WHY THIS FILM?
THE MAYOR'S RACE is about one person’s desire to break the chains of his own background and step forward against the odds. It’s also about a city eager to write a different future in the shadow of a notorious past.
THE MAYOR'S RACE is about how people with different ethnic and social backgrounds wish to participate - politically, socially and economically. It is about the hopes and dreams of a new generation of Europeans. Still, these dreams are threatened by the rise in 'far-right' ideas, fear of migrants, Muslims, hatred of Otherness and the crushing impact of poverty. It shows the search for new leaders in a world that feels fragile and insecure these days.
The film also shows how the scars of racism take time to heal, with this inner battle being played out on a public battleground - in a city that has its own racial sensitivities.
In 2016 London elects a Muslim mayor in an Islam-fearing world and Bristol elects an African-heritage man in a former slaving port. To some in our ‘post-race’ world these personal identities mean nothing, to others it means a lot.
We also hope that THE MAYOR'S RACE might encourage people who feel excluded by their society, to face to their doubt and learn to take an active part in the social processes that shape their own lives.
WHO ARE THE FILMMAKERS?
Loraine Blumenthal
I'm a documentary filmmaker from Berlin and I have always been very interested in the black power movement in the United States. To find out that something similar was going on in the UK came as a surprise to me.
I was excited to find out about the remarkable achievements of Paul Stephenson and a group of black activists who led the civil rights movement in Bristol. Then I found out about Marvin Rees' ambition to shape this city, through politics and I knew this needed to become a documentary film.
Rob Mitchell
I am a Creative Media Producer who studied Drama in Bristol and then used media mainly as a tool for engaging people and communities, often with the aims of learning and civic participation. Co-founder of Firstborn Creatives with Shawn Sobers and former of director Black Pyramid Film and Video Project, a lot of my work has looked at issues of representation, history and belonging.
I met Loraine while working on a community project, inspired by the Bristol Bus Boycott story. After discussing the idea of making a film, we agreed that the 1963 story could be brought up to date if we centred it on this fellow, with Jamaican heritage, who is thinking of running for Mayor one generation later.
HOW CAN YOU HELP?
The main point of our Crowdfunding campaign is to raise the money and help with the last push to complete the film and get it out there. This goes toward, final editing, colouring and mixing, clearance for archives and music, festival entries and getting it into distribution.
So donations to this campaign, using this site will be of immense help to that goal. The beauty of the ‘Crowd’ is that many small donations can make a big difference, so please have a look at the perks and donations pages to see how you can contribute according to affordability.
Of course not everyone has money to give away so easily and we're well aware of that.
So, the other part is to make as many people as possible aware or our film and the goals of this campaign.
We only have 30 days from the start so please SHARE SHARE SHARE, LIKE LIKE LIKE and all that. If you think of people, groups, organisations or networks who would be particularly interested please direct your shares accordingly.
We would also like to hear about any recommendations about how we can reach our funding goals for this campaign, so if a share or like simply won’t do it, please get in touch.
NOTES ON PERKS
1) Big thanks to Richard Jones and Tangent Books for partnering this campaign and making work available from this excellent publishing house, with a specialist interest in the city of Bristol.
2) Streaming Links and Collectors' DVD items will be available as pre-releases and therefore in advance of general release. However, the actual dates announced here may change, subject to any deals struck with distributors that affect 'release windows'.
We look forward to staying in touch with you as backers and keeping you up to date with developments in due course.
Thank you again for your interest and attention at this point. There are many people to thank for helping us to this stage including the Rosa Luxembourg foundation for some valuable funding. We look forward to sharing the completed film with you all at the next stage.