a Role to Play

Director: Esther Johnson

Year: 2022

DUST &amp; METAL (CAT BUI &amp; KIM LOAI) brings together for the first time a live cinema documentary featuring past and present stories of freedom in Vietnam. With a population of 97 million, and 45 million registered motorbikes (the highest in South East Asia) that’s almost one bike for every two people. The urban roads and ‘hem’ alleys are only accessible by two-wheels. These roads are awash with the transportation of goods of all types and sizes on the back of motorbikes, including washing machines, entire families, and chickens. The sounds of engines and horns create a symphony of Vietnamese life. In a unique partnership with the Vietnam Film Institute, archive film is edited alongside contemporary footage and a live score composed/performed by Vietnamese artist Xo Xinh.<br /> Official Selection Sheffield DocFest 2022 - Rhythms - World premiere

Director: Esther Johnson

Year: 2016

The story of what happened to an English town during World War One with almost all of its men fighting abroad and its women and children left behind. The North East was in the front line, thanks to its shipyards and munitions factories.<br /> Using archive and contemporary footage and audio, this film collages the stories of people from Tyneside and Wearside to uncover just what life was like on the home front, with bombs falling on Britain for the first time, conscientious objectors sentenced to death, and women working as doctors, tram conductors and footballers. The narrative moves from an Edwardian golden era, in which sport grew in popularity and aircraft and cars pointed to a bright new future, to a war that horrifically reversed this progress. In the Battle of the Somme, British, French and German armies fought one of the most traumatic battles in military history. Over the course of just four months, more than one million soldiers were captured, wounded or killed in a confrontation of unimaginable horror.

Director: Esther Johnson

Year: 2012

An observation, investigation and social record of the lives and thoughts of ten residents of the Golden Lane Estate, London. Built in the late 1950s by Chamberlin, Powell and Bon, the Golden Lane estate exemplifies an utopian ideal of social housing. This film documents the life of the complex over half a century since its construction and asks questions about domestic and private space and of making a home in such an iconic and distinctive architectural environment.