Presenting: THE ARCHIVIST 🎥✨
David ‘Doc’ Rowe has spent decades documenting Britain’s vibrant folk traditions. Now, with time running short, he faces a race to preserve his legacy.
Rowe has devoted his life to documenting customs, songs and celebrations that few others thought worthy of attention, building an extraordinary archive along the way. As personal challenges mount and the collection’s future grows uncertain, the urgency of his mission sharpens. With remarkable access, we get close to Rowe as he pushes forward, idiosyncratic and unflappable, navigating the fragile line between preserving memory and letting go. THE ARCHIVIST is a story about one person’s determination to celebrate the living traditions that connect us to where we come from and who we are, whatever the cost.
TICKETS TO THE WORLD PREMIERE AT SHEFFIELD DOCFEST AVAILABLE NOW 🙌
@fifthcolumnfilmmakers@docrowearchive@timplester@tykefilms@ben_edge_art@museum_of_british_folklore
#docrowe #thearchivist #portal #seasonalevents #ritual
Let’s talk about this year’s International Competition! 🏆✨
The Academy Award™-credited International Competition honours films that best display strong artistic vision and courageous storytelling.
There are eight films up for the Grand Jury Award for the International Competition and we have some real treats for you this year. Explore our International Competition and grab your tickets NOW at the link in our bio 👆🔗
⭐️ The Apologist
Through the ritual of saying sorry, a bold journey explores how apologies redefine history and what happens to us as witnesses to the act of atonement.
⭐️ The Archivist
David "Doc" Rowe has spent decades preserving Britain's overlooked folk traditions. Now, with time running short, he faces a race to protect them.
⭐️ Colors of White Rock
In Mongolia's Gobi Desert, Maikhuu is one of the country's only female truck drivers, hauling coal across treacherous roads to provide for her family.
⭐️ Disciples
On the banks of the Ganges in Varanasi, two boys enter a revered Hindu school where lessons in ancient scripture blur into something more troubling.
⭐️ Filthy
When an actress goes looking for the man who assaulted her, she turns her trauma into art and asks the question nobody wanted her to: why didn't you do anything?
⭐️ Lesbian Lines
An intimate portrait of a network of underground telephone helplines established by a small community of Irish lesbians in 1979.
⭐️ MKO
Moshood Abiola wins Nigeria's freest election, only for the military to jail him. When U.S. diplomats arrive to negotiate his release, he is served tea, and dies.
⭐️ Time Machine Maidan (Машина Часу Майдан)
In this haunting and visually inventive documentary, a spectral voice drifts through time and memory to trace the Maidan revolution and the roots of resistance in Ukraine.
WORLD PREMIERE ANNOUNCEMENT! 📣
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We’ve had this one under our hats for a couple of weeks now, but we can finally reveal that our new documentary about @docrowearchive and the enduring folk traditions that he’s spent his life documenting, will be screening in competition at this year’s @sheffdocfest in a strand curated by Guest Of Honour @betteblavatsky - “ideas of Britishness through the lens of working-class representation.” 🎥
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Adventures in Time & Space & Folklore!
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Tickets on sale now via the Sheffield DocFest website. THE ARCHIVIST is produced by Fifth Column and @tykefilms
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#folklore #docrowe #folkcustoms #intangibleculturalheritage #workingclassculture
THURSDAY THROWBACK… to that time when Doc was on the 10 o’clock news. Bong! 🕙
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Exciting News regarding ‘The Island of Doc Rowe’ documentary film, coming SOON. 🎥
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#docrowe #docrowearchiveproject #folklore #intangibleculturalheritage #andfinally
🌀 BRINGING THE MAY 🌱
. Come gather at Covent Garden’s @thegardencinema this Friday (2nd) for a special screening of our documentary film THE BALLAD OF SHIRLEY COLLINS. The evening begins at 6.15pm with Morris Dancing from our fantastic friends @belles_of_london_city in the new atrium bar. The film itself follows at 6.45pm (with a Q&A afterwards). The celebrations will then continue at 8.45pm, back in the atrium bar, with live music from Oliver Hamilton from @shovel_dance_collective .
. This extract from THE BALLAD OF SHIRLEY COLLINS features a 1959 recording of the peerless American folksinger Almeida Riddle, singing ‘The Merry Golden Tree’. It’s a song which @shirleycollinslodestar herself would go on to record for her 2024 album ‘Heart’s Ease’. The song has also recently been recorded by both The Shovel Dance Collective and @samamidon (who also makes an appearance in the film). Go listen. 🎵
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The Garden Cinema do not show adverts, so please arrive promptly. Tickets selling fast.
. #folklegend #shirleycollins #theballadofshirleycollins #firefilms #fifthcolumnfilms #dysphonia #alanlomax #lomaxarchive @culturalequity #almeidariddle #merrygoldentree #childballads #documentary #folk #sussex #hastingsjackinthegreen #mayday #bellesoflondoncity #morrisdancing #shoveldancecollective @mister_paul_williams
💛 FOOT UP! 💛
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Tomorrow marks the golden anniversary of the revival of Adderbury’s Morris Dancing tradition, after a gap of more than 60 years. A phoenix-from-the-flames moment, celebrated in this extract from our film 2011 documentary WAY OF THE MORRIS. The Adderbury dances were collected by Janet Heatley Blunt and Cecil James Sharp. The Adderbury tradition was revived by a team (as seen here) led by Bryan Sheppard and Tim Radford. Super-8 footage by Harold Jeffrey Plester. Music by Adrian Corker. Edited by Jono Griffith. Featuring the voices of Chris Leslie and Bryan Sheppard. Excelsior! 🔥
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WAY OF THE MORRIS (2011) is available to watch via Vimeo or digital-versatile-disc.
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#folk #folktradition #folklore #folkcustoms #morrisdance #morrisdancersofinstagram #morrisdancing #timplester #robcurry #revival #heritage #englishfolklore #bladderonastick #ruggles #adderbury #adderburydayofdance #wayofthemorris #cecilsharp #janetblunt #sumerisicumenin #hooknortonbrewery #folkagainstfascism
💛 MORRISING ON 💛
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This time next week (April 26th) marks the golden anniversary of the revival of Adderbury’s Morris Dancing tradition (as documented in our 2011 documentary film WAY OF THE MORRIS). The Adderbury dances were collected by Janet Heatley Blunt and Cecil James Sharp. The Adderbury tradition was revived in 1975, by a team (pictured here) led by Bryan Sheppard and Tim Radford. Excelsior!
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WAY OF THE MORRIS is available to watch via Vimeo or via digital-versatile-disc.
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#folk #folktradition #folklore #folkcustoms #creationmyth #oldmisterfox #morrisdancing #timplester #robcurry #bladderonastick #ruggles #adderbury #adderburydayofdance #wayofthemorris #sumerisicumenin #hooknortonbrewery #folkagainstfascism
EVENT: 1st April - 1st May @ Kresen Kernow
Some recent illustrations for the display board at the upcoming pop-up exhibition ‘THROUGH THE LENS OF TIME’
As part of a three-year collaboration with the inspiring Doc Rowe and the Padstow community, we’ve launched our pop-up exhibition, Through the Lens of Time, which celebrates Cornwall’s traditions and customs, including Padstow’s May Day, Hurling at St Columb Major, Helston Furry Dance, and John Knill Ceremony St Ives.
The exhibition brings together a small selection of Doc’s incredible photographs that bridge generations, where each image serves as a thread in the unbroken line of cultural memory. For over six decades, Doc’s camera lens has captured the heartbeat of British folk culture, weaving together a tapestry of moments that dance between past and present.
📸 Throwback Thursday 📸
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Filming with Doc this time last year, straight off the back of the hugely successful crowdfunder in support of his unique archive of vernacular arts and working-class British social history. Stay tuned for news on the accompanying feature-length documentary about Doc and his irreplaceable treasure trove of material in the new year.
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It’s still possible to contribute to the crowdfunder, but we can sadly no longer offer any of the associated rewards.
👉/p/docrowe👈
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#folklore #folkhorror #wickerman #britishfolklore #docrowe #morrisdancing #crowdfunding #itvnews #newsatten #andfinally #timplester #robcurry #intangibleculturalheritage #wayofthemorris #balladofshirleycollins #fifthcolumnfilms #blessedalbion
🎂 Happy (Almost) Birthday to Dr. Doc! 🎂
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Doc got to have his cake and eat it following his lecture, ‘Transmission, Transformation and Trends: Historic and Contemporary Approaches to our Cultural Traditions’ at last night’s Katharine Briggs Lecture and Book Award. An event hosted jointly this year by @thefolkloresociety and @the_efdss .
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Congratulations to our good friends @weird_walk for their nomination and to @tabithastanmore for scooping this year’s award for her book, ‘Cunning Folk: Life in the Era of Practical Magic‘.
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It’s also a Happy (Not Quite) 1 Year Birthday to our successful Crowdfunding campaign to help digitize Doc’s archive of audio-visual material relating to seasonal events and traditional song. Massive thanks again to everyone who helped make that dream a reality. News on the accompanying documentary feature film THE ISLAND OF DOC ROWE will be forthcoming in the new year.
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#docrowearchiveproject #docrowe #folklore #katherinebriggsaward #ronaldhutton
English Folklore Reboot. 🌀
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A nice mention (without actually being mentioned) in today’s @obsmagazine article about Sheffield Hallam University‘s Centre for Contemporary Legend conducting a new government funded survey into English Folklore.
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This time last year, we were in the early stages of our (ultimately hugely successful) crowdfunder in support of efforts to digitise Doc’s unique audio-visual archive of folk customs. Thanks again, one and all. More news to come in the new year. 📽️
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#folklore #folklorerising #docrowe #docrowearchiveproject
LITTLE EDEN - Trailer Drop 🎸
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Our new music documentary about indie-rock pioneers The Bevis Frond is preview screening 📽 @greenmanfest this Friday (16th) 💚 If you happen to find yourself in those hallowed hills, please do come and join us in The Cinedrome at 3pm. The screening will be followed by an on-stage chat with Stewart Lee and some exclusive clips from our forthcoming documentary film about @docrowearchive 👊
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#gm24 #cinedrome #nicksaloman #bevisfrond #firerecords #stewartlee #docrowe
