Synopsis

A black-and-white handheld recording of the first E1 Festival community meeting held in 1974 in East London as part of the Basement Project. The E1 Festival was a community run event that took place throughout the 1970s on vacant land in the East End of London. Originally set up to raise money for the Junior Football League, the Festival in Stepney was a weekend long event of music, performing arts, stalls, and activities for people of all ages. The camera roves across the rectangular meeting table where around ten white members, predominantly men and around three women, are smoking, drinking beer and discussing the priorities for the next iteration of the E1 Festival. The camera zooms in on individual members as they speak, sometimes fuzzing out and dropping down to the floor. The film captures the passionate discussion, as members plan the next E1 Festival, raising issues around how to keep the festival committed and connected to the local communities. The video records moments of tension and dispute regarding the competing priorities of the festival. The festival is expanding away from the initial aim of raising funds for the E1 Football League for children, and one member questions how they can keep the committee volunteers committed to the festival among personal commitments.