Country: France
Year: 2012
Duration: 91'
The Elephant and Castle district is located in the south of London, in Southwark: historically, it is one of the more working class areas of the city and it is undergoing a massive upgrading project which includes the demolition of the enormous Heygate Estate. Filming lasted four years, capturing the process of urban transformation with the intimate gaze of someone who has spent two decades living in that area.
Biography
film director
Enrica Colusso
Enrica Colusso (Rome, Italy, 1962) studied arts and letters at the University of Rome before moving to Paris, where she attended Ateliers Varan, and then graduating in documentary directing from London’s National Film and Television School. The director of numerous documentaries, her film Fine pena mai (1995) won Best Director at the Sulmona Cinema Giovani festival and Best Film at the San Benedetto del Tronto festival and at Maremma Doc. Chi non rischia non beve champagne (2001-02) received a special mention at Florence’s Festival dei Popoli, while ABC Colombia was presented at numerous international festivals and received many awards, including the Spirit Award at Brooklyn’s International Film Festival. Since 2003, she has been teaching film directing at the Unviersity of Roehampton in London.
FILMOGRAFIA
41bis, Quai de la Loire (cm, doc., 1988), Sisters (cm, doc., 1989), The Restoration of the Leopard (cm, doc., 1991), Non è vero ma ci credo (cm, doc., 1992), Fine pena mai - Life After Life (doc., 1995), Mafia Women (cm, doc., 1997), Eureka Europa (cm, doc., 1999), The Solitude of Memory (cm, doc., 2000), Hidden Tuscany (mm, TV, doc., 2000-01), Chi non rischia non beve champagne (doc., 2001-02), Umberto Eco, Rennaissance Man (cm, doc., 2002), Scusi, dov’è il documentario? (cm, doc., 2003), ABC Colombia (doc., 2007), Home Sweet Home (doc., 2012).
Declaration
film director
“Since I have started to research and develop the film project I have also started to film the Heygate Estate from my window in different seasons and at different times of the day. At night, with hundreds of little windows lit, the Heygate Estate looks like a huge Christmas tree. Lately, as people start to move out, dark areas have appeared and soon the night will swallow it entirely. Once this ugly, though unusually photogenic, prison-like brutalist citadel and its inhabitants have gone, my personal landscape, as well as part of London’s core, will never be the same again. Will I really miss it? And if so, what exactly will I grieve for?”
Cast
& Credits
regia, soggetto/director, story
Enrica Colusso
fotografia/cinematography Enrica Colosso, Max Rijavec
montaggio/film editing Ruben Korenfeld
suono/sound Enrica Colosso, Joe Baker
produttori/producers Serge Lalou, Charlotte Uzu
produzione, vendita all’estero/production, world sales Les Films d’ici coproduttore/coproducer Sandra Whipham
coproduzione/coproduction ARTE France, Tigerlily Films
fotografia/cinematography Enrica Colosso, Max Rijavec
montaggio/film editing Ruben Korenfeld
suono/sound Enrica Colosso, Joe Baker
produttori/producers Serge Lalou, Charlotte Uzu
produzione, vendita all’estero/production, world sales Les Films d’ici coproduttore/coproducer Sandra Whipham
coproduzione/coproduction ARTE France, Tigerlily Films
