The stars arrive on opening night of Extraordinary Times.

Extraordinary Times: A film about ageing

Extraordinary Times  is a community documentary film about women in their eighties and nineties living in Hastings and St Leonards, challenging attitudes to ageing and celebrating ageing in a new century. Tracy Jones tells us about the film’s opening and the next viewing to the public, which will take place at the Jerwood Gallery, Hastings, on 1 October between 4.15pm and 8pm.

Last Sunday saw the six excited stars of the film arriving in style at Hastings Museum and Art Gallery in a stretch limousine. They were enthusiastically greeted by friends, collaborators, museum staff and community groups. The reception was a huge success, with over 100 people cramming into the museum’s main gallery to view the first outing for this local life-affirming film.

The film is touching, humorous and positive, focusing on the stories and the richness of the lives of these six wonderful women, proving that life is to be lived to the full at any age.

As the credits rolled, flowers were presented to all the ladies to heartfelt applause, followed by refreshments and congratulations from  everyone present. In a quiet moment afterwards, the women said it made them feel good about themselves and they were proud to have been able to contribute towards changing people’s minds about ageing.

The film will be available to view free at the Jerwood Gallery in Hastings on 1 October between 4.15pm and 8pm. It will be shown in the studio which can seat up to 35 people, it lasts for approximately 35 minutes and will run on a continuous loop.

If you are unable to make it to Jerwood Gallery, we will be giving away free DVDs of the film to local clubs, organisations and individuals. If you’d like a copy or are interested in showing the film to your local group, do get in touch. We’ll be posting regular updates about the film’s progress, viewings, snippets and photographs on our Facebook page facebook.com/extraordinarytimes, so contact us there or Su Warren directly at suwarren27@gmail.com.

The film was made possible through the generous support of its funders, local organisations, businesses and individuals, and the talented and committed team of local creatives who volunteered their time and skills to make it happen: Sin Bozkurt, Sineid Codd, Alex Corder, Amanda Jobson, Tracy Jones and Mauricio Vincenzi.

Extraordinary Times  was conceived, directed and produced by Su Warren in collaboration with the women it presents, to share and document their lives.

Funded by the Isabel Blackman Foundation, Hastings Borough Council Seniors Small Grants and Hastings Lions Club.

Photo: Sin Bozkurt. The ladies: Margarita Dorrity King, Kay Savage, Beryl Franks, Pat Pern, Catherine Hadley and Francesca Inskipp, with Su Warren (second from left).

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