Saturday 25 February 2017 – 12:45
72 mins
Certificate: DFF PG
Venue: Dorking Halls
The Dorking Film Festival asked filmmakers in Surrey, the South-East and the rest of the UK to send us their short films. Here are seven of the best documentaries. We present an intimate portrait of a chapel in Wales, a look at the marine aggregate industry on the south coast and the document that officially ended World War Two in Europe. A prize will be awarded to the best film in this group at the first prize-giving session at 14:15.
Documentary Short Film programme
Chapel
Director: Timothy Forder, UK 2016, 24 mins.
The focus is on Carvan, a tiny chapel set in rugged landscape of Pembrokeshire, West Wales. With chapels closing at a rate of one a week, the filmmakers meet a quirky but aging community determined to keep their chapel open.
Don’t Hate, Donate
Director: Jay Para, UK 2016, 12 mins.
Grassroots reaction in Portsmouth to the international refugee crisis in Syria created the charity Don’t Hate, Donate. This film looks at the charity and its work to collect, sort, and distribute food and clothes for refugees.
Relict Material
Director: Amanda Loomes, UK 2015, 16 mins.
Originally presented as a film installation co-commissioned by HOUSE 2015 and Photoworks, this film looks at the marine aggregate industry and its use in concrete manufacture in the UK. Shot on location at quarrying and industrial sites along the Sussex coast it presents a rare glimpse of one part of the UK’s construction sector.
Steelphalt Slag
UK 2016, 3 mins.
Corporate film detailing the use of SteelPhalt, a type of road asphalt made using steel slag, in roads in South Yorkshire. Slag is often used in cement and concrete manufacture and this application offers a further use for the steel-making by-product as part of the circular economy.
Take 5 on the Bank
Director: Peter Frost, UK 2015, 6 mins.
Take five minutes to watch this candid observation of life, tourism and street performers. Surrey Border Movie Makers Peter Frost peeks guerrilla-style and people and places along London’s South Bank.
Voices
Director: Jay Singh, UK 2015, 4 mins.
Voices young, old and in-between answer and reflect upon the question, ‘What’s going on?’ Set to images of mostly London and further afield the musings of the everyday prove that everybody has a story to tell.
Writing the Peace
Director: A D Cooper, UK 2016, 11 mins.
In May 1945, a document was signed that ended World War Two in Europe. But who wrote the words that changed the course of the 20th Century? This film reveals that it was written by an actor turned soldier called John Counsell.
Image from Relict Material
