SERIAC Brian Dunckley : Great hobby in safe hands

[Willy]

Corona, brexit, politics, heated discussions on the BBC... Hated everything... We could only see the beauty of the English countryside online, in "Escape to the Country" and other programmes. It was time to cross the Channel again. 25 May. Vera and I wanted to soak up the friendly atmosphere of SERIAC again. Actually Tonbridge is not far from us. It would be different without our good friends Ron and Joy Prosser, Mary and Peter Rouillard, Reg and Annabelle Lancaster, but we were curious. Border Control in Calais... Oh, dear! It was different... Questions like: What are you going to do in England? Do you have any friends there? ... They didn't want to see our identity cards, but only the passports we had to buy... I had to empty my boot... I understand the problems. Working together with Europe is a must... Actually, we need each other.

The trip by car on the left side of the road was not too bad. In my thoughts I revived "Hop Around the Weald", together with Ron, David, Paul, Joy and some other members of the Haywards Heath Movie Makers. Also the Tonbridge Oast Theatre evoked fond memories. The first one I met was Mike Whyman. He was very busy. He had just done great work at BIAFF in Birmingham. I didn't want to disturb him. Vera and I stayed at the Premier Inn right next to the Theatre. Extremely expensive this time. Rita Hayes, chairman of Seriac, even preferred to spend the night 6 miles away.

Let's hop to the Festival now. I will try to be brief, dear Forum friends. One of you complained about the length of my messages.

In terms of interest we feared SERIAC would become a fiasco. There were only 10 people. Luckily we saw Rod and Liz Willerton, and after the first movies the theatre was half full... 20, 30, 40,... "We received 36 entries for this competition" Rita Hayes, chair of SERIAC, had written in her programme. Brian Dunckley had judged the films again. He said: "It is encouraging to know that filmmaking is alive and well in the South East and that our hobby is in safe hands." And indeed, Vera and I did enjoy what was seen on the big screen. "Quickstep" by the Spingpark Film Makers was very funny. Rod's documentary "Sussex on Line" was very interesting, etc... etc.

During the break I had a chat with one of those promising filmmakers, a Peter McPherson. I had recognized the qualities of his short comedy "Garden Wildlife" (3min45sec) .I asked him if he wanted to participate in a Belgian competition in November. Theme: "Nature". Maximum length of movies: 5 minutes. In the mean time I have subtitled Peter's "Garden Wildlife". Thanks to him the festival will have an international flavour. By the way, the jury comes from the Netherlands!