Let's get to the meat of it - we have been utterly terrible at keeping this blog up to date. I'd be tempted to say that we've been busy, but don't you just hate that word? What busy translates to is prioritising time, and those 24hours in a day are something we all have. While we've been working on cool stuff, the blog has simply dropped down the priority list.
Yet, I'm hopeful I can now dedicate a window to one of my first love's, writing, on each Friday. I've recently written a piece for the delightful Cranked magazine - a veritable smorgasbord of cultures mashed into smooth, matt 200 gsm paper. It really is great - Cranked that is - and I'm pretty happy with the piece. It's about a project that really was a labour of love (another yucky phrase) for us - The Slymefoot Slide . This overly ambitious project seeks to raise awareness about the state of our rivers, both the bad, and potential for life-altering good. Being based in rural Northumberland, and able to walk down to the banks of the Coquet from our studio it's hard not to get absorbed in the environment. We are extremely privileged to interact with it on a day to day basis, without having the pressures of needing it to behave in certain ways to protect our income. So, over time, my obsession with our river built into action, and I still volunteer with the Rivers Trust, and managed to drag everyone along on an esoteric route, that I believe people will love. They might also get inspired to see what a heathy river system looks like, and hopefully protect theirs. If you like big spaces, clean water, rough around the edges but stoic, wonderful people, then this route is for you.
Despite spending most of my year obsessing about Salmon, we also managed to collaborate with one of my most favouratist (stop changing it spell check..) people ever, mr Joe Barnes. Now we're both of a certain vintage with little people in tow, the idea to celebrate the good times with children blossomed. So, like all good people do, we decided to make a film about it. They say you shouldn't work with animals and children, and I can certainly empathise with this take - but the work we do is a process, not a product, and if you want to make good films, then you better be up for leaning into that mantra. The crew on this one were dialled and it's always a pleasure to hit the road with the team.
In the recess from my ramblings, it's worth pointing out that everyone is fed up of me playing "The last rotation of earth" by BC Camplight on repeat, but man that piano playing is incredible. It's get up and dance kind of mood inducing, and if you've ever seen my moves or reticence towards dancing, you'll know that's something. Give me a break you lot.
Getting back to the script, we've finished up a lovely wee film with the two legends that are Huw Oliver and Annie Evans. I'd like to say we rode their entire new route with them, and filmed the whole thing, but alas, we haven't reached glute tone stage 5 yet. So, we worked with them in a really wonderful, collaborative way. If I'm gushing, it's because they are two fantastic human beings who do brilliant things. We filmed 3 days with them and put this film together using both our own and their footage.
In between sitting at my desk and getting immensely frustrated by the Rubix cube, we've also gone on another meandering journey with Manon Carpenter about Storm Arwen. This has been a big team effort - not helped by me lying in bed for 4 days while on location (thanks for taking on the burden Liam!) . We've looked at everything from mental health to environmental and societal vulnerabilities - which we know are huge - but at the end of it, we've created a film that hopefully shows a route forward as to how we can play a role in the future of our landscapes.
One thing the film has highlighted to me is how little people understand the landscape of Britain from an ecological rather than cultural perspective. Being the son of an upland farmer, the cultural pull to my heart is very strong. My great hope is that we can produce food, restore our depleted nature, retain communities and strengthen cultures. The big stumbling block is money - it exists in our economy, we simply the need the will to direct it where needed. With climate change accelerating at a faster pace than we previously thought, adaptation as well as mitigation will be crucial to a prosperous future.
The film will be launched in April, and we'll be running some fundraisers and film nights around it.
On another note, we've recently being seeing a lot of chat about a fantastic documentary created by two North East filmmakers - The Big Sea - This is an important piece of work that took bravery to create and needs to be seen and heard widely.
