THE LIVERPOOL SCENE

It seems ever since Colin Welland's unprophetic statement after Chariots Of Fire, the British film industry has been in dire trouble. In recent months the media has tied create a young British Brat Pack of film makers. One problem, most of them have no talent.'To succeed in the film industry you need 50% bullshit and 50% talent, the British New Wave' are half way there.

If the British film industry is to be saved (and that's a very big if) it's going to be down to one man.

The film maker in question is Charles Teton.

Writer/director/producer/cinematographer/editor of the low budget Liverpool based film, Dark Summer. One of the reasons this country doesn't have a film industry, is because people just sit around waiting for the call from the BFI, Channel 4 or British Screen. All that is changing as there is an exciting development in the rise of the new generation of British film makers. Spurred on by the examples of American credit-card auteurs like Spike Lee and Robert Rodriguez, and by the home grown success of Richar d Stanley and Stephen Frears, Charles Teton is grasping the nettle and going for it himself. The thing you must remember, there is no British film industry, only a pool of industrious British film makers. Dark Summer was conceived in 1987 as the personal images of photographer Charles Teton. Produced as an totally independent feature, it was shot and edited entirely in Liverpool with a totally dedicated cast and crew solely from the Merseyside area. "It's a pretty pessimistic, bleak film," says Teton. "Abe and Jess come out the other end of their relationship totally wiped out. I suppose it's really about lost innocence. The two characters became more innocent while we were making the film, because that's where the two actors - both complete newcomers - to ok them. The film ended up being a sort of mix between some of my own personal experiences and some of the actors'." Shooting on a low budget was appealing to Teton, it meant financial constraints, it didn't mean artistic compromises. "it gave us a lot more freedom," says the 31 year old director. "We had a very small crew and were able to go out at dawn and dusk to shoot, which with a large production would have hiked up the cost." Charles Teton moved to Liverpool in late 80's and has been here ever since, "Liverpool is a beautiful city with some wonderful landmarks," says the director. "If I believed everything I'd heard about the city before I came here, I would have expected a crime-ridden, depressed, grimy, disgusting city. But I've encountered nothing but people with a really good attitude. We've had help all the way down the line here, even from the people in the street. I don't think even Letter To Brezhnev or Blonde Fist did it justice. I tried to make the city a third character in the film, using its difficult buildings to reflect the ups and downs of the central relationship." So does Charles Teton have any advice for young Independent guerrilla film makers "The only way you can do it is to shoot the film and worry about the money afterwards. It took a year to put the project together, a couple of years to film and another plucking up the courage not to worry about failure but to get out there and do it." Liverpool city council put in £3,000 North West Arts another £2,000 and companies like Rank and Agfa gave 'unconditional support'. The 400 extras for the 85 minute film worked on the basis of deferred payment. "People say it's impossible to get an independent film off the ground, but I can honestly say that no one we knocked up turned us away," said Teton. I'll leave the last word to Charles Teton, the only true independent guerrilla film maker in Britain, "Martin Scorsese once said in an interview about John Cassavettes 'When you say just pick up a camera and shoot a movie, you have to understand that means you're crazy. When you pick up that camera and look through and start shooting, something happens, like a drug and you've got to keep going and you start borrowing money, begging - till you have your movie.' Four years after first starting Dark Summer, a year of pre-production, one location vehicle lost in the River Mersey, eighteen months filming at weekends, an Arri 2c blimped camera, sixteen stitches, a totally dedicated Liverpool cast and crew, 400 extras, a three year driving ban, the support of companies like Afga-Gavaert, Rank Film Laboratories, Zonal, Sammy's, Cinequip and the North West Arts Board, six months editing, suspected ulcers, the remaining rushes used as junk spacing, no budget, Clive Chin's original reggae track and a completed feature film in full Cinemascope ratio - I'm beginning to understand what he means."

"The only way you can do it is to shoot the film and worry about the money afterwards. It took a year to put the project together, a couple of years to film and another plucking up the courage not to worry about failure but to get out there and do it."