King for a Day is the inspirational story of indigenous Cornwall, following a marginalized community at the heart of one of Europe’s oldest folk customs. Filmed over 9 years in the shadow of Brexit, King for a Day is a cinematic journey interweaving audio-visual archive spanning 150 years. The documentary illustrates how the tradition acts as a form of defiance by the community and a powerful voice for the Padstow people. For the first time, we see the significance of May Day through local eyes.
Run time: 60mins
The film is being screened as part of the event The Last Weekend, a 3 day festival celebrating hidden Cornish culture in the final weekend of Barbara Hepworth: Art & Life exhibition.
Funded by Heritage Lottery, Arts Council England, UK Film Council, Feast Cornwall, and Cultivator Cornwall
Barbara Santi is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and is co-director / co-founder of awen productions based in west Cornwall. At the heart of Barbara’s work is raising under-represented voices through film. She’s made documentaries for Channel 4, Carlton TV and shown her films on Reel Stories, FourDocs, Current TV, The Community Channel and galleries, museums, conferences and film festivals.
Her work focuses on filmmaking for positive social change, the recent documentary, No Holds Barred – The Life and Art of Matthew Lanyon won ‘Best Documentary’ at New Renaissance Film Festival, Amsterdam (2021) and selected at Fine Arts Film Festival, California, Beyond the Curve International Film Festival, Paris and Celtic Media Festival.
In 2020, Barbara was selected to take part in Creative England’s Female Founders programme.
Barbara’s interest in collaborative film, ideas around place, identity and culture culminated into a film-by-practice PhD at Exeter University (completed in 2023). The documentary, King for a Day, was the focus of the study.
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