A Prickly Relationship

A day full of filling out festival submissions: must be a good sign.

I have a new project to seed, to throw into the wide world and let the people into an alien yet clement world, where prickles and spikes are magnified from a safe distance.

I am talking of a short documentary I have just finished about an 80-year-old man who has been collecting cacti all his life. This man is my grandpa, and I'm proud to have been able to bring his obscure and fascinating obsession to an audience he's never had, but greatly deserves.

I always remember visiting the cacti houses as a child, when we used to visit my grandparents in Dorset. The collection has had several moves in its lifetime - a mean feat considering some of the specimens are 6 ft tall. My grandpa is a very determined man, so it's no surprise that he's managed to keep the collection going, (nurturing exotic species from all over the world), never faltering to keep his enthusiasm in-check - even though now the collection is diminishing due to his age and ill health. The collection is currently housed in a small-holding, by a small village called Low Ham, Somerset.

Grandpa Stephen thinks that this will not be the cacti collection's final resting place, as they plan on finding a more manageable retirement home soon. The harsh winter has rather dented the collection's magnificence, when I visited recently, the warmth of atmosphere and general vibrancy had faded. Dad and I agree that grandpa should weed out the dead plants in order to see the thriving ones and nurture them.

The main reason I wanted to make this film was to reconnect with my grandpa (there was a period of around 6/8 years when I didn't see my grandparents due to a family feud that has since been resolved). I wanted to document a hobbyist (obsession/perfectionism seems to be a re-occurring theme in my work!) and also archive a rare character with such superior knowledge of a peculiar subject.

Grandpa knew exactly what he wanted to say: he was exceedingly easy to direct and came equipped with a clipboard outlining all the topics to cover in the interview... seemed like he was more prepared than me. Dan Gale accompanied me, daring for a camera man to want to get so close to what was essentially a health and safety inspector's nightmare: a prickly hell.

Thankfully neither of us were injured during filming, but grandpa shed a few drops of blood in order to demonstrate a few nifty tricks. It was so funny to watch him move around the cacti house (imagine two or three garages tacked together with a plastic roof, botched together but the man himself), quite heavy on his feet (tripping and stomping over debris), yet extremely gentle and mothering to the cacti themselves. He tickles, strokes and nuzzles them as if they were pets. Touching and entertaining to watch, but then, when you've had an 70-odd-year relationship with these alien beings, I guess you get to know their individual personalities.

Many of them have names too. The most impressive specimen has to be 'Sampson', an 7ft beast from the Agave family, which has outgrown its poly tunnel and the two tallest prongs have pierced through the top - poking through like Jaws' fins. "He's becoming a bit of a small problem", says grandpa - the biggest understatement of the century. Sampson did have a tiny girlfriend, Delilah (around 4ft, and positioned just a few metres away), but she is shriveled and decaying due to the lack of warmth over the winter... I wonder if Sampson will die of a broken heart? That might solve the problem of what to do with him if they move (I hear you gasp at my callousness, but how else can he be dealt with?!)

I did the initial edit with my uncle, Lars, who was delighted to see grandpa's history documented in HD glory. As a professional director/producer himself, we zipped through the footage (2/3hours worth) to get a 20 min cut over the course of a weekend. We both felt that we couldn't go any further with it until the project had time to settle and until I'd decided what I actually wanted to do with the format and exhibition.

I have directed subsequent edits with Alex Richardson (http://alexrichardson.co.uk/blog), who helped me cut it down to a neat and tidy 9 mins. Any more cutting and you'd loose the essence of the story, along with the quirks of the character. I chose an eccentric music track called 'I'll take you home again Kathleen' by Vernon Dalhart, which is under public domain license due to its release date of 1926. I think the piece complements grandpa's up-beat attitude to life, and gives the film a playful tone that again, suits the character and subject matter.

I've entered 'A Prickly Relationship into 4 festivals so far, and I have also contacted the Sky Horticultural Channel to see if they'd like a cut for broadcast.

I know in the scheme of things, this film isn't likely to change the world, but it's an honest and funny portrait of a man whose passion for prickly things is as strong as his religious belief - and believe me: that's saying something profound.