Film Review: Exit to Beach, Duke of York, Brighton 2010
Posted in Documentaries,Features,Reviews,Thinking LocallyOctober 24, 20101 comment
I was lucky to get to meet with Henry, Saul and Callum as they where in Sussex library doing the final flyers promotion for their film, which has had it’s screening today at The Duke of York Cinema in Brighton. There posters and flyers have been everywhere but it wasn’t until 7am Friday that I was able to get to see their trailer and what all the hype was about.
After talking with them I was sold and after seeing their film one thing for sure I can guarantee you is that you will never look at Brighton in the same way again.
Exit to Beach – Trailer from Saul Abraham. Souleymane Films on Vimeo.
The Duke of York was packed with a whole range of people from students, parents, some of the participants from the film, and the Lord Mayor of Brighton. As the guys took to the stage to introduce their film and to say a few thanks it really started to set in that this was a major event.
They told us there had been £600 been raised through ticket sales on their website and more besides from the few seats they had left on the door. This was a great success for the film and the cinema was packed. All the money raised from the ticket sales is all going to Off the Fence charity in Brighton. Paul, from the charity was on hand to further illustrate the importance of Exit to Beach.
A Brighton native and fresh from an earlier screening for 200 people Paul had seen a fair his share of the troubles and the issues that homeless people face in Brighton. Tomorrow he is off to America for a series of conferences where he is going to be screening this film. In all his time Paul had never seen a film that so perfectly told this story.
Exit to Beach is not a film you should go into lightly and is bound to be as inspiring to the locals of Brighton as it will be for those outside, and is not one that should be watched with the rose tinted view that many of us who move to Brighton have. The core of their film is a simple question ‘Why did (have) you come to Brighton?’
This is a simple enough question and with all the problems that Brighton has, many of which do not make it on the national news, what is this allure the city has in attracting and then trapping people within its walls?
The stories are at times very hard to listen to but the participants are at ease with the filmmakers and open up to them fully. Each of them giving honest answers to the question of why they came to Brighton. Very early on this question was eventually going to have issue with me as everyone they come into contact with have in some way been affected by Brighton, so why stay? Is it the place or the people that causes all the problems they have faced?
But there was one response that stuck in my mind and came from a recovering heroin. The guy explained his situation and the program he is on which is helping him with his addiction. He explains that you can go cold turkey, which means you cannot have any drugs at all – not even aspirin. Or you can do the program. He is all to aware of how easy it is to get hold of drugs in the city, simply walking along London Road and you can score. But his over all aim is to use his experiences and work with Youth Offenders.
By staying in Brighton it almost appears that for them to beat whatever demons they might have means they have to stay here in the city. Leaving wouldn’t really change much or get to the core of their problems. Thus begins a rather strange love affair with a city with two faces.
Saul, Henry and Callum are not media or film students and as they get into their final year of study they have dedicated 10 months of their lives to their project. Their decision to look at this underbelly of Brighton goes against the very idea of what Brighton is (or what people outside think Brighton is) and with real conviction and compassion these three guys have made a film that is not only a wonderful testimony to the great forgotten, but also a perfect example of how within a city like Brighton there are still some people, students, who can look past their own self and look at the bigger city they inhabit.
The facts at the start of the film are stark and a city the size of Brighton should not have the levels of homelessness, drug abuse and unemployment that is does.
Would they be able to comfortably make a movie that isn’t going to be nothing more than a vanity project by very middle class uni student? And would they be able to show understanding of such a deep routed issue facing Brighton?
These could be some of the questions you might ask yourself before seeing the film. But what they have made is a powerful documentary that never panders, and never tries interjecting their own voice or opinions. Throughout they are respectful with a subtly understandable vision of how they are going to tell this story.
Paul, from Off the Fence, had said that this film would save lives. He said this a few times before the film was shown and when it was over you could see why he was so impassioned. Exit to Brighton will stay with you, it will make you look at the city in a whole new way, and it will make you think.
There is a lot to thank Henry, Callum and Saul for but the most important one is an overwhelming sense of appreciation for a film that is mature, honest, and brave.
