BAFTA winning director heads to Swindon for Harbour Fest film screening

Harbour Fest’s screening of the critically acclaimed film Leave to Remain will be followed by a discussion with director and writer Bruce Goodison.

Based on real-life stories, Leave to Remain is a coming of age drama depicting the story of an unaccompanied minor’s struggle to overcome the hurdles placed in his way in an unfamiliar foreign land.

Omar is a charismatic Afghan teenager – he finds himself at the precarious juncture of having his refugee status decided when the arrival of a boy from back home threatens to change everything.

The film, first released in 2013, was Bruce Goodison’s first outing into the feature film genre, coming as he does from a background of documentaries and fact-based dramas.

His BAFTA winning film Our War, a story of the Afghanistan conflict told from the perspective of British soldiers, received both critical acclaim and commercial success.

Speaking to the Adver ahead of his trip to Swindon, Bruce explained how he came to make a film on the often-ignored subject of unaccompanied minors.

“I was aware through a friend of mine that because of our invasion of places like Afghanistan and Iraq there were an inordinate amount of people displaced," he said.

"When she said we get a lot of children I assumed she meant with their parents or guardians.

“But she said no, they’re on their own – I asked how many and she told me it was around 4,000 a year.

“I found it so shocking, firstly that I didn’t know this and also that kids under the age of 18 could arrive here on their own and be expected to build a life for themselves.”

The result of this introduction was two years of research into the issue, he met with young people who had travelled on unfathomably challenging journeys to reach the UK at a time when the issue was simply not discussed – these experiences motivated him to make a film.

But the decision on what sort of film was in itself a challenge.

Faced with the realisation that putting a camera in the faces of the children in a documentary style may exacerbate the issues they were facing, he instead opted to create a feature film – but one rooted in the principles of research and accuracy that guided his previous work.

“Having written the script I then realised that I needed people just like these kids as actors,” said Bruce.

“I was working with them on weekend drama courses and sort of invented a system that could have them as actors in the film itself.”

Some of those very kids went on to play leading parts – going from no acting experience to starring alongside Toby Jones in a feature film which was to tour festivals to widespread audience approval in no time at all.

Three years after it first launched at the British Film Festival, Leave to Remain is still as relevant as it ever has been.

Just 20 miles from the Kent coast, in the jungle camp of the French port of Calais, almost 1,300 unaccompanied children are said to be living in terrifying and dangerous conditions.

A census carried out in the last two days by the French charity France Terre d'Asile reveals that some 95 per cent of them wish to make the journey to the UK.

For Bruce, the continuing relevance of the film provides him with great personal fulfilment.

“It’s great that it still gets a life,” he said. “I like the fact it can still engage people and that it creates an awareness of what’s going on in their name – I love that.

“It shines a light into the sort of thing that is happening in a so-called civilised country – things that most people still don’t know anything about.”

Leave to Remain will be shown on Friday at 7.30pm at the Central Community Centre in Emlyn Square in the Railway Village – tickets are on sale for £5 from the link below.

It will be followed by a ‘world music disco party’ with DJs from Bristol and Swindon performing.

Tickets for all the Harbour Fest events are available from https://www.eventbrite.com/e/african-dinner-film-premiere-world-music-party-tickets-27764215516