Director, scriptwriter and feminist Jill Craigie was one of Britain’s earliest women documentary filmmakers. Her 1946 film The Way We Live documents post-war Plymouth and the responses of local people to the pioneering designs drawn up by town planner Sir Patrick Abercombie for the rebuilding the bombed-out city.
Craigie cleverly deploys a local cast in a film that combines classic documentary forms with the narratives of everyday family life, drawing out the complexities and importance of urban design.
The film has been selected by BBC Radio 3 presenter Petroc Trelawny, who will give a brief introduction. Petroc grew up on the Lizard peninsula and attended Helston School. He is currently writing a personal memoir of Cornwall. You can read Petroc’s introduction to the screening here.
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