Yorkshire Film Archive has worked with teams across the country to produce a short film reflecting on the first UK lockdown 18 months ago.
Lost Connections has been created by Yorkshire Film Archive editor and filmmaker, Andy Burns, and the 13 minute short brings together more than 200 films put forward by archivists from England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
“Lost Connections presented an opportunity for twelve moving image archives across the UK to come together in a truly collaborative way to explore their collections with one specific purpose; to create a new film revealing archive footage and voices from our collections that reflected on our own contemporary experiences,” explained Graham Relton, Archive Manager at the Yorkshire and North East Film Archives.
“The result is a work of cine-poetry, that is truly diverse and representative of the people of the UK. It is not a film about the pandemic, it’s a film about humanity and hope. It might take the past as its reference point, but Lost Connections speaks to our collective responsibility to build better futures.”
Supported by Film Hub North on behalf of the BFI Film Audience Network (through National Lottery funding), it is screening at cinemas across the UK, as well as streaming on BFI Player.
It will also be shown in schools as part of the Into Film ‘Mental Health and Wellbeing campaign’.
The script is co-written by Burns, and performed by artist Hussina Raja.
“Lost Connections is a salient and emotional reminder of the parallels between our past and our most recent experiences. This creative production using compelling archive footage and voices, uniquely brings together the National and Regional Archives and brilliantly showcases the riches of our public film collections. The film offers multiple reflections on the journey of the last 18 months, and I’m sure it will spark hopeful conversations for the way ahead,” added Andy Robson, Screen Heritage Producer, BFI Film Audience Network, Film Hub North.
