Review of Amelia Hashemi’s Shorditch is for Me

This is one of my favourite films. I was expecting to hate it cos Shoreditch has become synonymous with hipsters and bohemian posers. However that modern world dissipated ­ or became more tolerable to myself ­ as I was enriched with a sense of the spiritual and artistic history of the place.

The film brought to life ­ with such peaceful calmness amidst the cacophany of the modern urban environ – the history of Shoreditch embedded in the mud and clay of the place – and upon which years of sediment and new activity have been added. The serene touchstone – the film’s visual refrain of a quiet park set away from the urban hipsters and noisy crap of Shoreditch ­ helped generate this sense of tranquil reflection far from the madding crowd.

The voiceover was perfectly delivered. And there were shifts in narrative perspective and the texture of the word composition which added dynamism to the piece and gave it a vitality beyond the plodding, monotone rhythm of a lot of films.

With regard to the delivery of voiceover – so many of the films shortlisted here don’t realise how important this is. It’s not enough for you to just say your words and think it does the job. You can’t just plonk them down. Whilst recording your voiceover you’re essentially an actor and performer whether you like it or not. If your delivery is crap you have just massively damaged your entire film and undermined all the effort you have put into gathering your shots and editing it together. Don’t throw your film away at the last minute with a crappy voiceover.

Anyway – to conclude ­ this is a positive review. I’d be interested to see what this filmmaker gets up to and liked it sufficiently to accept a friendship request from them on Facebook were they to ask. Although Facebook is a bit rubbish now, isn’t it?

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