Screen Archive South East is a public sector moving image archive serving the South East of England. The archive's collections of magic lantern slides, films, videos and associated materials capture the many varied aspects of life, work and creativity from the early days of screen history to the present day and serve as a rich and invaluable historical resource.
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Local News in Brighton & Hove.
Festival Year in Brighton gets the celebratory treatment in this amateur newsreel from 1951 - featuring Vampires, a Princess and a Power Station.
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Overview
A rather special year is featured in this amateur compilation of local news. It's 1951 and Brighton is celebrating the Festival of Britain with lights and fireworks followed by a Cycle Race in Preston Park. Vampires, Meteors and bi-planes buzz around Shoreham Airport, while Princess Elizabeth visits Hove. Shoreham Power Station is seen while still under construction followed by a cricket match played in Regency costume. We end with shots of the film-makers in action.
The Albany Film Unit was an amateur club based in Southwick, West Sussex, and their local newsreels were a popular format with cine clubs. Compiling a number of items, usually filmed by several members throughout the year, was a relatively trouble-free method of producing a varied film, of interest to all members and of reasonable length. Working in this way meant that individual members could film local events and points of interest throughout the year and the results, when edited together would form a neat (though not always comprehensive) year book. As seen towards the end of this compilation, cine club members often had a penchant for turning their cameras on themselves.
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