We’ll Never Meet Childhood Again (UK/Romania)
Director: Sam Lawlor & Lindsay Pollock
Year: 2007
Runtime: 80 minutes
Screening Times: March 2, 2008, 2:30 PM
Screens at Jackman Hall, Art Gallery of Ontario, 317 Dundas Street West
Synopsis:
Now teenagers, Ceaucescu’s orphaned HIV babies are grappling with romance, relationships, and the possibility of marriage and children. Given a death sentence in the orphanage, they have survived and now must face the daily complexities of a life they never expected to have. These lively, curious, courageous teens provide a compelling reminder of the 33 million people still living with HIV/AIDS.
Lindsay Pollock Biography:
Starting out on a home-video camera, and editing tape-to-tape on VHS, Lindsay has been making films independently since 1999 – principally with long-term friend and collaborator Sam Lawlor. We’ll Never Meet Childhood Again is their first feature-length documentary.
Other video work has included stop-motion animation; projections for the pop-band “Hot Chip”; collaboration with Lawlor on the latter’s documentary about the lost world of lighthouse-keeping (“The Last Lighthouse Keepers”); and promotional videos for both The Visual Learning Foundation (London-based arts education charity) and Health Aid Romania (the charity featured in “We’ll Never Meet Childhood Again”).
Lindsay studied film at the London College of Communication (formerly LCP). His graduation film “Stiff” was screened at the NFT and ICA. Lindsay also produces a comic book, “Moochowski”, with fellow alumni Tom Brass.
Sam Lawlor Biography:
As well as collaborating with Lindsay on numerous films, notably the documentary We’ll Never Meet Childhood Again, Sam has worked as an editor, film-maker, oral history interviewer and video workshop teacher throughout the London area.
He was a video-editor on the award-winning Sound-Junction educational Website; he acted as stage-manager and documentarist for artist Yukki Yaura on a trip to Spain as part as the Casa Asia festival; as project officer for oral history organization Eastside Community Heritage for their project “Our Brick Lane”; and at time of writing is making three films for the Florence Nightingale Museum’s Nurses’ and Patients’ Voices oral history project.
Sam completed an MA in documentary film-making at Goldsmith’s college, where – working with Lindsay Pollock – he directed “The Last Lighthouse Keepers.”
Additional Information:
Visit the Lawlor-Pollack Website for edited transcripts of all the interviews conducted for the film. For more information on the subject, read “Life Doesn’t Wait“, a Human Rights Watch Report on Romania’s failure to protect and support children and teenagers living with HIV.
Reviews:
Eye for Film, UK
Overview by Julie Giles
