I met indie filmmaker Anne O’Connell a few years back through filmmaker David Grey. She told me that she was making a series of documentary films on “Hidden London” and the idea intrigued me immediately. She was on the lookout for interesting and unusual stories for the series and with my legal background, I wondered if I could come up with an idea around a legal theme that might fit in with the series.
I thought back to my days at a law firm located in Lincolns Inn, one of the inns of court. I used to walk through another set of inns of court, Inner Temple, a warren of medieval buildings housing barristers chambers with an ancient church that was featured in the film, The Da Vinci Code. These settings were an ordinary part of a London for me because I used to routinely stroll through these beautiful and antique surroundings on my way to Temple tube station, but it struck me that there is a perception generally that the world of barristers and the inns of court is a closed off ivory tower of white men in funny gowns and wigs, out of touch with the modern world. With a bit of online research, I came up with a story that reverses all these traditional perceptions about the legal profession and took it to Anne.
Anne picks up the story:
I must confess that when Yang-May suggested making a film about Garden Court Chambers, I knew nothing about the Inns of Court, nor how a set of chambers was run. There was a lot to learn!
However, from the first reading of the company’s website, Colin Cook stood out as the ideal person to be at the centre of the film – someone who had worked at the Chambers for nearly thirty years and who had not only seen the changes taking place in the heart of the British legal system, but as a black senior clerk, he actually embodied some of those changes.
‘A Different World’ is the second film in a series of short films called ‘Hidden London’. The idea behind the series is to find London’s local institutions, places which are often unnoticed by the majority of Londoners, but which have seen all the changes of this constantly shifting city over the decades.
The key to a good documentary, like a good drama, is often to find a character at the centre of the film who comes across to the audience and who can carry the story. Colin turned out to be a charming and willing interviewee, so that aspect of the film happily fell into place.
The rest of the filming was not so easy! One of the key parts of the film is the day when two of the Chambers’ barristers were going to ‘take silk’ and become QC’s. However the two people involved from Garden Court decided at the last moment that they didn’t want to be in the film and I had turned up for the day only to have nothing to shoot!
The ceremony was taking place in Westminster Hall, which is inside the Houses of Commons, and not in Westminster City Hall as I had been told, which is on Victoria Street. In retrospect this made more sense and was far more opulent. But this did mean that I could get nowhere near the entrance – the police were unimpressed by my pleas to be let in!
All in all I had to be very inventive that day finding scenes to film which told the story I wished to tell. I also had to work very hard in the edit as the anticipated script didn’t materialise.
In the end, I think that all the effort to overcome these obstacles proved useful as the film has twice been shortlisted for Best Documentary in short film festivals and this has taken me to such exotic locations as Pentedatillo in the very south of Italy and er… Wood Green in North London!
The ‘Hidden London’ series will one day be for sale on one DVD. The films so far are:
- ‘Blustons’ – life in an old-fashioned ladies-wear shop on the Kentish Town Road
- ‘A Different World’ – change in the heart of the British legal system
- ‘Hampton Pool’ – As London’s outdoor lidos close, one pool is saved by local action.
- The 4th film about Wilton’s Music Hall in East London is in post production.
Photo credits:
Anne, my own album
Colin & barristers, still from Anne’s film
