Hi Folks

We'd like to let you know about a project in the works from our friends Rob Curry and Tim Plester at Fifth Column Films – amongst other things they made the acclaimed feature documentaries The Ballad of Shirley Collins and Way of the Morris.

They've been making a film about the folk festival photographer and film maker Doc Rowe, who's been building up his incredible audiovisual archive since the 1960s, and now they need our help to complete it:

"We want to feature as much of Doc's incredible footage as we can in the film, but, in the spirit of ‘being the change we want to see’, we want to play a role in permanently securing Doc's legacy. Rather than just digitise the bits we need, we are therefore launching this crowdfund to (hopefully, with your help) create a permanent digital archive of all the material related to folk traditions that is currently languishing on film stock and old video formats in Doc's hallowed archive in Whitby. The resultant digital copy will then be housed in the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, and will allow Doc to share the material with the communities that preserve these customs, and eventually the general public."

You can see a teaser trailer for their film here.

You can pledge towards the project here.

ABOUT DOC ROWE

David ‘Doc’ Rowe is a product of the 1960s art-school scene, which featured a democratisation of intake, whereby everyday folk were empowered to shape discourse and culture for the first time.

It is this background that helps inform Doc’s distinctive take on the festivals that he frequents; for it’s not the mythology and heritage that excites him, but the communal sense of togetherness that manifests at such events. Indeed, alongside his perennial perambulations, Doc was involved in both the anti-apartheid and CND movements, and approached documenting them with the same work ethic and inclusive spirit that he brings to the calendar customs. Perennially broke from self-funding his lifetime obsession, he has sacrificed anything approaching a conventional career in favour of the freedom to travel the country. Somehow, despite the far-flung places he visits, he’s achieved this without ever learning to drive - hitchhiking in the early days with a bagful of recording equipment. The document of this nation’s traditions and customs that he has built up along the way is an unparalleled and priceless resource for which we are all collectively in his debt. Working together, we can return the favour, and permanently secure the future of his irreplaceable body of work.

You can pledge towards the project here.