| Shooting "The Winter of Love" (formally 'A | | | | His 'Wild West', shot in 1992 caused a stir |
| Quiet Desperation') in Southall was paramount | | | | amongst the local community as well as |
| to its manifestation. | | | | nationally. The story is set in Southall |
| | | | where a young Pakistani sees himself as a |
| Without Southall - the film would be | | | | cowboy and has ambitions of fronting a |
| meaningless. It was not just the question of | | | | country and western music band - his dream is |
| the story being played out in the streets of | | | | to go to Nashville. A zany caper, 'Wild West' |
| Southall - but enmeshed in it was my long | | | | gave many of us inspiration to create and |
| standing relationship with the town. | | | | produce our own films. |
| | | | |
| My connection with films in Southall goes | | | | Since then a number of documentaries have |
| back to the heady days of the three cinema's | | | | appeared on television covering various |
| on South Road, leading up to the Green | | | | issues around Southall; "A Fearful Silence", |
| starting with Liberty Cinema, with Century in | | | | about the work of Southall Black Sisters on |
| the middle and the Dominion Cinema towards | | | | domestic violence in Asian communities |
| the end. Our journeys to these cinemas were | | | | produced by Azad Productions; Acting our age |
| with our parents - larger than life images of | | | | directed by Gurinder Chadha and a powerful |
| Hindi film stars; great movies such as | | | | and moving search by Melanie Sykes for a |
| Sholay, Hanste Zakham, and Amar Akbar Anthony | | | | sense of belonging in her Melanie Sykes |
| played havoc on our imaginations as children. | | | | Southall Stories directed by Fatima Salaria. |
| Southall like many small Asian communities | | | | |
| throughout Britain created a hub and buzz | | | | Deeply inspirational, Southall has been an |
| around Hindi Cinema and made it popular | | | | example to British Asian communities through |
| outside of India and brought it to its | | | | out the British Isles and many communities in |
| present day success in Britain and generally | | | | Europe. My decision to shoot and locate 'The |
| in the West - a success that British Asians | | | | Winter of Love' (formally 'A Quiet |
| should be given a full credit for. | | | | Desperation') in Southall stems directly from |
| | | | a sense of deep belonging to a place that has |
| With the demise of the cinemas and the rise | | | | influenced and shaped my outlook on life. |
| of video's that collective viewing soon | | | | |
| disappeared along with the closures of the | | | | Southall means many things to many people. |
| three cinemas - the Dominion Cinema was | | | | Acting as a town near a point of entry |
| bought by the Indian Workers Association who | | | | Heathrow it has traditionally sheltered all |
| renamed it The Dominion Centre. An act of | | | | immigrants coming into its borders; Jewish |
| pure charity, the cinema was bought by the | | | | refuges from the second world war; West |
| IWA with a view that the centre would be | | | | Indian settlers from the Windrush; Pakistani |
| funded by the local council and service the | | | | and Indian settlers in the 50's and 60's; |
| entire community regardless of race or | | | | Ugandan Asian's escaping Idi Amin's regime |
| gender. As part of the purchase, the IWA in | | | | along with Kenyan's and Asians and most |
| their wisdom demolished a state of the art | | | | recently Somalian's. |
| building and replaced with a monstrosity | | | | |
| designed by what can only be described as a | | | | Southall's ability to absorb a diversity of |
| creatively deprived architect who created a | | | | life is a testament to its openness and |
| building without a heart and soul as well as | | | | embracing nature. Perhaps we will see many |
| acoustics! But the users and the people of | | | | more stories coming from Southall with a |
| Southall embraced the building as their own | | | | Somalian; Polish, Jewish or Irish slant |
| and now it operates as the only secular | | | | nestled within universal themes. |
| community building in Southall. | | | | |
| | | | Visiting Bill Cooke & Terry Tkachuk website, |
| Many creative individuals since have emerged | | | | the Southall Film Studios History Project |
| from Southall. A key inspirational figure in | | | | confirmed its place in the creative history |
| making a marking on the film and theatre | | | | of British film making. |
| scene was Harwant Bains. And film for a brief | | | | |
| moment seemed to have returned to Southall. | | | | Order your copy of 'The Winter of Love' here. |