Counter Culture (2022)
National Lottery Project Grant.
Durham Book Festival commission.
Producer / Co-Director / Co-Writer / Script Editor
After publication in Kit de Waal’s Common People anthology and participation in its accompanying Talent Development Programme, I wanted to carry on its ethos of platforming and celebrating working-class stories. I won National Lottery Project Grant funding to work with six other writers from the Common People anthology to give them their first experiences of writing for film or audio. Working closely with RTS Award Winning filmmaker Topher McGrillis, I produced, co-directed and script edited the six writers’ pieces, and also wrote a short piece of my own: An Advertisement for Moorfield / A Dirge for the Dogs. The film was screened at Durham Book Festival and celebrated for its filmography, authenticity and celebration of working-class stories.
This Place is Going to the Dogs (2019)
Durham Book Festival commission.
Taking its name from my memoir, which was published in Kit de Waal’s acclaimed Common People anthology, this art film draws upon my life as part of the ‘flapping’ or independent greyhound racing community. It features the track at Easington prior to its demolition, and what turned out to be the penultimate meeting at Wheatley Hill. I discuss flapping, its link to the mining heritage of East Durham and my writing.
This Used to Be A… (2021)
Hartlepool Little Waterfronts Festival commission.
The site of Morrisons in Hartlepool was once Hartlepool Greyhound Stadium, a ‘flapping’ or independent track which attracted a vibrant, working-class community. I worked with acclaimed filmmaker Maxy Bianco to explore the interplay of what is there now, and what was. I interviewed former regulars of Hartlepool dogs about their memories, and wrote some reflective pieces. The film stresses the importance of oral storytelling, and preserving the history of lost places.
DR LOUISE POWELL 