John Furse

The Time of Our Lives

A large family in London's East End is celebrating a birthday party. Children and grandchildren from this extensive family have come to the party from all over England. At the party the family members talk about hope and dreams for their children. The past and present lives of various relatives are compared with each other, while fragments from radio-programmes from the fourties and the fifties draw an emotional and historical line. Set against this archive material are fierce images of modern day family life in urban England in the year 1993. This makes the film a collage of dreams, memories and images of present-day life.

A Life Apart: Anxieties in a Trawling Community

Docmentary about deep sea fishing community in North West England. This place was run very much as if it was in Victorian England. It was a one company town – all fishing – and if anybody stepped out of line they were chopped, they were sacked. As a result the working conditions, the money etc. were appalling and nobody dare say anything because if they spoke out: no job; and they weren’t given any explanation.