This film is part of Free

I Am a Mayor
Life and local government in Maidenhead, Berks.
Overview
The Mayor of Maidenhead on life and local government in the well-to-do Berkshire town. This film was part of a small series of 'I Am...' films produced for government by Basic Films (alongside I Am a Reporter and I Am a Mobile Librarian). Primarily aimed at overseas (especially Commonwealth) audiences, and secondly at UK classrooms, the picture they paint is of an untroubled postwar society comfortable with its history but just as much ease facing present and future.
Leon Clore, producer of the I Am... series, and John Fletcher, director of I Am a Mayor, were both associated with the Free Cinema movement of the late 50s. But Free Cinema these films certainly weren't. Instead, their style serves their informative purpose (in this case explaining how town councils work) but also embodies the underlying theme of tradition and modernity comfortably infused. The look and sound are unobtrusive reboots of 1940s documentary: fluid mobile camerawork is mixed in with more traditional static shots, and the first-person voiceovers replace and humanise the classic 'Voice of God' narration.
Related

Task of the Teacher Task of the Teacher
School programme and Educational film 1973 43 mins Location: Northcourt
London’s school kids get to grips with teaching methods, technology and cows in this film from the 1970s explaining educational theories at different London schools.

District Nurse District Nurse
Government sponsored film 1952 27 mins Location: Wadhurst
Never a dull moment for a rural district nurse in the early days of the NHS.

Pakistani Bus Driver Pakistani Bus Driver
News 1974 2 mins Location: Birmingham
Bus timetables are sacrosanct to some but to others there are more important things in life - and faith is one of them.

Dustman Dustman
Documentary 1928 3 mins Silent Location: Sheffield
Refuse collection you cannot refuse with some state-of-the-art bin business in 1920s Sheffield

Mobile Shop Mobile Shop
News 1975 4 mins Location: Ullesthorpe
It's an Aladdin's Cave of household goods: Donald Sansome's travelling store is a lifeline for the people of rural Leicestershire

These Are the Hands These Are the Hands
Charity appeal 2020 2 mins
Beautiful NHS fundraiser, setting Michael Rosen’s poem to powerful archive images.

Thames Valley Thames Valley
Amateur film 1935 20 mins Silent Location: Maidenhead
Amateur travelogue of Maidenhead's beauty spots

Discomania Discomania
Drama 1979 24 mins Location: London
Nerdy teenage mummy's boy David dreams of wowing the girls with his disco dance moves - but alas he was born with two left feet.

So This Is Staines! So This Is Staines!
Non-Fiction 1926 1 mins Silent Location: Staines-upon-Thames
Welcome to 'Maidenhead-sur-Mer' - waterlogged scenes of Thames Valley flooding from January 1926.

Here and There Here and There
Amateur film 1954 26 mins Silent Location: Hemel Hempstead
Amateur captured Hertfordshire town centres, public gardens, market days, river journeys by boat or barge, and Whipsnade Zoo with wild animals from each corner of the globe.

If I Make It To The Morning If I Make It To The Morning
Drama 2024 9 mins
A Chinese teenager dreams of living with her cool aunt in New York, until tensions boil over during a crab dinner.

We’ll Go Down in History We’ll Go Down in History
Documentary 2025 25 mins
Two years in the life of TRUK United FC, a beacon for positive change and trans inclusivity in football.

Dragfox Dragfox
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2024 8 mins
A child struggling with their identity and a charismatic fox (voiced by Sir Ian McKellen) learn to embrace their differences in this heart warming stop-motion animation.

Wait, Wait, Now! Wait, Wait, Now!
Drama 2024 13 mins
A Maori and a Kiwi teen buddy up to raid their mum’s wardrobe and pucker their lips with red.

NGGAK!!! NGGAK!!!
Drama 2024 8 mins
‘I pronounce you wife and wife.’ A young couple design their perfect wedding online, but then mum dials in.

Layla - Exclusive Q&A Layla - Exclusive Q&A
Short interview 2025 27 mins
Writer, director and performer Amrou Al-Kadhi talks to Rico Johnson-Sinclair about their debut feature.