MANIFESTO charts three years in Labour party politics
Politicians and activists from Walton - “the safest Labour seat in the country” - appear in a new documentary charting three pivotal years in the UK’s Labour party politics.
Education, the NHS, Brexit, economics, the environment, workers’ rights and more are on the agenda.
From the same people behind Almost Liverpool 8 comes MANIFESTO, a feature-length documentary about Walton Constituency Labour Party. Filmed over the course of three years, the film captures the peaks and troughs of Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour Party from the coalface.
Education, the NHS, Brexit, economics, the environment, workers’ rights and more are on the agenda as Walton CLP campaigns for change through Labour’s “For The Many” manifesto.
The documentary features a cross section of politicians and activists in its study of the push for social change – including Dan Carden MP, Ian Byrne MP, Alan Gibbons, Michael Hardy, Maureen Delahunty, Tim Jeeves, Lena Šimić, Syed Anwar-ul-Haq, John Whearty, Claire Tierney, Susan Dykes, Alfie Hincks, Maureen Royce, Pauline Gibbons, Jimmy Rutledge.
Produced by Shut Out The Light Films, MANIFESTO is described as the final instalment of the Hope Trilogy in a series of films depicting the Labour movement over the last six years.
Director Daniel Draper said: “I lived in the constituency of Walton for the first 25 years of my life. It’s an area I know well. A community I’m fond of and understand. When I first read The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists a decade ago, it had a great impact on me – it led to my first feature documentary, Nature of the Beast, which in turn steered me towards The Big Meeting.
"MANIFESTO therefore felt organic as I returned to my own community – the community in which Robert Tressell is buried, in a pauper’s grave.
“I don’t believe a film should be objective and a cinema vérité approach to filmmaking can be misinterpreted as being so. I campaigned during the 2019 election (sometimes during shoots) just like the activists in this film.
"The camera that follows Walton CLP over three-years is itself one of the activists - which gives this film its authenticity. The Working-class narratives and voices are under-represented in both politics and film – and this is MANIFESTO's strength.
"It’s a document of a time of hope, the peaks and troughs of party politics and the eternal optimism required to continue the good fight.”
Since the film was made, five councillors have quit the Labour Party in a budget row and joined with three former party members to form a new independent group on the council. The alliance of Alan Gibbons, Rona Heron, Alison Clarke, Joanne Calvert, Alfie Hincks, Anna Rothery, Sam Gorst and Sarah Morton is called “Liverpool Community Independents”.
Shut Out The Light Films is an independent film company based in Liverpool, co-founded by Christie Allanson and Daniel Draper in 2014. A hands-on, personal and passionate approach during all stages of production and distribution is vital to Shut Out the Light’s process of filmmaking.
MANIFESTO will be released in UK cinemas from 17th June. Watch the trailer on YouTube.
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