Community Film Festival Held in North Acton

The TV and cinema history of the Island Triangle area is celebrated

Musician Alex Rosenberg and presenter Samantha Meah
Musician Alex Rosenberg and presenter Samantha Meah

Participate

Sign up for our Acton newsletter

Comment on this story on the

The Island Triangle Resident’s Association (TITRA) of Willesden Junction has held a free film festival for local residents to celebrate a long history of British filmmaking in the area.

What is intended to be the inaugural festival of an annual event took place on during the Halloween half term and was attended by around 150 people at The Collective, North Acton.

The Island Triangle conservation area, which includes Stephenson Street, Goodhall Street, Stoke Place, Crew Place, Webb Place and Old Oak Lane. is made up of Victorian railway cottages, which have been seen on British screens since the 1930s. They have been included in many recognisable advertisements, TV shows, films and music videos including ‘The Ipcress Files’ (1965); ‘Foyles war (2019); ‘Eddie the Eagle’ (2016); Wild Bill (2019); ‘Common People’ by Pulp and ‘Our House’ by Madness.


Volunteers setting up the Island Triangle Film Festival Screen

The upcoming ‘Phantom of the Open’ movie about amateur British golfer Maurice Flitcroft which comes out later this year was also shot here. Oscar winners, nominees and other Hollywood favourites such as Michael Caine, Ralph Fiennes, Mark Rylance, Taron Egerton, Hugh Jackman and Rob Lowe are also listed on the cul-de-sac’s showreel.

The event was open to all residents on application and included a kid’s film party; a film location tour; an industry expert talk hosted by former BBC morning breakfast broadcaster Samantha Meah in discussion with award winning local actors and screen writers – Ivan Kaye (Vikings and Stephen King's The Dark Tower); Douglas McFerran (Sliding Doors), Jason Salkey (Sharpe) and Linda Hartley; and a movie screening; followed by live music from the TITRA community band.

Ivan Kaye said , “I was delighted to be invited to take part in the first ever Island Triangle Film Festival. Having been involved in many film and TV productions over the years, I am very passionate about the importance of retaining key filming locations for the British Film industry. The Island Triangle streets are unique and they are particularly special in the midst of all this HS2 construction and other major developments literally popping up around us.”

The event was funded by the OPDC Heritage Grant, small grants awarded for community projects.

TITRA has hosted many free community events, including several street parties with inflatables, free food and live music over the last 20 years.

Craig Gunn, Island Triangle Film Festival tour guide said, ‘The reason we do events like this is to protect the area from commercial and private encroachment. We want to protect the rich London history that is kept in the architecture here. These houses represent the working class of Britain.’

Local resident Virginie Chalmin added, ‘It is not very common to find such a community vibe in London. We’ve been in London for 15 years now and this is the first place we’ve had that community feel. Everybody looks after each other. Our friends think we are very lucky.’

Value Reading Articles Like This? Help Us Produce More

This site remains committed to providing local community news and public interest journalism.

Articles such as the one above are integral to what we do. We aim to feature as much as possible on local societies, charities based in the area, fundraising efforts by residents, community-based initiatives and even helping people find missing pets.

We’ve always done that and won’t be changing, in fact we’d like to do more.

However, the readership that these stories generates is often below that needed to cover the cost of producing them. Our financial resources are limited and the local media environment is intensely competitive so there is a constraint on what we can do.

We are therefore asking our readers to consider offering financial support to these efforts. Any money given will help support community and public interest news and the expansion of our coverage in this area.

A suggested monthly payment is £8 but we would be grateful for any amount for instance if you think this site offers the equivalent value of a subscription to a daily printed newspaper you may wish to consider £20 per month. If neither of these amounts is suitable for you then contact info@neighbournet.com and we can set up an alternative. All payments are made through a secure web site.

One-off donations are also appreciated. Choose The Amount You Wish To Contribute.

If you do support us in this way we’d be interested to hear what kind of articles you would like to see more of on the site – send your suggestions to the editor.

For businesses we offer the chance to be a corporate sponsor of community content on the site. For £30 plus VAT per month you will be the designated sponsor of at least one article a month with your logo appearing if supplied. If there is a specific community group or initiative you’d like to support we can make sure your sponsorship is featured on related content for a one off payment of £50 plus VAT. All payments are made through a secure web site.

 

November 3, 2021

 

Bookmark and Share