From Borehamwood to Hollywood: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Elstree

We moved into our new place almost a year ago now & we had no idea how cool the place is & the film history that surrounds it.

2014 was the Centenary of Filmmaking & Television Production in Elstree & Borehamwood & to celebrate, a group of awesome people called The Elstree Project made a film called "From Borehamwood to Hollywood: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Elstree." It's a fascinating film which starts at the very beginning (without sounding too Julie Andrews!) & ends with current films & tv shows that are still being made today.

There are 2 ways you can watch:
1. Grab a cuppa, get yourself comfortable & watch the link HERE
2. If you're ever in the area they're planning on showing the film at regular times at the library at No 96 in Borehamwood. The first showing is this Sunday (8th Feb) 2pm - so get down there quick - tickets are first come first served!
After the showing we went to there was a Q&A session with:

~ Jan Harlan - executive producer of Kubrick feature films - Barry Lyndon, The Shining (my personal fave!), Full Metal Jacket & Eyes Wide Shut & Spielberg's Artificial Intelligence A.I.

~ Martin Baker - floor manager of The Muppet Show, producer of The Great Muppet Caper, The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth & Yonderland.

~ Ray Merrin (dad's hero bottom left!) - post-production sound - one of the first people to use Dolby sound; sound re-recording mixer - Alien, Return to Oz, Chariots of Fire, Batman.....the list is endless, this guy has done everything including The Avengers (dad's favourite show ever!) & all the Kubrick films done in Elstree.

After the Q&A I managed to grab Jan Harlan for a photo & dad ended up speaking to Ray Merrin for ages - he was so lovely & willing to chat. I think we could have stayed there all night if the cleaners hadn't turfed us out!

In May there's a very exciting Shining event coming up for the 35th Anniversary of the film. I'm crossing my fingers I get tickets so hard it's hard to type this so I hope they don't fly out as soon as they're released! Eeek!

Ttfn x

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AJP said…
Had a great time
Saturday, February 07, 2015
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