David Gladwell

Requiem for a Village

David Gladwell

Vicki Smith

The idyllic, rural past of a Suffolk village comes to life through the memories of an old man who tends a country graveyard.

28b Camden Street

David Gladwell

A community of sculptors (and a potter) face crisis as their London NW1 studios are threatened with demolition.

An Untitled Film

David Gladwell

A BFI production from 1964, directed by David Gladwell, who is best known as an editor of films like Lindsay Anderson's If.... (1968) and O Lucky Man! (1973). This short was shot at 200 fps, depicting a series of pastoral scenes from a British farm, edited to produce a suggestion of violence in contrast to its visual beauty.

The Great Steam Fair

David Gladwell, Derrick Knight

Co-directed by innovative British filmmakers David Gladwell and Derrick Knight, The Great Steam Fair is a beautifully crafted documentary filmed at Shottesbrooke Park, Berkshire in 1964 at a nostalgic event which brought together many traditional fairground rides and steam engines. The film skilfully combines the techniques of traditional sponsored documentary with the new approaches of the direct cinema movement.

A Summer Discord

David Gladwell

Andrea Sobey

David Gladwell (Requiem for a Village) was just 20 years old when he made A summer Discord, an imaginative amateur, silent short film set in the countryside which tells the story of a little girl who is reprimanded by her mother. Of particular note is the film’s dark nightmare sequence which is shot in colour (unlike the rest of the film) and which anticipates Gladwell’s later, highly poetical films.

Miss Thompson Goes Shopping

David Gladwell

Adaptation of Martin Armstrong's poem about an elderly lady who becomes perturbed by something we can't see. It becomes apparent that she is looking for her past, lost in a memory or the clutches of nostalgia. Miss Thompson's shopping trip to town is in chaotic contrast to the tranquil nature of her lonely home, which on return seems like paradise.

Memoirs of a Survivor

David Gladwell

Julie Christie, Christopher Guard

Based on the acclaimed novel by Doris Lessing, this dystopian science fiction tale concerns a woman struggling to make her way in a post-apocalyptic society. D (Julie Christie) is living in a city that's at the point of collapse following a catastrophic nuclear war; lawlessness and violence rule the day, and gangs of brutal youth roam the streets. With the help of her teenage companion Emily (Leonie Mellinger), D tries to make her way, and in order to cope, she often escapes into a fantasy world in which she lives in genteel Victorian surroundings in the 19th century.