A Town Like Diss

A documentary-dance film which explores the legacy of Soviet architecture in Kharkiv, Ukraine. The film was shot in September 2021, at a time when the prospect of a full-scale invasion from Russia seemed remote, but the ghost of its former rule remained written in concrete across the cityscape. The film platforms a divisive and open conversation about the city’s Soviet buildings: What should be done with them? Should they be preserved, destroyed, repurposed? What power do they hold over the way people think and interact with their environment?

Known historically as the Orchard of England, Herefordshire is apple country. Sat in the middle is the ancient market town of Leominster, where people have been growing, picking, eating, stealing, throwing, pressing, cooking, and honouring apples for many generations. This heritage film brings together a wide-ranging and eccentric cast of local people – farmers, Travellers, former apple-pickers, clergymen, wassailers, cider makers, fruit sellers – to explore the deep relationship between the people of this area and its historic crop. Part portrait of a fading way of life, part celebration of how a living culture continues to manifest itself, the film raises deep questions about human nature. Expect games, pies, dancing, petty crime, and varieties of apple beyond your most delirious dreams. Prepare to honour the apple. This film was made possible with the support of the UK's National Lottery Heritage Fund, Leominster Town Council and Leominster Cultural Consortium.