Calendar customs/Doc Rowe film campaign

Subject: RE: Calendar customs/Doc Rowe film campaign
From: GUEST,BlackAcornUK
Date: 22 Oct 23 - 06:24 AM

Thanks, and a fair point - as far as I know there actually isn't any material from NI or Ireland, so the most accurate shorthand would probably be 'mainland Britain'

PS in 3 days, we've already SMASHED our first target - 9k raised, which enables us to digitise all of Doc's calendar custom film material from the 60s and 70s!

Subject: RE: Calendar customs/Doc Rowe film campaign
From: GUEST,IS
Date: 24 Oct 23 - 04:11 AM

Congratulations on the growing success of the project!

Doc's own website says "Since the sixties he has been recording and filming cultural tradition and vernacular arts, folklore, song and dance of Britain and Ireland."

So it seems like there might actually be material from Ireland in there. In any case, 'British Isles' is such a problematic term for me and for many others, that I'm not sure I can support the Crowdfunder until it's removed. Rightly or wrongly, it makes me concerned about the political agenda of the film makers/production company and how that will affect the outcome of the film. Will, as so often happens, 'England' be conflated with 'Britain' or the spurious entity known as 'The United Kingdom'"? How much Irish, Scottish, Scottish Gaelic and Welsh material will feature?

As Doc himself uses the term 'Britain and Ireland', perhaps you could use it instead of the politically contested 'British Isles'. Actually, 'England, Cornwall, Scotland, Wales and Ireland' would be even better!

Good luck with it all.

Subject: RE: Calendar customs/Doc Rowe film campaign
From: GUEST,IS
Date: 06 Nov 23 - 08:21 AM

Again in the Observer article we have the film maker using the contentious term "British Isles". The author of the piece manages to avoid it, favouring "Britain and Ireland", as does Doc Rowe himself. I really think that the film makers would do themselves a service to consider this sensitivity, one from which as Englishmen they're probably rather sheltered.

Subject: RE: Calendar customs/Doc Rowe film campaign
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Nov 23 - 09:01 AM

A great venture, even recognised by 'Today' this morning, without the mocking tone of John Humphreys in the Reg Hall interview when the 'Voice of the People CDs' were issued.

The dislike of the 'British Isles' phrase is valid- we Scots have had nearly eighty years of WW2 being portrayed on film as being between the Nazis and ze Engerlanders.... different point but the same unconscious mindset (we would hope) which annoys Scots, Irish and Welsh people so much......

Subject: RE: Calendar customs/Doc Rowe film campaign
From: Rain Dog
Date: 05 Nov 23 - 07:19 AM

Article from The Observer

One-man's-mission-to-record-all-of-british-folklore

Subject: RE: Calendar customs/Doc Rowe film campaign
From: BillE
Date: 31 Oct 23 - 10:36 AM

Refresh

Subject: RE: Calendar customs/Doc Rowe film campaign
From: GUEST,BlackAcornUK
Date: 20 Oct 23 - 07:27 AM

Whether you can give or not at this time, please do also follow our social media accounts, invite others to, share our content and generally help spread the word. This Linktree URL will help you find our Facebook, Twitter/X and Instagram, all in one place:

https://linktr.ee/docrowearchive

Subject: RE: Calendar customs/Doc Rowe film campaign
From: GUEST,BlackAcornUK
Date: 20 Oct 23 - 07:29 AM

Lastly from me for now - if you are part of organisations/societies/networks that could help us to spread the word, please say hello below, and let's work out how to connect!


Longer-term, if your organisation, Morris side, folk club etc could be interested in helping us to arrange screenings, let's talk about that, too (if the stars align, the aim is to release the film perhaps around May Day next year).

With all further thanks, John

Subject: RE: Calendar customs/Doc Rowe film campaign
From: GUEST,BlackAcornUK
Date: 21 Oct 23 - 04:28 AM

Quick update - we're at over 25% funded in less than 48 hours, including a donation from... NEIL GAIMAN!!

Subject: RE: Calendar customs/Doc Rowe film campaign
From: GUEST,IS
Date: 21 Oct 23 - 07:30 AM

Great campaign, but it rankles with me a little the use of the term 'British Isles' on the Crowdfunder page. Could it maybe be 'Britain and Ireland' instead? That way you might get more funders from Ireland or indeed other places which might reject the aforesaid term.

Subject: Calendar customs/Doc Rowe film campaign
From: GUEST,BlackAcornUK
Date: 20 Oct 23 - 07:26 AM

Hello - over the past few years I've been making a documentary about British calendar customs, focusing on Doc Rowe; doing so alongside Directors Rob Curry and Tim Plester, who also made Way of the Morris and The Ballad of Shirley Collins.

Through this project, the urgency of protecting Doc's globally important collection has been strongly emphasised;

Towards this, we've just launched a Crowdfunding campaign to digitise all of Doc's moving image footage of the British ritual year, from the 1960s to the present. If successful, the material will be hosted/made available by EFDSS, and we'll also be able to use chunks of Doc's amazing, vivid footage to complete our own feature-length film.

If you have any interest in these customs and traditions, please do consider contributing to the campaign:

crowdfunder.co.uk/p/docrowe

...We're already 10% of the way there, 24 hours in, and if we can keep that momentum up we'll get extra coverage that can help get us over the line!!