Sebastian de Souza Instagram – One summer, four years ago, I was invited by Phil Stevens to go to Lincolnshire for a week to join the company of his film Lapwing. I had read Laura Turner’s script and thought it was miraculously well written (not to mention miraculously well timed).
When I got to Saltfleet I found two things.
1: some of the most beautiful and otherworldly scenery I had ever seen (let alone visited) in my life. The marshes were so flat and unspoilt and rugged and alien: I know the pictures above look like they were taken on Tatooine but I promise you that’s England, not a galaxy far far away.
2 (and most importantly): the smallest yet hardest working crew I have ever come across in my life. All the individuals I met were there for one reason: to support each other from dusk till dawn in order to get the thing made. No one’s position was too lofty and no one was too grand. Everyone got stuck in. We all carried cameras and lights and props and pack lunches and people! back and forth and back and forth across the marshes all day long, stopping now and again to shoot a scene before sitting down on a grassy bank to discuss the next one. Very often I felt I didn’t know when real life stopped and the film began, because of where we were and the way we were working.
Being a part of the making of Lapwing reminded me that, at the end of the day, the only thing you need to be able to make a piece of art (or anything for that matter) is the energy to start and the determination to finish. It doesn’t matter how many people you’ve got helping you, it doesn’t matter how much money.
I am really proud of the film and of being a small cog in its wheel. I found it inspiring to be a part of it and hope anyone who wants to make films is inspired by watching it. It really is amazing what people can achieve when they all share the same goal and they truly believe in what they’re doing.
The Lapwing trailer is now available to watch! And it’s in Theatres and OD on 26th November 2021. @lapwingmovie | Posted on 26/Oct/2021 15:23:36
