Jenny Holt
The Great Bear
2019, 22’29, UK
A film by Jenny Holt
Made in and around Thrapston, a market town in rural Northamptonshire, The Great Bear explores narratives of labour and landscape in the English Midlands. Historically rural, with a strong farming identity, the area’s close proximity to arterial road networks has sparked a growing logistics economy with an international workforce. Intensified by its focus on the young, activities and subjectivities of work entwine with patterns of seasonal change, the landscape both source and product of working life.
What really interested me about Northamptonshire was the interface between the rootedness of agriculture and the rural landscape, and a hugely important logistics industry. It’s instantly visual.
Jenny Holt
So long as you know that you’ve treat them the best that you can, I can’t understand why they can’t have love.
Erin Rose Dorward
Trees grow nice and slow and steady, and the kind of work that revolves around them can be as well.
Rowan Routley
Indonesia, Timor, Malaysia, Portugal, Poland, Lithaunia, India, Pakistan
Morgana Onofri
Ever since I could walk and talk I suppose I’ve wanted to farm.
Joe Wood
Read the transcription of The Great Bear here.
Read what Jenny says about The Great Bear here.
Jenny Holt lives in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire. She has a background in both visual art practice and television documentary production. Festival and exhibitions include: London Short Film Festival; Ethnocineca International Film Festival, Vienna: European Media Art Festival, Osnabruck; Manchester International Festival; Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing. She has directed documentaries and factual programming for national & international broadcasters including the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, and Discovery channel. She studied at Slade School of Fine Art, London, and has a PhD from Manchester Metropolitan University. She is programme leader for filmmaking at Manchester School of Art.
Erin Rose Dorward is a shepherd.
Rowan Routley works for Forestry England
Joe Wood works on his family farm, Crows Nest Farm, in Clopton, Northamptonshire.
Morgana Onofri is from Brazil and lives in Peterborough. She works at a distribution centre in Thrapston.
Credits
Featuring
Rowan Routley
Erin Rose Dorward
Joe Wood
Morgana Onofri
Music Composed & Performed by
Felix Weldon
Audio Post-Production
Raz Ullah
Colour Grade
John Lloyd Jnr
Thanks
East Northamptonshire District Council
Forestry England
Rowland Wood & Son
Crows Nest Farm
E B Agri Services
Drew McKenzie Gautry
Pazz Ritchie
Executive Producers
Abigail Addison and Gary Thomas for Animate Projects
James Steventon for Fermynwoods Contemporary Art
