Filmmaker Statement

“Dorset is light and dark, ecstasy and melancholy.” PJ Harvey AWAKE is a short experimental documentary about a liminal moment in the calendar - midwinter - observed by the inhabitants of a small rural village in England. A time outside time, magic is everywhere and anything is possible. Bearing witness to this turning point, the inhabitants gather for a wassail - a centuries old thanksgiving ritual of in which folk gather to honour the slow return of the sun and bless the apple trees whose fruit are essential to the village ecosystem, not least the crumbles, juice and cider that sustains them throughout the year. We watch the preparation, the riotous procession and the offerings given to the apple trees, then it is all over, dawn arrives. But the wilder ones are awake, the birds, the musician and the children; acknowledging their place in the family of things.