' Dave's got to eat. But really, aren't there more honourable professions?

"No, they're trying way too hard and it's just not working.."

The harder they try, the more people ask 'Why?'..

"Copies of the 'Quran'? Prayer mats? Mosques?

Sounds like 'multi-cultural' Easton turns out to be mightily mono-cultural after all."


Spot on!

"Sounds like that bollox from Benjamin Zephaniah a few years back."

Whatever happened to him? He doesn't even crop up on the 'Guardian' much any more.

I guess he's yesterday's man...

JuliaM said...

"With the growing number of Mohammedans there an armoured personnel carrier may soon be the only way to get there."

I wonder what the police response vehicle for that area looks like?

"...and where my wife and her friend were told in no uncertain terms to get the fuck out of there or else by a Somali gang."

Lovely! :/

"..he is Yasmin Alibi Brown and I claim my £5."

Heh!