I have the great pleasure of reporting that the inaugural Charlton and Woolwich Free Film Festival came to an end last night a tremendous success. It has been an outstanding couple of weeks. The final event yesterday, a walking tour of the locations used in Antonioni’s Blow Up (1966) was fascinating. It was filmed in Maryon Park, just down the road from here – a park which I go through quite regularly on my way to Woolwich. Never having seen Blow Up, I’d never thought much about it; but yesterday morning, ahead of the event, I thought I’d give it a watch (in the process discovering how to ‘rent’ films on Youtube). I’m very glad I did: for one, that tour wouldn’t have made much sense had I never seen the film; but more importantly it’s quite a fascinating little text about photography. It’s about a fashion photographer who finds he has accidentally captured an image of a dead body in one of his photos. You can therefore read it in the context of the idea of Punctum. Moreover, the film also has a lot to say about urban life, capturing much of the area around Woolwich as it was fifty years ago. That’s what fascinated me: the way the run down, industrial, mostly victorian landscape contrasted with the green seclusion of the park. I even learned yesterday that there is an entire area of grass in that park, up some stairs, that I never knew existed.

After the Blow Up event, I came home to have a bite to eat, before heading to the White Swan for the film festival wrap party. I’m still not drinking, so I was in two minds about going, but I’m glad I did. I’ve made so many good friends on this process; Gavin, the guy running it, is one in a million. There was laughter, speeches, and hearty congratulations. The plan now is to let the dust settle for a couple of weeks before meeting to discuss what went wrong and what went right. We’ll then start to plan next year’s event. After the success of last saturday, I’m already trying to come up with ideas for what I could do. I have really, really enjoyed these past couple of weeks. I was thrilled to be able to participate as I did, and I can’t wait for more.