As movie premieres go, this one was pretty low-key. A friendly independent cinema in Lancaster, midweek screening, getting on for teatime. Local writers, local filmmakers, local actors, were gathered there to watch a time-travel comedy on the big screen. Everyone seemed to like it. A lot of people there helped make it.
It had all started with my primary school writers’ group, who over several months worked up a story, then with guidance turned it into a screenplay and handed it over to indie collective Lancaster Film Initiative. Then it was tin-rattling time. A crowdfunding campaign was launched. A county council grant was chased, and won. Local businesses pitched in with sponsorship. The school held fundraising events. There were some very generous personal donations, and a tsunami of tenners. We raised nearly £22,000.
The finished short film, Angeline, represents a remarkable community enterprise. It’s also, at a time of desperate underfunding for the arts, an act of defiance. Back in pre-austerity 2010, local government arts funding in Britain was £1.19bn. It’s been in freefall ever since, dropping to just £539m last year. The team behind Angeline managed to swerve that trend, using grassroots fundraising and the turbocharged goodwill of parents, teachers and creatives to power through.
