I intend to do some live blogging throughout the day, updating on a frequent and regular basis. But I'm unable to keep to that commitment because people keep coming up and talking to me! When I do post my one and only entry from the event itself, there's a sudden spike in readers, with 33 of them being from the USA. John Coster, Simon Parker and I muse on this unpredictable and often baffling aspect of maintaining a virtual presence: you just never know to whom one particular post will appeal, or why. And you're unlikely to find out. "Life is full of mysteries. Consider this one of them."
As well as the films being shown, there's a marketplace, where film-makers of all sorts and organizations who would like to interact with them can show their wares. I've brought one of our exhibition banners and an assortment of freebies. I've also written a brief flyer, seeking to attract support for the making of a documentary film about Leicester Council of Faiths in our 25th anniversary this year. Other exhibitors in the marketplace include:
- From Dusk2Dawn magazine
- Large Scale Film
- Leicester Documentary Club
- Leicester Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Centre
- Lumiere Arts
- Pedestrian Arts
- Recovery
- TouchRainbow Productions
- Wotbox
I record a few short video interviews with some of the people running the displays in the marketplace. You can see these on the Council of Faiths YouTube channel (Leicester Documentary Film Festival playlist).
Our little bit of the marketplace is right beside TouchRainbow's display. It's probably the busiest spot - but maybe we're a bit overwhelmed! Flyers are distributed randomly/evenly around the space being used for the marketplace.
The one film listed in the programme that I really wanted to see isn't being shown after all. This was "The Game of Their Lives" (2002). It's described thus on the Internet Movie Datrabase (IMDb) "A BBC documentary producer is given unprecedented access in North Korea to chronicle the story of the famed 1966 World Cup team from the North that advanced to the quarterfinals. The feature includes interviews with surviving members of the team, English fans and soccer pundits who saw the North Koreans upset Italy, 1-0, and go up 3-0 against Portgual before Eusebio eventually rallied the Portugeuse."
First productive conversation of the day (within a quarter-hour of setting up) is with Janet Hudson, British Cycling Leicester City Council Development Officer. We discuss the possibility of getting women's teams, from within the various faith communities, taking part in SkyRide later this year.
The only film I actually get to watch all day is "A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash" (2007) a theatrical documentary on the world's dwindling oil reserves ("Theatrical" in this context meaning that the film in question was given a general release in "theatres"). As we leave Screen 2, in which the film was showing, there's someone handing out flyers for the forthcoming Greenlight Festival ("Leicester's Festival of Sustainable Living"), being held in De Montfort University on Saturday 12 February. When I tell her that I've got one of them and that I'm intending to go the their festival, she asks me if I'm me (if you see what I mean). Turns out that it's Linda Faulkner - we're friends on facebook. We have a sit down and discuss ways that Leicester Council of Faiths and Transition Leicester (of which Linda is a member) can collaborate more closely. Linda's involvement with environmental issues in Leicester goes back at least 20 years. In our conversation, she mentions a conference that was held in DMU way back then (so far back, in fact, that it doesn't even seem to have a mention on the web) entitled "Faith in Nature" at which Satesh Kumar snd Martin Palmer spoke. I was there, running a small bookshop on behalf of the Bahá'í Publishing Trust. When I mention the Get Inspired project that I was involved with last year (but which didn't come off in the end), Linda knows all about that (and recognises the guys from TouchRainbow, who were involved in that, and are standing nearby). I think I've persuaded Linda to come along to New College on Wed 16 February, where I've agreed to do five (five!) one-hour workshops for older students on religions and the environment. I'm sure I'll be grateful for her assistance. We agreed, tentatively, that I should run a one-hour workshop (tentatively called something like, "Getting the Ear of the Faith Communities") at the Greenlight Festival.
Later in the day, I'm introduced to Rashmi Vyas, freelance TV reporter and presenter, and committee member of Leicestershire Brahma Samaj. She tells me that her uncle has seen our exhibition for Inter Faith Week in Highcross in November, and had been singing its praises to her and encouraging more support from local Hindus.
When I've packed up and ready to leave, I'm approached by Dan Kent, who's attached to The Wave (the young persons' monthly supplement in the Leicester Mercury). He asks if he can interview me and for the first time I'm on the other end of the Flip camera. He has some interesting questions - I hope my responses are also interesting. When I ask him how he intends to use the interview, he says that it might be turned into an article for the print version of The Wave, loaded onto their YouTube channel or used by Dan in a personal project - he's committed to making a short film every day for a year.
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