The Yorkshire Film Archive collects, preserves, and shows film made in, or about Yorkshire. Our collections are non-fiction, dating from the 1890s to the present day, and providing a rich and visually compelling record of all aspects of lives, cultures, landscape, industries, major events and everyday activities, many of which are available to watch, free of charge, on our website.
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Sidi Family Christmas 1974
This family film by eccentric and gifted filmmaker Alan Sidi could well have been made as a demonstration for other families on how to have a relaxed and enjoyable Christmas.
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Overview
Not surprisingly, this is not your usual amateur movie of a family at home at Christmas from Leeds’ most inventive amateur filmmaker, Alan Sidi. Here Alan both introduces and postscripts his film in his characteristic relaxed manner, with a liqueur and sherry in hand. This is a family that has got Christmas off pat, with all the usual trappings, making it a highly civilised affair.
Alan Sidi was the inspirational force behind many of the films of Leeds Mercury Movie Makers, and also made well over a hundred films of his own. Always looking to come up with new ideas, he also invented a cine-sync machine to synchronise audio with 16 mm film, and devised his own “Sidi-scope” film format. Alan had been filming his family at Christmas, off and on, since 1950. One room of his idiosyncratic house, Val D’or – soon to be purchased by the Wales and Leeds United footballer Terry Yorath – was entirely devoted to film editing. Renowned for his pranks, here Alan shows himself to be an exemplary family man.
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