Martin Parr’s Black Country Stories: Turkey & Tinsel

Documentaries showing faces and places that make up the way we live today.

This critically acclaimed DVD contains 16 of the best classic and award winning British short films and delivers a snapshot of British cinema past and present. It includes films from Britain's most exciting new talent alongside early shorts from it's most successful filmmakers' amongst them Chris Nolan (Memento, Insomnia, Batman Begins), Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Alien), Mike Leigh (Secrets and Lies) and Stephen Daldry (Billy Elliot, The Hours). 01 About a Girl - Brian Percival 02 Boy & Bicycle - Ridley Scott 03 Dear Phone - Peter Greenaway 04 Doodlebug - Christopher Nolan 05 Eight - Stephen Daldry 06 Gasman - Lynne Ramsay 07 Girl Chewing Gum - John Smith 08 Home - Morag McKinnon 09 Joyride - Jim Gillespie 10 Inside Out - Tom & Charles Guard 11 Je T’aime John Wayne - Toby Macdonald 12 The Sheep Thief - Asif Kapadia 13 The Short & Curlies - Mike Leigh 14 Telling Lies - Simon Ellis 15 UK Images - Martin Parr 16 Who’s My Favourite Girl? - Adrian J. McDowall

A short documentary by Martin Parr.

This video artfully weaves together a sort of history of Magnum Photos, one of the world's premier photo agencies, with a fresh look at where new Magnum photographers are taking the group. Magnum is more than a traditional photo agency, though, which is not widely known. It is a cooperative of photographers founded in 1947 whose original members tended to focus on documentary-style photography. This focus has developed over the years to become almost an ethos: to compassionately record the human condition.

Hot Spots: Martin Parr in the American South, a thirty minute documentary short, examines the photography of Magnum's most controversial and prolific member as he gathers images for his first commission by a major American art museum, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. From the first shot at the Cactus Car Wash to the unusual travel tip offered to Martin at the Atlanta Steeple Chase six months later. Psychobillys, tailgate partiers, roller derby teams, art collectors and gamblers...Martin Parr's energy and x-ray vision burn through the South like a modern day William Hogarth's. The film features interviews with Susan Meiselas, Philip Gefter, John Gossage and Julian Cox. Hot Spots shows us Martin Parr at his most outrageous.

Martin Parr’s second film for Multistory, Mark goes to Mongolia tells the extraordinary story of Mark Evans – pigeon auctioneer, breeder and entrepreneur – based in Moxley in the Black Country. This film documents Mark’s trip to Baotou in Inner Mongolia, in November 2012, where pigeon breeding, pigeon racing and Mark Evans are hugely popular. The film is part of the Black Country Stories body of work commissioned by Multistory to document life in the Black Country.

Magnum photographer Martin Parr returns to working with moving images in this wonderfully engaging documentary about Teddy Gray’s sweet factory in Dudley in the West Midlands. Established in 1826, Teddy Gray’s has always been a family owned and run business. Five generations have worked and contributed towards the business of keeping the traditional, hand-made methods of sweet making alive. The film is part of the Black Country Stories body of work commissioned by Multistory to document life in the Black Country.

Shown as part of the BBC's Modern Times series. Think of England shows Parr talking to the many people he encountered in the summer of 1999. He innocently asked people what it took to be English, and this simple question provided many revealing answers.

Shuttleworth travels to the Shetland Islands to test his theory that the further north in Great Britain you go the nicer people are, Shetland being the most far north part of the UK. He meets various Shetland people in unrehearsed situations. Many assume him to be a real person and not a comic creation, though some scenes are acted, particularly parts with famous local tour guide Elma Johnson.

Martin Parr’s third film for Multistory. Stourbridge, in the Black Country, was once world famous for its glass. Established in 1922, Tudor Crystal is the last, multi-furnace company producing 30% lead crystal, within a traditional glassmaking cone. Martin filmed in April 2013, during the last three days that the owners, Barbara and Richard Beadman, remained in charge before they handed the company over to the new owners. The film is part of the Black Country Stories body of work commissioned by Multistory to document life in the Black Country.