Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Film maker known for socially conscious dramas such as Cathy Come Home and Kes, which highlighted homelessness and working-class life.
On the island
Eight records
Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67: IV. AllegroFavourite
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Carlos Kleiber
This is Beethoven, who is I guess the composer who gives you energy and strength and determination and um the will to fight back
this is a song by a street singer and she's singing the ballad of Poor John.
when I was in the theatre we were very struck by Brecht and by his theories of theatre and by his uh attack on romantic acting and all that. And this was the kind of music in the kind of plays we wanted to do.
Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104
Jacqueline du Pré, with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenboim
became aware of this music around that time and it really did seem to embody the particular uh humour and um wit of the Czechs and also the the tragedy of their situation.
La bohème: Act I Duet (O soave fanciulla)
this is a treat. It's the first opera I saw. Uh it's Labo M, and I sat there with a teenage girlfriend and listened to this uh stunning music
Piano Concerto No. 23 in A major, K. 488: II. Adagio
Daniel Barenboim, with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra
one of our kids plays the piano. So this with this one I shall remember the family.
Frederica von Stade, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Antonio de Almeida
this is a song for the mornings really when um I'm assuming there's a nice clear Air and Blue Sky
Concerto in D minor for Oboe and Violin, BWV 1060R: II. Adagio
Heinz Holliger and Arthur Grumiaux, with the New Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Edo de Waart
I find when um Well, I did find when times were were very bleak that um The only music you could listen to was earlier music and uh I got to like Bach then
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:23Is there pleasure in making [your films], or are you just dedicated to the mission of making them?
I hope they're not bleak. I mean, I would hope they'd be full of life and vitality and laughs and and warmth. The enjoyment in making them is to to find that warmth, to communicate it.
Presenter asks
2:11Is it true that Shelter, the charity, was set up as a result of [Cathy Come Home]?
Um well, shelter was happening at the same time and um I think that would have been established anyway, but obviously that the film helped shelter and shelter certainly helped the film.
Presenter asks
6:50Why do you think [Kes] was so successful?
Well, I suppose everybody has memories of their childhood that they can they can relate to… I think Barry's book was immensely truthful and and funny and subtle and uh sad and wise. Um and so you know we were working with with great material and the kids were great.
The keepsakes
The book
Francis Turner Palgrave
But I think it would have to be poetry. The first book of poetry I I ever had, which was the Palgrave Golden Treasury.
Presenter asks
What's in your background that prepared you for [making these kinds of political films]?
Um I d I don't think it was so so much a matter uh of of having that background. It was coming to conclusions with with friends and people I worked with in that period when politics was very alive.
Presenter asks
20:16What would you say was your lowest point of [the eighties]?
Um, the lowest point. It was, I guess, having documentaries banned on television. That was a pretty low point.
Presenter asks
29:13What label can you put on yourself [politically]?
Well, I I wouldn't use a label because it it's used to um in a way to diminish your work… if there was to be change for the better, and there said there needs to be, it'll come from the people who have most to gain from change, which is the people at the bottom. It won't come from people at the top.
“If one could reduce it to a message, it wouldn't be worth making the film. You know, you try to make it about the whole human experience in a context.”
“comedy is next to tragedy, you know. Um what happens one day is comic, the next day a subtle shift and it's tragic.”
“in a sense a film is a documentary about all the people in it.”
“if we don't stick together we're we're screwed. I I think that the people who are who are exploited, who have nothing but their labor to sell, have to stick together. It's called solidarity. I think it's the basis of progress.”