Rusthall, Community Cinema and Iran
We have just finished two days of our first Community Cinema Film Festival in the small village of Rusthall where the famous Toad Rock holds court, the unusual sandstone outcrop which a research archaeologist and author of The Secret of the Stones, Geoffrey Crockford, believes could have been the centre of an early Bronze Age ancient people's temple complex more than 4,000 to 5,000 years ago.
Rusthall is a magical village
which navigates an interesting history where Mesolithic, hunter-gatherers’ dwellings are still found amidst the sandstone rocks hidden away on the commons. (Common land is land owned by a person or collectively by a number of persons, over which other persons have certain common rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect wood, or to cut turf for fuel* Wikipedia.)
The Tunbridge Wells and Rusthall commons have long been grazing land, a place to pick wild berries, camp out, get lost in its forever trails where live naughty foxes, smart badgers and less than timid muntjac deer, a little Chinese deer with an angelic stripe on its head which was brought to the Southeast along with Chinese Camellia flowers which sprouted in jars on boats during the long journey from China to England.
Walking from Tunbridge Wells commons into Rusthall through the ancient rock formations, there are honeysuckle vines, the ‘green elfcup’ fungus which grows on fallen branches changing its colour to a dusky blue, once used for the small and decorative inlaid boxes called Tunbridge Wells Ware. There is Princess Anne's Oak, planted around 1700 for Princess Anne, who succeeded to the throne as Queen of England in 1702. The townsfolk loved her for gifting a stone basin for the spring which made Tunbridge Wells a famous spa town.
There are tiny violets, lilies and poppies which poke their little heads around clumps of woodland. I have seen field mice sleeping under the green canopy of bracken on hot summer days, and water rats, sweet-faced, not sly or big and greedy like their cousin the urban rat.
There is feeling of something too ancient to tell, a calling that belongs only to these primordial paradises.
My mother remembers the Romanichal Gypsies on the common when she was a little girl. I also remember travellers with their vans back in the days before Margaret Thatcher’s law which made it a criminal offence to spend more than a few weeks in one place.
There are 3 pubs in Rusthall,
a pond affectionally called Cabbage Stalk Lane Pond on the road to High Rocks, the Toad Rock, that extraordinary rock which really does look like a toad, a bakery, and a church. There are of course, local ghosts - the headless horseman in battledress and the ghost dog which lives in the Red Lion pub. There is also a history of solidarity. Last year in Tunbridge Wells and Rusthall 148 homes opened their doors to Ukrainian refugees. Karen and Eugene Gardner, who are organisers of the Community Cinema, were the first to help a Ukrainian family. This is the second time in Rusthall’s history of fostering love to others. The first was in 1937 when the Beacon home opened to the Basque children who were evacuated during the Spanish Civil War. The home also helped 30 Jewish children. You can read the account here by Anne Goldstein, trustee of Rusthall Community Cinema.
Rusthall is a community. With a big C.
I joined the cinema club between bouts of lockdown in 2021.
This is not arthouse or trendy with a coffee machines and surround sound. There is a small kitchen with an urn, the latest purchase, where volunteers make teas and coffee while Rosemary sets up her kitchen and Karen bakes incredible cakes.
There is a raffle and a selection of short films, chosen carefully to accompany the longer film. It is collaborative, for anyone and everyone.
Having come from the grandeur of the Chinese cinema state - Qingdao Film City -where I worked for 5 years and the Beijing Film Academy university with its large projector screens and multimillion RMB rig outs, this simple community hall with its hardback chairs, two formica tables for food and a projector that does not always have the best sound was comforting, soulful and reminiscent of some of our Montreal venues back in the early 2000s, which were nothing more than start-ups in cafes or someone’s basement yet became beacons of our communities.
Our festival was born from an idea to encourage locals to make films about their community. Eugene and Anne launched the festival on FilmFreeway with a local community theme for beginners. Karen created the poster and I gave some workshops.
After on month we had only two entries!
So, we changed the criteria. By July we had over 250 films from 46 countries. And out of the 250 about 20 were from Iran. We spent 43 hours viewing films. Three of the other judges dug in tightly and amazingly watched every single film from A-Z!
I suddenly knew what it felt like to be the judge and not the filmmaker. How heartless we could be I would think, until watching a film again when in doubt. Yes, this film does not make sense! But the time, the energy, oh, how I know what it is like to pave one’s way through hours of footage, and send it off with the hope it will be chosen for their festival.
The selection was eclectic. Here are two trailers from from the 15th October
Sensibility, by Ben Kernow. A farce - High Society is a battleground. One must be willing to fight to maintain one’s place... The Howards find themselves on the outskirts of London Society, however the unexpected arrival of a young eligible bachelor, and a Duke at that, offers the promises of a lifetime. The only thing standing in their way is themselves.
Beer for Grandpa, by Jędrka Kocjana. Michael’s grandpa has died. Nonetheless he sends his grandson to the grocery.
We decided to do a separate night on the 16th October called a Quiet Revolution, exploring Contemporary Iranian Cinema, as interestingly most entries were by men showing the everyday struggles of Iranian women. Films came to us from notable filmmakers such as Yaser Talebi who made the film BELOVED in 2019.
Of course at the time of preparing the festival we did not know that Iran would explode with anger, desperation and frustration due to the death of Mahsa Amini,
At the time of writing this on Sunday, 22 October the situation has now become a revolution with many factories and schools joining in strikes.
We put together a touching assemble with a discussion. It was very special
The hall was almost full. We had in the audience the talented Iranian composer Farhad Poupel who has only been in the UK for seven months. He gave us an incredible insight into what was happening in Iran.
I opened the afternoon with this simple introduction.
I have a deep affection for Iran having married an Iranian refugee from Hamadan in 1991. We met in Sydney, Australia. We went and lived in Iran in 1995, where I had the chance to work a proof-reader for IRNA, the Iranian news station – the English news.
I have kept Iranian ties through my Iranian passport, friends and am in contact with our daughter’s family regularly.
Since Mahsa’s death over 4 weeks ago, Iran has changed and women, men, and children from all walks of life are talking to the streets, no longer afraid of death or of arrest.
We decided to choose today as a special Iranian themed day due to the number of amazing films from Iran, ironically by men. At the time these films were sent to us, we decided upon the title ‘The Quiet Revolution.’ Due to the intense, sudden and incredible situation in Iran I also give the name Our Land is Black, echoing the 1963 documentary THE HOUSE IS BLACK on a leper colony by the poetess and filmmaker Forugh Farrokhzad.
The House is Black was a metaphor for the life in Iranian society at the time of the Shah.
Farough was killed in a car accident in 1967. Her words live on in her poem Captive so representative of Iran today.
“Captive”
The Captive (Asir ) by Forugh Farrokhzad
I want you, yet I know that never
can I embrace you to my heart's content.
you are that clear and bright sky.
I, in this corner of the cage, am a captive bird.
from behind the cold and dark bars
directing toward you my rueful look of astonishment,
I am thinking that a hand might come
and I might suddenly spread my wings in your direction.
I am thinking that in a moment of neglect
I might fly from this silent prison,
laugh in the eyes of the man who is my jailer
and beside you begin life anew.
I am thinking these things, yet I know
that I cannot, dare not leave this prison.
even if the jailer would wish it,
no breath or breeze remains for my flight.
from behind the bars, every bright morning
the look of a child smile in my face;
when I begin a song of joy,
his lips come toward me with a kiss.
O sky, if I want one day
to fly from this silent prison,
what shall I say to the weeping child's eyes:
forget about me, for I am captive bird?
I am that candle which illumines a ruins
with the burning of her heart.
If I want to choose silent darkness,
I will bring a nest to ruin. I think about it and yet I know
I’ll never be able to leave this cage
Even if the warden should let me go
I’ve lost the strength to fly away.
The films:
This is a Man's World - Parastoo Azad
A woman takes a cab through a tough Iranian man's world.
Nazpari - Mohammad Reza Mohammadi,
Even though your parents love you and want you to marry well, how can a girl extricate herself from an arranged marriage she doesn’t want? A little Afghan girl, Nazpari, shows you how.
Forbidden Birth - Sohrab Kavir
At Leila's surprise birthday party, she reveals that she is pregnant. Her friends help her to work out her options.
I Won’t Remain Alone - Yaser Talebi
A blind octogenarian and his wife, living in poverty, make a moral decision on the death of their son. A film crew visits the couple to witness a moving end to their decision.
Quarantine Majid Mirhashemi
During the Covid quarantine, a mother and daughter find a way around the attitudes of the family patriarch.
Here are messages from two Iranian filmmakers which we were sent yesterday after they received their awards online.
"I thank you with all my heart, it is a pleasure to participate with you in the festival, and I hope to participate again my new film next year in your festival as well. "
Mazen Haj kassem
" I am really grateful to you. I hope your great festival will continue every year and be the voice of peace and friendship in the world.
With Best Wishes
Majid Mirhashemi"
It was simply a beautiful day!
Thank you Rusthall Community Cinema
Coming soon a Udemy course in “how to get started making your first documentary EVER”
Have a wonderful week ahead
If any of you are interested in film production, scrapbooking and digital storytelling, go to my website at scatterflix where you will find tips for making your first documentary.
I also offer Scrapbooking. Digital Storytelling and Filmmaking at Sevenoaks Adult Education Centre
Jeanne, with love
A touching celebration of art in a traumatic place and that haunting poem...