Despite this week’s grusome discoveries in Margate, it would be remiss of me not to remind you that ’Exodus’, the movie filmed in Margate last year will air on Channel 4 on Monday 19th November at 10pm.

Read more on the Channel 4 Exodus website, or at the film’s official website.

Thumbing through today’s edition of The Times I was pleased to find a full page write up of Exodus’ upcoming première at the Venice Film Festival.

Unfortunately, the article is fairly unforgiving in it’s description of Margate - it’s a great shame it totally ignored everything being done to improve the town - though Margate has been let down in recent years there is so much going for it’s future. We need to realise what a great future Margate can have.
In my mind, Exodus marks a turning point for the town by showing that great events can happen here and that Margate can attract the talent, resources and the funding for creative industry.

An unemployed printer and an amateur rapper are among a group of non-actors who agreed to appear in a feature film for a bit of a laugh. They never expected it to be selected for one of the most prestigious events in the industry’s calendar, the Venice Film Festival.

Have a read of the complete article at Times Online and then come back and post what you think.

Last Saturday, Dreamland Cinema played host to two packed screenings of “Exodus”, the Channel 4/Artangel film that was produced in the town last year. In attendance were townspeople and local artists who had worked on the film, as well as director Penny Woolcock and Artangel co-director Michael Morris.

So what about the film? Exodus is not a shiny happy film. There are no sequins or Hollywood smiles.

Exodus is grimy and political, and all the better for it. Have no doubts, this is a professional film with serious ambition - it’s beautifully designed and executed.
Antony Gormley’s Wasteman and the hundreds of extras look spectacular on film, and the scenic railway is utterly iconic as the backdrop for the Dreamland shanty town.

I heard alot of talk about Exodus acting as a launch pad for many local people - there are a number of faces that look great on screen and are bound to be noticed - and if Exodus wins any awards it must surely be for it’s direction and visual appeal.

The film is due to have it’s official première at the Venice Film Festival this summer; the earliest it will hit Channel 4 screens will be this December. It’s worth the wait.

If you happen to spot a film crew around the isle this week, it’s probably Medb Films, the Ramsgate based production company working on their next short film, Lullaby. Medb are best known for the recent films Gypo and Ruby Blue, both of which were made in Thanet.

The company recently finished work on their new post production facility which will be offered for the use of other independent film makers. I think its great that companies like Medb are investing in Thanet and providing film makers with resources that might otherwise be out of reach.

Check back in the near future for more information and news on this latest production.

Oh, and if you see the film crew, why not leave a comment telling us where and when!

Updates
(16/04/07): The crew were out filming by the towers at Reculver today.
(18/04/07): The crew wrapped yesterday at St Peters having filmed at Joss Bay earlier in the day.

“Donovan Slacks”, filmed in Thanet and New York is to get it’s world première later this month at the International Film Festival of Uruguay.

The film’s central character, Donovan Slacks, “a man with a fragile head” is sent to Margate Sea Bathing Hospital. On arriving in Margate he falls in love with a fishergirl, but his life goes into free-fall when he rediscovers the terrible secret of his past. In the eye of the storm he breaks free to win the woman he loves and leads the local fishermen in an uprising against the government.

The film is an astonishing achievement when you learn of the obstacles that the director, Kivmars Bowling, overcame. Over several years on next to no money, his team recreated 1920s Thanet, complete with period cars, trains and a bathing machine, and populated it with a cast of 25 actors and over 50 extras.

Bowling, originally from Thanet, said:

“Thanet has beautiful areas to it, but has always had a rundown air, a sense of faded glory. All the films that had been made there exploited this in a very obvious way. Last Resort, Last Orders, Gypo - the titles say it all really. That’s not to say these are bad films on their own terms, I just wanted to challenge the dominant view of the area. I don’t like the assumption that a film depicting social problems necessarily tackles those problems.

Putting a region on film has a validating effect, regardless of the story, be it sweet love story or violent dystopia. Which is to say, all the filmmaking presence in Thanet is a positive one - but I think there are more interesting and original ways to use that history, those locations, that beauty for differing stories ”

The film is released later this year. Find out more at the official Donovan Slacks website.

Earlier this week I was contacted by an undergraduate writing her dissertation about The Margate Exodus. We talked about how the project had been interpreted by Thanet residents and whether A.A Gill’s view that it “smelt of Victorian cultural imperialism” was justified. It got me thinking.

It should be no surprise that my response to her was mostly positive, but I’m keen to know what you think. What will the legacy of Exodus be? Before you add your comment, let’s remind ourselves of the project’s aims.

Here’s how Michael Morris, Co-Director of Artangel, describes it:

“The legacy is not in bricks and mortar - the legacy is to do with relationships and people. People working together who would never normally be on the same side of the street - there will be all kinds of things coming out of that which we cannot predict.”

I can’t agree with this more, and I worry that some have been to quick to dismiss it. I can personally vouch for the fact that Exodus provided the excuse for people in our community to get together and learn new skills and create fantastic art and music - lots of us are working to continue this work and keep the wheels rolling. 2007 will be the year that the legacy kicks in, I’ll keep you posted on events as the news reaches me.

Every project has it’s critics, and Gill’s cultural imperialism argument persists, but in cases like this its all the more satisfying when they can be proved wrong.