100 PEOPLE: A PORTRAIT OF CO-EXISTENCE

1hr 33mins, Director: Andrew Wilson

English Language with English Subtitles

WEBSITE 

Set in Shieldfield, a small neighbourhood on the edge of Newcastle upon Tyne, 100 People celebrates the resiliance and co-ordinated action between ordinary people, often overlooked within our media representations, to reveal a collective model of what could be and how we might get there.

100 People: A Portrait of Co-Existence is a feature film that combines conversations between residents and workers, diverse in age, ethnicity, and economic background to present a collective spirit of everyday solidarity emerging in the residential neighbourhood of Shieldfield.

Directed by Andrew Wilson, filmed by Evripidis Karydis, and with an original score from cellist Ceitidh Mac and composer Anna Hughes, 100 People is a poetic, funny and often moving reflection on our industrial past, precarious present, and the potential of an everyday collective-resistance.

As well as a feature film, the 100 People project has produced an exhibition, a folk song, an experimental and democratic protocol for recording/archiving, and a community archive collectively owned and managed by the community co-operative Dwellbeing Shieldfield.

DIRECTED, EDITED, and PRODUCED by: Andrew Wilson

FILMED by: Evripidis Karydis

COMMISSIONED by: Shieldfield Art Works

MUSIC COMPOSED by: Ceitidh Mac and Anna Hughes

MUSIC RECORDED by: Sam Grant at Blank Studios

SOUND MASTERING: Callum Howard

ADDITIONAL FILMING: Craig Hawkes and Susie Davies

CREATIVE GUIDANCE: Andrea Luka Zimmerman

ARCHIVAL GUIDANCE: Ali Atkinson-Phillips

ARCHIVAL DEVELOPMENT: Dwellbeing Shieldfield

FUNDED BY: Arts Council England, Newcastle University, Shieldfield Art Works

DEDICATED TO THE LOVING MEMORY OF:

John Armstrong, 11 Jan 1925 - 14 Sep 2023

PROCESS:

Our ambition was to articulate a compelling and complex story that focussed on the many people connecting, coordinating, and inspiring each other in Shieldfield.

To begin we held several workshops to introduce the projects aims to community members and identify a suitable protocol for filming.

Within these worksops we initiated a process of ‘recorded conversation’ rather than the usual ‘interview’ format. Then, between May 2022 and March 2023, we recorded more than 40, one-to-one, conversations between workers, residents, friends, neighbours, and sometimes strangers, diverse in age, ethnicity, cultural, social, and economic background.

If you happen live, work, or play in the Shieldfield then you were encouraged to invite someone of your choosing to a recorded conversation. This could be someone you know well, someone you have met only in passing, or perhaps someone you will be meeting for the very first time.

These recorded conversations were then compiled and edited to form the feature film 100 People: A Portrait of Co-Existence.

Once the film reach completion all of the unedited recordings were gifted into the collective custody of Dwellbeing Shieldfield to form the basis of a digital archive.

The hope is that by being in collective ownership, these unedited conversations between community members can continue to serve the community long into the future.

Find out more about the community archive here:

dwellbeingshieldfield.org.uk/programmes/community-archive

As writer, historian and activist, Rebecca Solnit observed: 'We are not very good at telling stories about a hundred people doing things’*

100 PEOPLE responds: ‘What if we tried?’

(*Rebecca Solnit, When the Hero is the Problem, 2019)

BACKGROUND:

In her 2019 essay ‘When the hero is the problem’ writer and thinker Rebecca Solnit states: ‘we are not very good at telling stories about a hundred people doing things’

Observing that most of the stories we hear tend to focus on ‘one single person’ doing ‘one big thing’ and our novels, news, cinema, and history are all dominated by these tales of individual success.

What might the consequences be when we push one person to the front, what might be hidden in their large shadow, and whose story gets left behind?

Like many neighbourhoods across the UK, Shieldfield is home to many people whose lives differ considerably.  As this area has moved beyond its industrial roots, as its pubs and social clubs have closed, a diverse mix of people with very differing social needs have moved in.

In response several peer-led initiatives have emerged including a volunteer-run café, an artist-led youth programme, and a community driven co-operative called Dwellbeing Shieldfield, among many others. 

If we identify that positive social change can often result from connecting more deeply to the people around us, from co-ordinated rather than solo action, then shouldn’t this also be reflected in how we access and articulate our stories?

The challenge for this project - to collectively articulate a story of 100 people doing many different things - is unsurprisingly very complicated.  For all of the activity in the residential neighbourhood of Shiledfield there is no singular spokesperson, no figurehead, no hero, and as such it is a story that remains difficult to tell. 

But what if we tried?

WORLD PREMIERE:

Wednesday 1st November, 2023

The Star and Shadow Cinema, Newcastle upon Tyne

On Wednesday 1st November 2023 100 People: A Portrait of Co-Existence recieved it's world premiere screening from The Star and Shadow Cinema in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.

The short film above documents the introduction from Lydia Hiorns, Director at Shieldfield Art Works, and the immediate response from the audience via a post-screening public forum.

This short film was filmed by Evripidis Karydis and made with generous support from Artist Network North-East, an advocacy and development organisation for the visual arts who work with individuals and organisations across the North-East.

The Star & Shadow Cinema is a volunteer-run DIY venue based in Newcastle upon Tyne in the North East of England.

100 PEOPLE is an arts project led by artist Andrew Wilson and developed in partnership with Shieldfield Art Works and Dwellbeing Shieldfield. The project has received generous support from many other individuals, groups, and organisations including; Caring Hands Charity, Christ Church Shieldfield, The Forum Café, Fugitive Images, The NewBridge Project, North-East Film Archive, and The Star and Shadow Cinema.

As well as a feature film, the 100 People project has produced an exhibition, a folk song, an experimental and democratic protocol for recording/archiving, and a community archive collectively owned and managed by the community co-operative Dwellbeing Shieldfield.

For more information visit: www.100peopleshieldfield.org