Project Detail

I Was Here

Synopsis

On a journey throughout England locals from towns, villages and cities take part in a casting for a documentary character. As each individual pitches themselves recounting their story through interview and reenactments, the audience questions our perception of an interesting life, the role of the media and our basic, human instinct to leave a trace of ourselves for the sake of posterity.

Details

Year: 2017
Type of project: Features
Running time: 70 mins
Director: Nathalie Biancheri, Ola Jankowska 1st Feature
Producer: Colin Day, Coco Marie Schneider
Production Note: 'I Was Here' was commissioned by CPH:LAB, an affiliate program of CPH:DOX, the third largest documentary film festival in the world. CPH:LAB is a prestigious invite only program which selects directors from different artistic and cultural backgrounds and gives them the means to embark on a creative collaboration and make a film together. Our concept was simple: we decided to launch a series of castings for a documentary character and make a film solely composed of those auditions. We set out on this journey with one main question: What makes you a good documentary character? We travelled across the country and advertised our casting via local radio, fliers and posters. We spent two hours with every person who turned up, listening to them pitching their lives, as well as sharing their deepest hopes, fears, and memories.