News of a new short film being shot in Brighton reached Lambrettista HQ the other day, this looks like its going to be a good one. Scheduled for a 2017 release, Being is a new film featuring a couple of actors from the classic Quadrophenia, the film that a lot of scooter riders cite as ‘life changing’. The exciting thing about this film is that you can get involved with it through Kickstarter… more of that at the end of this post.
The story
Buddy is a young carer for his Mum who has multiple sclerosis. He struggles with his responsibilities at home and is bullied at school finding escape in a world of sixties music. He befriends an out of work actor, ‘Doley’ (Mark Wingett), who was in the movie Quadrophenia. The core of the film is the struggle carers face when looking after family members. It raises the question, in a lighthearted way, why in this day and age, carers and those they care for are still marginalised and made to feel like outsiders.
A nod to Quadrophenia
From original cast members and the Brighton location right down to the replicas of the scooters and clothing, Being has strong cultural references to the original Quadrophenia movie. Buddy and his mother Margaret share a love of sixties mod bands like The Who, The Kinks and The Animals.
Who’s on board?
Director Devlin Crow has secured a stellar line-up of cast and crew, which includes Mark Wingett (Dave from Quadrophenia, one of my favourite characters) as well as Trevor Laird, (another of my favourite characters, Ferdy). Buddy is played by young actor Joshua Farley. There’s a strong team behind the camera too; cinematographer Tristan Oliver (Grand Budapest Hotel, Fantastic Mr Fox, The Wrong Trousers) and composer Barrington Pheloung (Inspector Morse, Lewis) backed up by an experienced film and television crew.
But they need your help…
The script has been written and many people have pledged their commitment to this project because of Devlin’s considerable charisma and his deep love for Kennedy, his wife who has MS. They do so in the knowledge that in Devlin’s hands this will be a moving and compelling work of art that will change peoples’ lives forever.
If you want to be part of this exciting film here’s what you do…
The Kickstarter* campaign will launch on 1st February 2016 and will run for 30 days. Their goal is to raise a minimum of £20,000. I’ll update this post with a link to the project when it launches, but I thought I’d get in early, to give my readers a ‘heads up’ on this very special project.
Kickstarter Rewards
Here’s how it works: They set a funding goal (£20k). You make a pledge. You choose a level of donation that suits you and in return there will be some fabulous rewards. The rewards will be detailed on the Kickstarter page, but ere are a few examples of what you might expect to receive:
- Devlin Crow original artwork
- Credits in the film
- Invitation to the premier
- Be an extra for the day
- Autographs from the actors
- Watching one of the scenes of the film being shot
- Lunch on one of the days of the shoot
- Your own Lambretta being featured in the film
- Invite to a party with the cast
Check out the website
This is only a taster of the project, there’s a lot more over on the official website, you can also follow them on Facebook and Twitter.
*Kickstarter is a crowdfunding platform where people come together to make creative projects happen. When you back the project, you’ll be part of the journey to make the film happen. They’ve chosen Kickstarter because it is set up to help filmmakers like Devlin reach out to people like us, and they enjoy supporting Kickstarter projects themselves.
If for some bizarre reason you don’t own a copy of Quadrophenia, You can get one on Amazon here
Here’s a bit of a rarity I stumbled across on eBay, a dual Lambretta/Serveta branded scrambler style 
Iain Hannay sent me some fantastic pics of a Model D, that he’s just got running… built in the Eibar factory, in the Spanish Basque country.
Now, I see a fair few Spanish Series 2 Lambrettas these days (much more than I used to, for some reason), and Jet 200’s are getting recognised as very desirable scooters… but I haven’t seen many early open frame models. If any, truth be told.
I came across these great shots of the 250cc Grand Prix Racing Motorcycle in the Australian version of Motorcycle News. The photographer Phil Aynsley had originally seen an old black & white shot of the bike from when it was originally racing, back in the early fifties. The bike stuck in his mind and after stumbling across a recent picture online, Phil tracked the bike down to Vittorio Tessera’s Lambretta collection.
lambrettista.net 