Bird's Eye View

1 Day by Penny Woolcock - Banned by Birmingham Police

1 Day, dir. Penny Woolcock. Out this weekend, everywhere except Birmingham.

Acclaimed British filmmaker Penny Woolcock (Mischief Night, Exodus, Death of Kinghoffer) has done it again and created another daring and innovative film, this time a hip hop and grime musical, set amidst gangs of Birmingham. Premiered to critical acclaim at the London Film Festival last month, all was set for a successful national cinema release this weekend. But just this Monday we learned that the West Midlands Police advised local cinemas against screening it, and, despite their very dubious grounds for doing so, Birmingham cinemas have pulled the film. But should the police really be interfering in the films we watch? What’s going on? We spoke to Penny Woolcock to get the full story, and hear more about the making of the film. Read on…

Rachel: I’ve heard that when the police first saw this film, they thought it should be shown in all schools. So what do you think happened to change their mind?

Penny: We heard a while ago that the West Midlands Police had visited cinema chains and warned them against booking the film, so we held a special screening. High ranking police officers attended, representatives from Safer Birmingham a police group organizing against gun and gang crime, probation officers, community workers and council members. The screening was really positive and several police said the film should be shown in schools. We breathed a sigh of relief. But a couple of weeks later, it all started again and BBC news ran a running story that cinema chains had pulled the film “following advice from the West Midlands Police”.

When we challenged this, Superintendent Suzette Davenport went back on what she had said at the screening about it “completely allaying her fears” and said she was very concerned. She later changed her story again and said it was a rogue police officer visiting cinemas because of his own private concerns - in uniform and on duty!

Then yesterday a strange email from someone called “Samera Iqbal”, claiming to be a girlfriend of a member of the Burger Bar Boys said she had information that the three main “gangs” in the area had arranged to have a shoot out at the cinema on Friday night. There is no Samera Iqbal (we have made enquiries) and the idea that “gang leaders” phone each other up and arrange to have a shoot out at a cinema is laughable. This email - all misspelt - was sent to all the local press and to the cinema chains. There is a weird disjuncture between someone who can’t even spell “boyfreind” and yet can aim unerringly at the most destructive targets for the film. The crime correspondent at the Birmingham Mail and Post laughed when he saw it as we did but sadly the cinemas did not find it amusing and pulled the film in Birmingham, Dudley, Walsall and Coventry.

I have no idea whether the police were under some sinister political pressure or whether they have decided to set themselves up as arbiters of what films we are allowed to see. The film has a 15 certificate!! It is far less violent than any Hollywood film or video game.

1 Day was made with a non-professional cast

Sadly I think there is only one explanation. Racism. They are afraid of allowing young black people to gather to watch a film. We had a peaceful screening raided last Thursday. The police later claimed they had heard “there were problems with the projector”. People patiently sat in their seats while the lights were switched on and the projector stopped and police “counted” them and then continued watching the film. The screening was on a DVD because the organiser or the International Black Film Festival in Birmingham was unable to find a cinema to show it.
It is disengenuous of them to say they have not “banned” the film. If uniformed officers tell cinemas they will have trouble obviously the cinemas will pull the film. This is censorship.

Rachel: Can you understand why there is police concern that 1 Day glamorizes gang behaviour?

Penny: No. Any Hollywood film is more violent and less responsible.

The film shows the reality of how seductive this life is and how difficult it is to get out of it but it categorically does not glamorize it. The consequences of selling drugs and the deadly consequences of carrying guns are spelt out unequivocally. But even if the film did not take this stance this is not a police state and police should not be deciding what films we can see.  The erosion of civil liberties continues apace. The film does not glamorize the life style but EVEN IF IT DID what the hell are the police doing interfering? The police should go to the pub and discuss their personal responses to a film with their friends like all the rest of us. This is a very frightening development.

Why are they picking on a small British film that showcases local talent? The community is hurting that when they do something positive and professional they are treated shabbily instead of being celebrated.

Rachel: What debate do you hope will be sparked by this controversy?

"The main victims of knife and gun violence are young men..." Penny Woolcock

Penny: The film is really a piece of entertainment and was not made to provoke anybody. I do feel very strongly that inner city young men - Black, White and Asian - are demonized and abandoned. There is only ever a fuss if a young white child or young women are killed. The main victims of gun and knife violence are young men. They are capable of so much more and we need to engage them not ignore them.

Rachel: The film has a brilliant soundtrack of hip hop and grime. How did you go about finding & producing it?

Penny: We advertised for producers and rappers and held open auditions in a scruffy room above a taxi office. We found a wealth of talent - hip hop and grime is an authentic expression from the streets, a way in which people who have no voice can tell their stories. We had an exciting three or four days and then called back the  rappers I thought might be right for parts in the film  to acting auditions.

My favourite moment was when a young man who had been rapping with a group said he would like to do an individual rap. He said he had written some lyrics ‘merking’ (insulting) a girl who thought she was an MC. Dylan Duffus said: “There’s a girl out there, let’s ask her to come in.” So this very shy girl enters the room, smiling and saying nothing. I was a bit worried as the beat banged out and the  young man lashed into her with all kinds of humiliating remarks. She smiled and nodded her head. Then it was her turn. She flew at him! Suddenly this sweet girl turned into a lioness with an extraordinary  grime voice. The young man shrank against the wall, bowed his head and took his punishment. The girl was Fiasqo. I immediately wrote her into the film - she’s the girl rapper in the opening rap and she also leans out of the car and berates Flash outside the church. Justice and Lady L who play the Baby Mothers were also instant hits. So talented and beautiful and smart. A joy.

We had little “shrimps”: tiny remote radios, which Malcolm Hirst, the sound recordist, stuck in the ears of the rappers. These played the beat so that the rappers could hear it and stay ‘on point’ - they could hear the beat, but we were only recording vocals so we were able to mix the tracks later. We also had clean studio vocals and in the final mix we used a blend of the live and the studio versions.

Rachel: Can you tell us about the research process for the film?

Penny: I spent months wandering around trying to meet people while being suspected of being a snitch  - working for the police rather than being a film maker. Meeting Dylan Duffus (who plays the main part in the film) was the turning point. We both had something the other wanted which made for a good exchange. Dylan wanted to learn about making films and I wanted to learn about the life of a young man ‘on road’ so it worked brilliantly. We remain very close friends and collaborators watching each others backs. Dylan then introduced me to other people and it went on from there. I had met his uncle, the photographer Vanley Burke, who had helped John Akumfrah make his brilliant Handsworth Songs back in 1985, so funnily it was a film connection which eventually opened the door for me in the hood.

Rachel: You’ve worked again with untrained actors. What are some of the challenges and benefits of casting and directing in these circumstances?

I really make no distinction between trained and untrained actors. Just between good and bad actors - or maybe I should say those who are right for the part and those who aren’t. Casting is about 90% of a successful performance, the rest is the director making a space where the actor can do his or her best plus then what Latin Americans call ‘duende’. It’s hard to translate but its something to do with magic. Some actors need a lot of input, others like a little whisper and then to be left alone and the skill is figuring out what works for each person.

The benefits were the fantastic performances but also that our movable  film set (as we wandered around from location to location) was seen to be part of the community rather than parachuting in, something people were proud of and felt they owned. So we were not an invading army with lots of trucks and shouting Assistant Directors but we were making “our film”. I do set standards very high and had to do a lot of grilling during the prep period - explaining that we had to keep to the schedule or the film was dead in the water - and it worked. We shot the entire film in four weeks - a full blown musical with a large cast - so we were a very disciplined, energetic and well oiled machine.
The language of the film is very important - there is a lot of street slang - and although I had written dialogue using slang in many cases the actors adapted the dialogue to say things in their own way although they stuck very closely to the meaning of what I had written. I think if people are not used to learning lines they can find it stressful and that will affect their performance so it is best to let them improvise. In some cases actors did learn and say exactly what I had written and in others they improved on it! Of course rappers were used to learning lines anyway so they tended to find it easy.

Do go and support Penny’s film in a cinema near you this weekend. Let’s not allow the police to dictate the films we watch! More info on our First Weekenders Club page here.