London’s Screen Archives enables Londoners see their past come alive on film. Managed by Film London, we are a unique network of historic film collections that cares for, collects and screens heritage film across the city. Together we preserve London’s rich film heritage from feature films to home movies, public information films, newsreels, and records of the capital’s many different industries.
This film is part of Free
What And Where Is Paradise? (1960s)
Gasworks, wharves and markets are filmed by local art school students, with local children providing unorthodox commentary about the area’s industrial charms.
From the collection of:
Overview
This is a marvellous film, directed by Chris Owen, a student at Kingston Art School keen to explore Brentford’s industrial architecture. Numerous wonderful shots are taken of the area, many focussing on the gasworks – which he also films from inside – but also of wharves, shops, a funeral, factories, housing, advertisements, churches and drinkers outside the Beehive pub. Much of the vocal track comes from conversations with curious schoolchildren.