| Shooting "The Winter of Love" (formally 'A Quiet | | | | Harwant Bains. And film for a brief moment |
| Desperation') in Southall was paramount to its | | | | seemed to have returned to Southall. His 'Wild |
| manifestation. | | | | West', shot in 1992 caused a stir amongst the |
| Without Southall - the film would be meaningless. | | | | local community as well as nationally. The story is |
| It was not just the question of the story being | | | | set in Southall where a young Pakistani sees |
| played out in the streets of Southall - but | | | | himself as a cowboy and has ambitions of fronting |
| enmeshed in it was my long standing relationship | | | | a country and western music band - his dream is |
| with the town. | | | | to go to Nashville. A zany caper, 'Wild West' gave |
| My connection with films in Southall goes back to | | | | many of us inspiration to create and produce our |
| the heady days of the three cinema's on South | | | | own films. |
| Road, leading up to the Green starting with | | | | Since then a number of documentaries have |
| Liberty Cinema, with Century in the middle and | | | | appeared on television covering various issues |
| the Dominion Cinema towards the end. Our | | | | around Southall; "A Fearful Silence", about the |
| journeys to these cinemas were with our parents | | | | work of Southall Black Sisters on domestic |
| - larger than life images of Hindi film stars; great | | | | violence in Asian communities produced by Azad |
| movies such as Sholay, Hanste Zakham, and | | | | Productions; Acting our age directed by Gurinder |
| Amar Akbar Anthony played havoc on our | | | | Chadha and a powerful and moving search by |
| imaginations as children. Southall like many small | | | | Melanie Sykes for a sense of belonging in her |
| Asian communities throughout Britain created a | | | | Melanie Sykes Southall Stories directed by Fatima |
| hub and buzz around Hindi Cinema and made it | | | | Salaria. |
| popular outside of India and brought it to its | | | | Deeply inspirational, Southall has been an example |
| present day success in Britain and generally in the | | | | to British Asian communities through out the |
| West - a success that British Asians should be | | | | British Isles and many communities in Europe. My |
| given a full credit for. | | | | decision to shoot and locate 'The Winter of Love' |
| With the demise of the cinemas and the rise of | | | | (formally 'A Quiet Desperation') in Southall stems |
| video's that collective viewing soon disappeared | | | | directly from a sense of deep belonging to a place |
| along with the closures of the three cinemas - the | | | | that has influenced and shaped my outlook on life. |
| Dominion Cinema was bought by the Indian | | | | Southall means many things to many people. |
| Workers Association who renamed it The | | | | Acting as a town near a point of entry Heathrow |
| Dominion Centre. An act of pure charity, the | | | | it has traditionally sheltered all immigrants coming |
| cinema was bought by the IWA with a view that | | | | into its borders; Jewish refuges from the second |
| the centre would be funded by the local council | | | | world war; West Indian settlers from the |
| and service the entire community regardless of | | | | Windrush; Pakistani and Indian settlers in the 50's |
| race or gender. As part of the purchase, the IWA | | | | and 60's; Ugandan Asian's escaping Idi Amin's |
| in their wisdom demolished a state of the art | | | | regime along with Kenyan's and Asians and most |
| building and replaced with a monstrosity designed | | | | recently Somalian's. |
| by what can only be described as a creatively | | | | Southall's ability to absorb a diversity of life is a |
| deprived architect who created a building without | | | | testament to its openness and embracing nature. |
| a heart and soul as well as acoustics! But the | | | | Perhaps we will see many more stories coming |
| users and the people of Southall embraced the | | | | from Southall with a Somalian; Polish, Jewish or |
| building as their own and now it operates as the | | | | Irish slant nestled within universal themes. |
| only secular community building in Southall. | | | | Visiting Bill Cooke & Terry Tkachuk website, the |
| Many creative individuals since have emerged | | | | Southall Film Studios History Project confirmed its |
| from Southall. A key inspirational figure in making | | | | place in the creative history of British film making. |
| a marking on the film and theatre scene was | | | | Order your copy of 'The Winter of Love' here. |