The Port of Old Leigh
Director: Paul Cotgrove
The Southend-on-Sea Film Festival will be returning for its 11th year from 23rd May to 27th May. In preparation for the event I got an opportunity to ask director Paul Cotgrove a few questions about the film ‘The Port of Old Leigh‘ which has been selected to play at the festival.
Q. Port of Old Leigh has been selected as one of the local films to play at the closing gala of the Festival. What can we expect from the film?
The Port of Old Leigh film is a brief 11-minute documentary about the history of the Fishing Industry in Leigh-on-Sea, which also raises the concerns as to how it will survive in the future.
Q. How did the idea for the documentary first come about?
My film company THE White BUS was commissioned to make this film by the CULTURAL ENGINE, who have been commissioned to highlight the problems of the Fishing Industry in Leigh-on-Sea. The fact that I have family links to the Fishing Industry in Leigh-on-Sea, was another reason why THE WHITE BUS was approached to make this film.
Q. The film combines interviews with the residing community and archive footage. How difficult was it to plan and eventually bring the film together?
This was a very difficult film to pull together and took over a year to make. My camera crew had to go out on Cockle Boats for ten hours at a time and be up at the crack of dawn to film the Herring Boats coming Into the Harbour at Leigh etc. We also worked with the Leigh Heritage Centre and local historians who helped us source the archive footage.
Q. It is always difficult trying to bring together everything for the film. Were there any elements which you were unable to include in the film?
There was many hours of footage and Interviews that we were unable to use in the final edit. We were asked to deliver an Informative film of around 10 minutes, so we were unable to use a lot of great material that was filmed over the last year, but at least all the unused material will be archived for historical reference in the future.
Q. What are some of your favourite moments in the film?
I really enjoyed Interviewing the Fisherman and hearing all their Interesting stories about the past and their concerns for the future. My camera crew enjoyed going out on the Cockle Boats the best.
Q. How close was the film to the original concept and were any changes make regarding the content during production?
Our outline was to make a short film about the history of the Leigh Fishing Industry, the Leigh Fishing Industry today and the future of the Leigh fishing Industry, which is what you will see in the finished film
Q. What was the hardest part of bringing the documentary and were there any issues whilst making the film?
The hardest thing was to line up the Interviews with the Fisherman and other people working in Old Leigh, as they all have such busy lives and cannot guarantee to see us at certain times. We certainly had a lot of running around to do and It was bloody freezing conditions at times.
Q. What do you hope people will get from watching the film?
To learn more about what Is going on at the Port of Old Leigh and how Important the Leigh Fishing Industry is to the economy of Leigh-on-Sea.
Q. Do you have any new projects which you are working on?
No more filming at the moment, but I do have to start putting the Horror-on-Sea Film Festival together as soon as the Southend-on-Sea Film Festival finishes. (no rest for the wicked)
Q. If someone is looking to direct their own film, what advice would you give them?
Always have at least a couple of crew on board who are highly experienced, so that you can turn to them for advice, when things get difficult.
Published in various websites, Philip is a reviewer who is best known for his interviews and media coverage of independent projects including; films, books, theatre and live events. Always on the lookout for something different to cover!
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