The Hall

The Hall opens by following four walkers as they all make their separate journeys to the same place, at different times of the day and for very different purposes. The camera follows them as they pass between greenhouses and narrow hedgerow edged roads until eventually arriving at the Landolph Memorial Hall which in turn hosts battleships, bowls, line dancing and band practise. As each walker opens the door to the hall the viewer enters a space transformed by the activity of the group within: from the gaiety of the line dancers and the quiet concentration of the bowlers and games players, to the thrash and hum of the band. The film echoes the intent of earlier documentary filmmakers such as Humphrey Jennings, in films such as Spare Time (1939), to use the formal capacities of the camera to bring to the surface the overlooked magic of activities often deemed ordinary. The narrative of the film, like Jennings, is not provided by voice over, but by the agency of her moving camera, which in turn frames and reveals the agency of its temporary incumbents, as they bring a private intimacy and pleasure to a shared public space.