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Project Detail

Harry Birrell Presents Films of Love and War

Synopsis

In 1928 at the age of eleven, Harry Birrell was given his first cine camera. ‘The greatest toy a child could ever receive’ he would say. His obsession with making movies would span the rest of the 20th century, despite the onset of blindness. In love, war and other adventures Harry recorded everything with a wonderfully cinematic eye on thousands upon thousands of feet of high quality 16mm film.
From commanding a battalion of Ghurkas in the Indian army at the start of the WWII, to dangerous sorties deep behind enemy lines in Burma at its end; from the ballroom dances of his youth in the 1930s to teaching his children to twist in the 1960s: Harry’s entertaining and errant adventures are filmed with the intimacy of home movies but on the scale of 'Lawrence of Arabia'.
Today, his granddaughter Carina, uncovers a lifetime of memories all spliced together in over 400 films, personal diaries (narrated by Richard Madden) and countless photographs that have previously lain undiscovered, along with the many cans of cine film, in rusting metal trunks in a garden shed.
It’s one man’s cinematic vision of the 20th Century and his own personal journey through it.
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Details

Year
2019
Type of project
Features
Running time
90 min
Format
9.5mm, 16mm, HD
Director
Matt Pinder 1st Feature
Producer
John Archer, Carina Birrell, Matt Pinder
Executive Producer
David Harron, Mark Thomas, Ewan Angus
Editor
Colin Monie, Matt Pinder
Director of Photography
Harry Birrell
Sound
John Cobban
Composer
Ian Dolamore
Principal cast
Narration: Richard Madden

Genre

Scottish

Categories

Documentary

Production Status

Complete

Production Company

Hopscotch Films

John Archer
Film City Glasgow
401, Govan Road
Glasgow
G51 2QJ

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