Can you support The Solway? ∞
I’ve been a bit quiet over the past few months because I’ve been immersed in a film edit, working with filmmaker Eamon Bourke on his deeply personal feature documentary titled The Solway.
Eamon’s Mum, Sue, died suddenly in 1983, leaving behind three small children. Eamon was three and has no memories of his Mum, though he’s always longed to know her. When his father, John, decides to sell their family home of nearly fifty years – a remote cottage in Cumbria – Eamon doesn’t want to let it go, so returns to capture it on film. In the process of clearing the house, Eamon discovers several cassette tapes containing real treasure: his mother’s voice and entire family scenes, recorded and preserved – the memories he’d been missing all his life. The very last thing Sue recorded was her and Eamon singing together.
Harrowingly, Eamon also finds another tape labelled ‘Children’s Tape for Sue’ which he couldn’t play because the reel was cut. He repairs it and listens, discovering a heartbreaking recording that goes to the centre of his family’s worst moment. The Solway is a unique meditation on grief, love and the wound of losing a parent in early childhood.
Whilst making The Solway has been a therapeutic process for Eamon – an attempt to piece together his own broken heart – the film also offers a sanctuary for audiences to contemplate their own grief.
We’re now entering The Solway into film festivals, aiming to premiere the documentary later this year. We’ve launched a crowdfunder to help us reach the widest possible audience. We’re raising funds to cover festival entry fees, and enable us to hire a specialist film publicist. We’re also keen to organise community screenings, working with grief charities and special interest groups, to facilitate meaningful conversations around the film.
If you can help us in any way, I’d be tremendously grateful. You can support our crowdfunder on GoFundMe here.