Documentary explores pandemic homelessness - Chichester International Film Festival - video Dailymotion

SussexWorld

A powerful documentary exploring issue of homelessness during the pandemic will get its premiere at this year’s Chichester International Film Festival.

Transcript

00:00 Good morning, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor for Sussex Newspapers. Fantastic

00:06 to be speaking to Frank Vissers, who is currently in New Zealand. I was a New Zealander, but

00:10 you live and work in London, and it was in London that you made a film called I'm Still

00:15 Here, which is going to get its premiere at the Chichester International Film Festival.

00:20 And it's such an important sounding film, which tackles homelessness, and homelessness

00:25 at a particular moment during the lockdowns. How did you come to make this piece, Frank?

00:33 It was a film that grew out of the opportunity to make a promotional video for a charity

00:43 called Under One Sky, who walked the streets of London, giving out food, drink and emotional

00:51 support. And they did that at a very crucial time.

00:56 And you were saying, shockingly, a few weeks into the lockdown, there was still 800 to

01:01 1000 people homeless in largely central London.

01:06 Yes, there was. Yeah, there are reasons why that was the case. I mean, I think the government

01:16 asked local councils to approach people that they knew and offer them accommodation, but

01:28 it goes council by council in London. So if a person is not in their council area, then

01:34 they won't be approached by another council to help them out. So that was one thing.

01:39 There was also a lot of people who were newly homeless who were coming onto the streets

01:45 because of the pandemic. There was also people who just didn't trust the system and chose

01:52 to remain.

01:53 And what did you sense about their attitude towards the pandemic at that point? Was there

01:59 fear?

02:00 Yeah, there was fear. They really didn't know what was going on. It was a very dystopian

02:04 kind of landscape in London. It was quite feral. There was no sanitation, there was

02:11 no toilets, there was no running water. It was quite a dangerous situation, actually.

02:17 So people were in fear, yes, they were. And they were very grateful for the support and

02:25 the counselling and friendship, actually, of people like the volunteers from Under One

02:30 Sky.

02:31 And you were saying, inevitably, given you had a camera with you, there was a degree

02:34 of suspicion, but it was crucial to you that you spoke to people only who were absolutely

02:39 happy to speak.

02:40 Yes, for sure. That was one of our main priorities, really. We didn't want to pixelate anybody's

02:48 face if we could help it. And so, yes, we asked everybody if we could film them. And

02:55 we got a lot of rejection, but we got a fair amount of number of people who wanted to speak

03:03 and who wanted to share their stories and to show that they were people and that their

03:08 opinions mattered and all the things that we were trying to do.

03:12 And it's fantastic that we're getting the premiere in Chichester at the Film Festival.

03:16 What does this film ultimately say about homelessness and about attitudes, do you think?

03:22 I think it's a film which we hope will empower the audiences who come to see it towards positive

03:32 change around that issue. That's what we hope. I mean, we hope that it's not a political

03:38 film. It's a film that's more about the power of human connection and about people. And

03:44 I think that people who have seen it, in my experience, who have seen it, really come

03:50 away with a kind of sense that, you know, we're all humans and we're all in this together.

03:56 And, you know, yeah.

03:59 When you say empower positive change, are you talking about attitude?

04:03 Yes, I'm talking about attitude, but I'm also talking about practical positive change. You

04:08 know, there are a lot of things that can be done. I mean, and even in terms of people's

04:12 attitude and response to homelessness, you know, having the confidence, really, to be

04:20 able to say hello to somebody who's on the street or just to acknowledge somebody, because

04:27 that's actually more useful than giving somebody something to eat or money or whatever.

04:35 You know, that positive connection to someone on the street is super important. And we just

04:44 hope that this film will empower people to be able to go up to someone who's on the street

04:50 and say, hi, how are you doing? You know, without being unfair. And if they can help,

04:56 then fantastic.

04:57 That's a massively important message, isn't it? Well, good luck with everything. Good

05:02 luck with the film. And lovely that we're getting it in Chichester first, Frank.

05:07 Yes, well, we're very happy to be in Chichester. It looks like an amazing festival that's gone

05:13 for a lot of years. And yeah, there's some great films coming.

05:17 It will be a fabulous starting point for you, I promise. Thank you. Great to speak to you.

05:25 Love you too. Thank you. All right.

Documentary explores pandemic homelessness - Chichester International Film Festival

Category

Transcript

Recommended