Another chance to see Another England
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Commissioned by Durham Book Festival in 2013 from writer Michael Smith and filmmaker Neil Bianco, Another England is a cycle of four films exploring different aspects of life in a northern town on the edges of English society.
The films are a meditation on this marginal, sometimes otherworldly place, and the characters that haunt it. The films each tell a different story, but all ask the same central question: what does it mean to belong to somewhere?
Each film focuses on a different aspect of the complexity of belonging: In Old Town, the town is seen anew through the eyes of a prodigal son returning, in Granada we view the town through the prism of an old neighborhood and a family history crumbling beneath the wrecking balls of an urban redevelopment scheme, in Black Beach we explore the vanishing way of life of the “Tantobies” and their horses and carts as they scratch a living on a derelict, coal-covered beach, and finally in Blue Lagoon, we see the town through the eyes of the misfits who have a romantic and even mystical connection to the wild life and the haunting sense of place of the petrochemical estuary on the edges of the town.
The films were premiered on 19 October at the Town Hall in Durham as part of the 2013 Durham Book Festival.
The project was supported and financed by Arts Council England, Durham County Council, and Durham University and produced by New Writing North.
Michael Smith is a writer, film-maker and broadcaster. He is the author of three works of fiction – The Giro Playboy, Shorty Loves Wing Wong and Unreal City – and has written features for the Guardian, the Observer, the Idler and Dazed and Confused, among others. He has made a number of short films for BBC 2’s The Culture Show. His short film Lost in London was premiered at the Barbican Centre, London, in June 2012. Maxy Neil Bianco is a film-maker who lives and works in Hartlepool. His previous films include Can House and a commission for Channel 4’s Random Acts.
ANOTHER ENGLAND I: OLD TOWN
What does it mean to belong to somewhere? Old Town, the first film in the cycle, looks at the town through the eyes of a prodigal son returning. Written by Michael Smith, directed and edited by Neil Bianco.
ANOTHER ENGLAND II: GRANADA
Granada examines sense of place and belonging through the prism of an old neighbourhood and a family history crumbling below the wrecking balls of an urban redevelopment scheme. Written by Michael Smith, directed and edited by Neil Bianco.
ANOTHER ENGLAND III: BLACK BEACH
Black Beach explores the vanishing way of life of the “Tantobies” and their horses and carts as they scratch a living on a derelict, coal-covered beach. Written by Michael Smith, directed and edited by Maxy Neil Bianco.
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ANOTHER ENGLAND IV: BLUE LAGOON
Blue Lagoon, the final film in the cycle, looks at the town through the eyes of the misfits who have a romantic and even mystical connection to the wildlife of the petrochemical estuary on the edges of the town. Written by Michael Smith, directed and edited by Maxy Neil Bianco.