The Dividing Line
We worked with Artist Mark Vernon to create 'The Dividing Line', a film exploring the Community of Barne Barton and it's relaitionship with the River Tamar.
The 2nd of November 2014 saw the screening of The Dividing Line in Barne Barton. Commissioned by Take A Part in collaboration with The River Tamar Project, and created to be shown as part of the ‘It’s All About The River’ film festival, the film explores the relationship between Barne Barton and the River Tamar.
The film was created by Mark Vernon as the first part of our BBROOTS programme within Barne Barton and contained interviews with local residents interspersed with archival footage from SWFTA. Residents shared their stories, memories and feelings around access to the water from Barne Barton during the film. The Saltash Bridge, Kinterbury Creek, the Naval Estate and the Dockyards are all areas of particular interest; the river is what shaped Barne Barton’s past and future and gives it a unique history within the city. This oral history project combines audio overlaid with archival footage from the South West Film and Television Archives (SWFTA). The oral histories provided the narrative, whilst the archival film provides a visual backdrop for the stories.
The screening took place outdoors on Bull Point Field overlooking the River Tamar. Around 80 people attended the screening, local residents came to hear the stories, or themselves, in the film and people from further afield also came up to Barne Barton to watch. After the screening the audience were invited into the Tamar View to attend a discussion chaired by Pat Patel, community member, and Professor Chris Balch of Plymouth University. The discussion centred around issues of community, localism, neighbourhood planning and more specific issues connected with Barne Barton’s development of a neighbourhood plan.
