Harrogate film director ready for music legend movie's premiere at Everyman cinema

The Harrogate director of All We Got Was Love, a fascinating new documentary about a BAFTA-winning legend shot by a small team of independent movie makers largely in Harrogate, is gearing up for its premiere screening at Everyman Cinema.
All We Got Was Love - BAFTA-winning filmmaker Tony Palmer during his visit to Harrogate Film Festival last year in the company of Harrogate Film Society's Henry Thompson and the Harrogate Advertiser's Graham Chalmers.All We Got Was Love - BAFTA-winning filmmaker Tony Palmer during his visit to Harrogate Film Festival last year in the company of Harrogate Film Society's Henry Thompson and the Harrogate Advertiser's Graham Chalmers.
All We Got Was Love - BAFTA-winning filmmaker Tony Palmer during his visit to Harrogate Film Festival last year in the company of Harrogate Film Society's Henry Thompson and the Harrogate Advertiser's Graham Chalmers.

Shot partly at last year's personal appearance by veteran filmmaker Tony Palmer at Harrogate Film Festival, organised by Harrogate Film Society and Graham Chalmers of the Harrogate Advertiser, and partly at his home in London later in 2020, the small team of independent filmmakers have created a major documentary - despite having to navigate the fluctuating restrictions of Covid lockdown last year

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As well as numbering the likes of John Lennon and Leonard Cohen among his closes acquaintances back in the day, Tony Palmer has also won 40 international prizes for his work over five decades, including 12 gold medals at the New York Film Festival - as well as numerous BAFTAs and Emmy Awards and the Prix Italia twice,

Director Henry Thomson, a member of Harrogate Film Society, said: "This film is very much a child of the lockdown.

"Just a week after the initial filming at last year's Harrogate Film Festival, the entire country essentially closed, leaving the filmmakers with no opportunity to meet face to face.

"The edit team comprised of four people, led by Tom Spruce, then began a weekly schedule of Zoom calls where we reviewed the material online and gradually built the jigsaw from materials filmed during Tony Palmer's visit to Harrogate, including Cold Bath Brewery bar and the William and Victoria restaurant, as well as several other locations around town."

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Henry continued: "When we started the project, I had envisaged a short film of perhaps 20 minutes as the likely outcome.

"However, it quickly became apparent that we had so much more compelling material.

"As well as being about Tony as a filmmaker, his relationship with the BBC and his association with John Lennon and other rock music legends, the finished film captures something of the excitement of 2020 Film Festival here in Harrogate and of the event itself."

The project, produced by fellow HFS member Brian Madden, began in March 2020 when Tony Palmer appeared at a screening event at the Cold Bath Brewery, co-sponsored by Harrogate Film Festival and Harrogate Film Society, to talk to Graham Chalmers of the Harrogate Advertiser about his iconic filmmaking career, including his time collaborating with John Lennon and the Beatles, as well as other stars such as Leonard Cohen, Eric Clapton, Frank Zappa and Maria Callas.

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The world première of All We Got Was Love will take place at 2pm on Tuesday, July 20 at the Everyman in Harrogate.

The filmmakers will be joined after the screening by Tony Palmer for a discussion and Q&A about the film.

The event will be hosted by the Harrogate Advertiser's Graham Chalmers.

Mr Palmer's visit is also sponsored by the Yorkshire Hotel in Harrogate.

Tickets are available now at www.harrogatefilm.co.uk

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