Making films for charity

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Willy Van der Linden

Making films for charity

Post by Willy Van der Linden »

Last weekend I was in England. My friend Brian had asked me to shoot his performance
together with some other musicians in St. Peter's church in Boughton Monchelsea,
a Kentish village near Maidstone. At the entrance you could buy tickets.
All money was for charity. The atmosphere was amazing. There was a flower
festival in the church. Everybody was singing. Everybody was drinking wine
or water. After a quarter of an hour I decided to take close ups of all the
people in the church. During the interval the audience left the church and
they all had a picnic in the churchyard. After the interval the jolly performance
continued. My friend and his mates told jokes on the stage. Not all the songs
were masterpieces of poetry. At about 11 pm the concert was over. It had
been almost the longest day of the year, but it was already dark outside.
What a difference with the atmosphere in our Belgian churches ! I am a doubting
Thomas, but I felt fantastic. It was emotional. The last song was called
"Peace Will Come". Then it was calm. Socializing, being together, singing
together, having a chat and a drink and some food in the church, in the House
of God... That must be possible. I enjoyed the informal and friendly meeting
of all those people. They all formed one devout family. This is part of the
English culture. This is unique. I wonder if our English friends themselves
realize this. Eventually I decided to edit the film, not only for my friend,
but also for the parish church of Boughton Monchelsea. Some parishioners
had asked me to buy a copy of my film. The vicar and his friends can sell
as many copies of my film as they want, but it must be for charity in order
to help poor people. Also this is typically English. Making such a film
for an English festival is perhaps a bit ridiculous, because it's not an
extraordinary theme to the English viewers I think. In Belgium, however,
my friends will be astonished seeing people drinking in a church and having
a picnic in a churchyard.
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