The Yorkshire Film Archive collects, preserves, and shows film made in, or about Yorkshire. Our collections are non-fiction, dating from the 1890s to the present day, and providing a rich and visually compelling record of all aspects of lives, cultures, landscape, industries, major events and everyday activities, many of which are available to watch, free of charge, on our website.
This film is part of Free
A Romany Summer
With their battered vardo, scruffy kids and assorted horses in tow, Cocker and Ellie are on an “endless odyssey”, visiting Appleby Fair, trying to eke out their own chosen life.
From the collection of:
Overview
A documentary on a travelling Romany family from the acclaimed TV series Once In A Lifetime. Sir Montague 'Cocker’ Smith, his wife, Ellie, and their five children wander around the country lanes of Yorkshire, rarely staying in one place for more than 24 hours. The interviews with Cocker and Ellie reveal much about the attitude and lifestyle of this traditional, by no means representative, Romany family, pursuing a nomadic life that has all but died out in the UK.
This is a film by the highly esteemed documentary maker Barry Cockcroft, who also wrote a book to accompany it. The Romanis are among the most oppressed peoples in history, being slaves in much of Europe until well into the nineteenth century, forcibly assimilated in several European countries, and killed in their hundreds of thousands by the Nazi genocide, the Porajmos. Persecution has continued, as the 300,000 Gypsies, Roma, and Travellers in the UK still fight for adequate provision of places to live, with the kind of unauthorised encampments seen in the film illegal, and the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 making life harder still. Cocker and Ellie seem to have gone off the radar around 1986.
Related
Watch for free
Around the Village Green Around the Village Green
Travelogue 1937 12 mins Location: Finchingfield
Rural life in the Essex villages of Finchingfield and Great Bardfield - and the mixed reactions of older residents to changing times.
Watch for free
One Foot in Eden One Foot in Eden
Documentary 1978 49 mins Location: Orkney Islands
Orkney evoked through poetry, the sounds of nature, and the music of Peter Maxwell Davies.
Watch for free
A Day in the Hayfields A Day in the Hayfields
Non-Fiction 1904 3 mins Silent Location: Walton-on-Thames
Midsummer haymaking larks
Watch for free
West of England West of England
Industry sponsored film 1951 10 mins Location: Stroud
The Stroud valleys of Gloucestershire in glorious Technicolor - and with a Laurie Lee script.
Watch for free
Showtime Showtime
Documentary 1984 23 mins Location: Newark-on-Trent
From shire horses to the Royal Marines, welcome to the annual Newark Show. A serious business for the farming community, with prizes to win and 800 gallons of beer to be drunk.
Watch for free
Springtime in an English Village Springtime in an English Village
Documentary 1944 7 mins Location: Stanion
An extraordinary and unexpected snapshot of rural life in wartime in which a young black girl is crowned Queen of the May.
Watch for free
The Story of Sheep The Story of Sheep
Non-Fiction 1956 23 mins Silent Location: Yorkshire and the Humber
Each year the cycle is renewed, beginning and ending with spring lambs basking in the sun, and in between sheep get transformed from animals into woolly jumpers and Sunday lunch.
Watch for free
May is Out May is Out
Non-Fiction 1950 3 mins Silent Location: Yorkshire and the Humber
A skilled sheep shearer demonstrates that a sheep can be hand sheared very quickly, keeping the coat in one piece, and, hopefully, without causing too much distress to the sheep.
Watch for free
Our Feathered Friends Our Feathered Friends
Non-Fiction 1950 17 mins Silent Location: Yorkshire and the Humber
The expertise and passion of a typical post-war working class hobby is seen in all its grainy glory in this film of northern pigeon fanciers racing their pigeons, and on to the pub.
Watch for free
Farming and Flowers in the 1930s Farming and Flowers in the 1930s
Non-Fiction 1939 12 mins Silent Location: Yorkshire and the Humber
A wonderful example of farming in the days before mechanisation, showing horse drawn ploughs and harvesters, and the labour intensive activity of building giant haystacks.
Watch for free
Khichdi Khichdi
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2023 16 mins
The interwoven stories of four best friends who reunite in the UK, thirty-five years after training together as nurses during their teens in Ferozepur, Punjab.
Watch for free
Every Moment Counts Every Moment Counts
Animation & Artists Moving Image 2023 9 mins
A short animation that offers a window into the world of children’s palliative care.
Watch for free
Dr XYZ: A Medical Drag Transthology Dr XYZ: A Medical Drag Transthology
2023 15 mins
A satirical take on the healthcare service announcements of the 1960s and 70s.
Watch for free
Police Story: Panel Discussion Police Story: Panel Discussion
Inside Film 2024 24 mins
Panel discussion on Jackie Chan's 1985 action classic Police Story, with Chase Armitage, Sam Mak and Jadey Duffield.
Watch for free
China O'Brien: The Reunion China O'Brien: The Reunion
Documentary 2024 60 mins
Cynthia Rothrock, Richard Norton and Keith Cooke reunite three decades on from the groundbreaking martial arts classic.
Watch for free
Women in Action Panel Discussion Women in Action Panel Discussion
Inside Film 2024 28 mins
Action Xtreme - the UK's leading action film studio - hosts this panel discussion with four leading women in action cinema - Soo Cole, Jo Rolison, Jadey Duffield and Ioanna Karavela.