When the Camera Stopped Rolling

This is an ambitious film, deeply psychological, close to the bone for director Jane Castle. There are more than a few dramatic surprises by way of an untold history of bygone family relationships, the central one being with Jane's mother Lilias Fraser. Lilias was a dynamic, fiercely independent and well-known figure who was herself a film maker and also a political activist, but her personal story she had kept well hidden. And there is also Jane's personal story of her childhood and early adulthood and altogether this makes for intense drama indeed. Actually, this film has everything - as Jane finds just the right images to support the confronting telling of this story and its accompanying emotions at every point. Thus the film is beautiful to watch as well as to 'feel' - this is aesthetic perfection in the difficult territory for the documentary maker of her own internal story, a documentary of emotions. Both a great story and formal mastery? A rare beast yes?

This is an ambitious film, deeply psychological, close to the bone for director Jane Castle. There are more than a few dramatic surprises by way of an untold history of bygone family relationships, the central one being with Jane's mother Lilias Fraser. Lilias was a dynamic, fiercely independent and well-known figure who was herself a film maker and also a political activist, but her personal story she had kept well hidden. And there is also Jane's personal story of her childhood and early adulthood and altogether this makes for intense drama indeed. Actually, this film has everything - as Jane finds just the right images to support the confronting telling of this story and its accompanying emotions at every point. Thus the film is beautiful to watch as well as to 'feel' - this is aesthetic perfection in the difficult territory for the documentary maker of her own internal story, a documentary of emotions. Both a great story and formal mastery? A rare beast yes?