My Month with George - A Pub Documentary

A project of passion, surrounded by those who relish the simpler, or for me, finer things in life. eclectic characters, the too-and-fro of meanderings and piss taking, and the effervescent flow of the amber nectar. This film is neither an analysis of London’s changing pubscape or a finger pointing rant directed at those who allow/encourage the mass closure of our small pubs, I’ll leave that to the plenty of pub aficionados who are more well versed and skilled than me to depict. This is a film about what and who. What makes the local pub a special place that we should do more to protect, and who are the people who thrived when they were booming, and who will ultimately suffer from their increasing decline. I cannot claim to have truly captured the essence of the pub on film, that is a feat as impossible as reconstructing the atmosphere of the football stadium through the television, but I feel like I’ve come close enough. Not through nifty camera work or clever editing, a thunderous musical score or sexy montage sequences, but ironically through the people in the pub being just that, people in the pub. At first, slightly wary of this newcomer with a camera in hand asking questions, then (not so slowly) opening up, welcoming me in, putting a pint in the pump for me, and talking. Their memories, their past, their sick relatives, their highs and lows and their community. Of which, for my month with the George, I was privileged to be a part of.