Award-winning documentary filmmaker, Yvette Vanson - Londoner

Описание: Yvette Vanson is an award-winning documentary producer-director. She tells her journey into the business to girls and women on a Chocolate Films filmmaking workshop in Wandsworth, South London. Over 5 days, the 12 girls and women aged 12 to 50 developed documentary filmmaking skills and made their very own short film.

This project was funded by Peabody Homes and The London Community Foundation.

1000 LONDONERS

This film is part of 1000 Londoners, a ten-year digital project which aims to create a digital portrait of a city through 1000 of the people who identify themselves with it. The profile contains a 3 minute film that gives an insight into the life of the Londoner, as well as their personal photos of London and some answers to crucial questions about their views on London life. Over the course of the project we aim to reveal as many facets of the capital as possible, seeing city life from 1000 points of view.

www.1000londoners.com
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www.facebook.com/1000londoners
Twitter @1000_Londoners
Instagram @1000_londoners

1000 Londoners is produced by South London based film production company and social enterprise, Chocolate Films. The filmmakers from Chocolate Films will be both producing the films and providing opportunities to young people and community groups to make their own short documentaries, which will contribute to the 1000 films. Visit www.chocolatefilms.com

TRANSCRIPT

(facilitator Ruth) Action! (filmmaker) Yvette, Can you introduce yourself for us please? (Yvette) I can. My name is Yvette Vanson and I was a producer-director of documentaries and some dramas for about 20 years.

I grew up in Surrey, in a very rich county, went to a little school, did the usual things except what I suppose was rather extraordinary was that both my parents were very politically active. From a very early age, I was in committee rooms, I was taking numbers on polling day, I was delivering leaflets, all of that was going on and I found that interesting. But then of course as I got older I got a little bit more radical. So that took me off in another direction.

Getting into the business? Oh I found it extremely hard. I was so thrilled and excited when right at the end of my degree, I applied at the BBC and I got a place in the Community Programme Unit that was helping local communities make documentary films. But then I got blacklisted, because of my politics and that was a real blow. I had been in a very left-wing organisation, but I hadn't been for a very long time. So I was told: you can't take the job. And that was very disappointing. I started applying for any job, every job I could think of. And in the end I got a place at Ruskin College in Oxford to make Trade Union programmes and then I went on to work at the Social Services Department, making training films.

What I try to do through my work, is combat injustice, give people a voice, not be afraid to take on issues that nobody else will tackle, speak out loudly with and for other people. I suppose my biggest achievement in documentaries was giving a voice to those people. I did the first ever television interview with the Lawrences, the parents of Stephen who was murdered by white racist thugs. Two of them finally did get put behind bars. And I went on then to make a film about Stephen's life, which won a BAFTA. So I was pretty proud of achieving that, I have to say.

(filmmaker) What advice would you give to aspiring female filmmakers? (Yvette) Do it. Don't talk about it. I think the main thing is to know what you want to say and why you want to say it. And then, with passion, determination, integrity, you'll get there.