Listening to Britain

Postcodes, the new documentary from Bristol based filmmaker Neil Maggs, focuses on the local and urges us to listen to each other in order to understand community issues whilst Blue Has No Borders collects a spectrum of voices from the Brexit divide in Folkestone to try and find common ground on this divisive issue. 

These two films provided the starting point for our Listening to Britain season which brings together a selection of contemporary documentaries inviting us to listen to Britain afresh, from a new generation of young female activists in Gentle Angry Women to the fleeting nature of fame, and the ever-changing landscape of British society and cultural tastes in Still Pushing Up Pineapples.  

This documenting tradition draws on roots from as far back as the Mass Observation project the 1930s, a unique UK social history project that captures everyday life through diaries, surveys, and recordings by volunteers and investigators, aiming to create an "anthropology of ourselves" by documenting ordinary people's experiences, feelings, and thoughts. Humphrey Jennings, one of the founders of the Mass Observation project would continue that ethos into his own documentary filmmaking creating a body of work which put the ordinary lived life on screen. (The title of the season comes from his film Listen to Britain which you can watch for free online).

The season opens with a discussion between season curator Mark Cosgrove and Mandy Rose, Professor of Documentary & Digital Cultures at UWE Bristol exploring the history of this documentary tradition.