August Club News

Surrey Border Movie Makers club held their August meeting online.

It consisted of a selection of films being shown which were entered into this year’s BIAFF (British International Amateur Film Festival) the films were chosen by our Chairman. Most of the films shown had been awarded 5 star ratings and they covered very varied subject matters.

‘Yippiyoodoo’ was the first film shown and reviewed by the club’s online audience. This very colourful documentary showing the 2022 Chippenham Folk Festival was packed with many scenes of music, dancing and as you would expect, everyone was having a great time.

The second film called ‘Bird House’ was submitted by a USA filmmaker. This was a drama based on a girl who, as a young child made a birdhouse with her Grandpa, now as a grown woman she reflected on how she still missed her Grandparents and her memories of being with them.

Next ‘United In DiversiTea’ by a German filmmaker was shown. This was a very clever film using a map being assembled in the form of a jigsaw to illustrate the political state of the world in a light-hearted way.

The fourth film to be shown was ‘Do it Harry’ created by a UK filmmaker, the film portrayed a very troubled man considering suicide on a railway station, there was only one actor in the film and the voice of a female which spoke to him over the train announcement system.

The fifth film was called ‘Fly By the Flow Country’ made by Scottish filmmaker Alan Sinclair. The subject of this interesting documentary was the vast area of Blanket Bog in Scotland which is a very important part of the Eco System, it is a huge area and has many special plants and creatures, the peat contributes to the absorption of carbon which locks it into its abundant peat.

Film number six was called ‘Hurt’ and was made by a Polish filmmaker. A man playing guitar on the street was subject to abusive and disruptive behaviour from passers-by, the film shows how he deals with this in his life.

The last film to be shown was called ‘Youtoo’ made by a filmmaker from the Netherlands as a young person’s awareness film, the subject was a young girl keen to become a successful photographic model, unfortunately the photographer in the film was persistent in pushing her to go beyond her comfort zone with some of the poses, she stood her ground, refused and walked out. The film portrayed how proud she was of herself for making the decision of being strong and resilient. This film was declared the Overall Winner of the Festival.

All the films were discussed after each viewing, the club always looks forward to seeing the BIAFF entries each year and has had many 5 star rated films produced by its own members.