All I could do was pontificate at age fifty one...... What would I have been doing at the age of twenty as a second year University student living in a house with one's mates in a thriving seaside town in 2010? It didn't bare thinking about, now lets see, oh yeah, party full on, get into a mess then panic for the last year that I hadn't done any work, oh yeah and have to do a runner from the Bank. Perhaps through some 'divine' genetic engineering or some unknown particle physics miracle my son Henry who is in this position at present has not taken this route.

Over the past two years I've been introduced to some of the most inspiring people I've met for many years through Henry as I've got to know his friends. It's been exciting and refreshing to have been invited a little into their world, share idea's and thoughts and most importantly it's given me some hope for the future. The forthcoming generation can see the cracks in the human illusion and it seems they look at the issues in a far more holistic way than any generation before, it's been a positive nourishing journey for me.

They had been talking about making a film around the City they'd found themselves in. Brighton has many layers, the rich, the famous, the dirty weekender's, the party goer's, massive gay scene, massive drug scene, big homeless problem and the desperately poor.

It's a magnet for people looking for an alternative lifestyle and there is little judgement in this City, one of the reasons I've made it my home, an interesting place to live.

Saul Johanes Abraham, Callum Cameron and Henry Degnin have spent nearly a year putting a documntary film together called 'Exit To Beach' based on the question 'Why do people come to Brighton?'. What developed into the final cut is something of extreme excellence.

On my first viewing I forgot that what I was watching had been made by the people in the room with me. It draws one into an observational, more often than not emotional capture of Brighton 2010, historical qualities of life today, a very powerful piece of art.

What follows is an interview with Saul and Henry which explains the process of how the film was born and what the intended outcomes are.

EXIT TO BEACH will have it's premeire at the Duke of Yorks Cinema in Brighton 24th October 2010 at 4 pm.


The making of EXIT TO BEACH INTERVIEW with Saul Johanes Abraham and Henry Degnin

More about Exit To Beach - Official Website

Dug: To begin it would be good to hear about what made you start this project, what was the initial spark for this film?

Henry: The actual basis of the project was formed when we first moved into the house in Sillwood Road, Brighton.

Dug: Which you share as students

Henry: Yeah it's a student house but we soon realised after we moved in that it wasn't a student area, for example a builder pointed out the fact there was a brothel that you can see from our bathroom window, we'd walk up to the Cash point and see prostitutes, quite a lot of homelessness and drug addicts in and around our local area. Saul and myself thought it would be really interesting to explore this.

Dug: So you found it different from life on Campus

Saul: Yeah when we came out of University, out of the Halls we soon realised that we weren't in a University anymore, we were living in a thriving town where a lot of things were going on, plus the boredom I suppose, not having a lot to do. We wanted to do something a bit more than just going to University and getting drunk in the evenings. We thought we'd like to do something creative in the City we were experiencing. We were amongst all these characters but still felt so far removed from them even though we were living right in the middle of town, there was so much around us we didn't know anything about so we just took the camera out one day; not with any aim but just to find out why everyone was there. There's such a weird mix of people in Brighton we just wanted to know how they got there, whether they were actually from Brighton in the first place and what their story was.

Dug: So the film wasn't so much pre-planned, would I be correct in saying that the film took on more of an organic approach after you took the camera out onto the streets?

Henry: We thought making a film about why people come to Brighton would be better to start with than say umbrella objectives that encompass loads of possibilities, once the idea clicked we went out with the camera. Our idea's and objectives have changed so much through the making of the film, but I guess the biggest transition was how prevalent homelessness and drug addiction would feature.

Dug: Yes the film does concentrate quite a lot on people that have been excluded.

Henry: Yeah, one thing that did emerge from the actual physical elements of the documentary was the idea of escapism, people running away from something, perhaps running away from themselves and coming to Brighton which seems to have this quality that tends to attract those that are running away from something.

Saul: All sorts of running away, whether it's as serious as escaping something that's happened with a family or a loved one or even a temporary escape at a weekend. Even though this film turned into a big thing with the homeless and the addicted, there's the aspect of the normal working man and women who come here after a week of hard work to get off their heads, out of mind. I suppose in a sense we could relate to that as well because we all had quite different reasons for coming to Brighton, you could tie it into escape. I mean I personally left London after growing up there and wanted to come to somewhere smaller, a bit more intimate, somewhere with more of a community but still I didn't want to go to a village. I was in a way escaping as well although not for such serious reasons as the other guys and people in the film and the amazing thing was as we went out and interviewed people our feelings before actually became a reality that hardly anyone originally comes from Brighton, I mean only one person in the film that we interviewed actually came from Brighton. I'd love to know the statistic, I don't know whether it's been calculated.

Dug: Yes I'd love to know that statistic myself because I don't know many people here that are Brighton born and bred.

Saul: Yes and also the point that Henry was saying that it's got a magnetic quality, how people come here and never leave, whether they find it too hard to leave or the fact that you can have quite an easy life here because there's very little judgment, you can be who you want to be, you don't have the pressure of having to earn a certain amount of money, achieving a certain amount of success whatever that success maybe that's stipulated by society.

Dug: So you've learnt this through the process of making this documentary?

Henry: Yeah absolutely, I think an important quote from the film is, a woman we interviewed said that in Brighton you can be who you want to be or who you think you are.

Saul: Yeah you can almost convince yourself you're a certain type of person, I think also part of the reason we come here is it's a thriving city but it's still a small city, that's a big attraction to a lot of people. You can say that you live in a city that's world famous for being very individual, there's a lot of things going on here creatively but at the same time you haven't got that harshness of a main city like London or say Manchester.

Dug: That came across in the film where you met the kids that had been excluded from school in their home towns, they said it was rough, hard, they were getting into fights, after they had moved to Brighton they said there had been a change in them which they talk about quite openly in the film

Saul: Yes, they said they'd calmed down here, I think it was a lot of things, they found the environment in which they grew up in wasn't the sort of environment where they could easily deal with their difficulties. They all said that the move had been beneficial, but then I think what happens in Brighton is that because it has the reputation for escapism you come here and you see a nicer side of life. The trap is, because so many people come here to do the same thing they can all help bring each other down in a way. For example Christina who now works at the Clocktower Sanctuary developed an addiction in Bognor and came here, to quote from the film, to get away from the drink and drug lifestyle she ended up crashing harder than she ever had crashed before. I imagine the first thing she saw was loads of people in the same boat, the temptation is greater. Also going back to the point that people don't judge you, you can find yourself here in a very temporary state of mind almost like being on holiday. You can experiment here because there is no judgment, everything is more relaxed, the way people are with drugs, the way people behave, the way people dress, you can get away with a lot more in Brighton.

Dug: And that lends itself to more creativity, more freedom to experiment. You went out with a camera, you went out on the streets filming in places that were quite dangerous, you were treading a little bit into the unknown there, were the any times you felt you were actually in any danger at all?

Henry: Not necessarily danger, I mean everyone's scared of the unknown and obviously the way we look, the way we dress, like here we are students in Brighton. What we were dealing with wasn't necessarily anything we usually have anything to do with so obviously we were intruding on someone else's world which was our aim. In general terms really, approaching rough sleepers and people that were homeless, I mean that's breaking a taboo of modern life in general really, a lot of people are scared of some people because of the way they lead there lives, preconceived ideas etc.

Dug: Do you think your film will help breakdown some of those preconceived, judgments that people have about the homeless and people sleeping rough.

Henry: Definatley, that's something that happened sub-consciously, that was never our intention, we never wanted to say 'Oh yeah homeless people are really nice' but I think that's something that subtly comes across, I think it's quite possible for when someone watches the film their pre-conceived ideas could be changed

Saul: Also a big fear was that even even though we are living in this City, close together, students never mix with the homeless and that's one thing that's come across ever since we've finished making the film. Everyone's really surprised we've done this because the two lives never cross, they are very separate. Also there was a fear of how they would react to us because we were naively going out with the camera and talking to them, I had no idea about how certain individuals would be, whether they'd be scared that we'd have some sort of motive or we were going to make some sort of point, but everyone we spoke to seemed to be happy to talk to us, to get something off there chest and have a platform for saying things, an opportunity for them to voice their opinions. As we started interviewing people we just realised that we should let them do the talking, it's not a film that has any motive, we're not for example saying look how bad the government treat the homeless people, this is not a side to life that many people know about. I think a lot of people would be interested in just listening to the stories, it's a film full of story tellers.

Dug : Is it possible for you to put in a nutshell what this film is about

Henry: I'd say it's an investigation into the contrasting nature of people who are in Brighton.

Dug: However you've concentrated on the people that are excluded.

Saul: Yeah the film moves from the everyday person and why they come to Brighton to the more scary unknown parts of the City that people don't know about. It's a story that's driven by people who love to tell stories. Everyone who's in the film loves telling a story, it's a film about why people come to Brighton and why people escape to Brighton, it's got fun, jokes, sadness and peoples harsh realities

Dug: That's what I found, when I said powerful previously it's also very emotional, it stimulates a lot of different feelings and captures remarkably a piece of History of the times we live in today. So, What are the plans for the film, you've made this film of great quality, the filming and content to me is as professional as one might see on any Cinema screen or television documentary, well put together, well edited, it flows and it's a piece of art, whats the plan for the film now. I've read Henry's journals written around the making of the film which I found very interesting also, sort of a view from you the makers of the film. Will this writing be part of the complete package?

Saul: Most of it came out of a lot of things Henry was writing about at the time and his interest in society, that sort of rubbed off on me. In a way that's how the film came about and that's why we went out with the camera. Now, because of the success of what we captured and the people that helped us, the project has grown into something quite a bit bigger and we want to make it a useful film in the community. We're going to have a screening at the Duke of York on the 24th October at four pm, so everyone come along! We're going to charge three pounds minimum but of course anyone that can afford more would be appreciated. The money will be going to a charity, we're talking to a couple of charities at the moment but they are smaller charities that are directly involved with the homeless, so the money can go straight where it's needed.

Henry: I think because of the front line nature of the filming process, the way we went about making the documentary and the way that we interacted with rough sleepers in particular, we want to donate to a charity that operates in the nature as we operated with the camera, one that goes out on the streets, one that's very hands on with the way they help rough sleepers. We feel that would be the most direct way of helping those that helped us make the film.

Saul: But also it's because we're Students and with the Internet it's quite easy to get a room full of students to watch the film and that would be beneficial and educational, like wow, I never knew that part of Brighton existed. However, I would like more people in Brighton that are not in the Student community to see it, normal people in Brighton, kids to old people, all wages and make it more of a community thing. We've spoken to a couple of people who are in that line of work who think it would be beneficial for educational purposes, we're arranging for some schools to come to the screening, then the follow on one would hope, would be the film being shown in schools because it shows real people telling real stories.

Dug: So you're screening it on the 24th October and you say you want to invite people living in Hostels and homeless people will they have to pay any money to see the screening?

Saul: Homeless people, no, we were talking about this and it would be great to see a homeless person sitting next to a student sitting next to a worker, a complete mixture of people, obviously homeless people won't have to pay. I would like this to be something entertaining and educational for people of this City, plus on a personal note to have something screened at the Duke Of York, it's such an incredible Cinema when you go there, it's the oldest Cinema in the country and to have done that during my time here in Brighton, however long I stay, on a personal level is such a really nice thing to do.

Dug: You've also had some interest with the Community Voluntary Sector Forum who you had a meeting with recently and they were talking about having a lunchtime showing because they were interested in other Community Voluntary organisations watching the film, how did that make you feel? You made some good contacts.

Saul: It's great to have some support even from people who haven't seen the film who were really supportive of what we are doing. It's really good to know that the people in the care sector think that it will be a worthwhile film and be good for educational purposes, raising awareness and bringing people together. For us it makes the whole thing a lot more worthwhile that it isn't just a small Student project that only Students are going to watch, it actually could make a difference.

Dug: And it's one of those films that has got legs isn't it, it's not a one show, 'Oh that was good', it's a film I've watched five times now and it's something I'd like to watch again, it's got many other applications, it's got training possibilities, it's got educational possibilities, it's had interest from mainstream schools in Brighton and also from excluded children projects. Did you ever envisage that this would have these possibilities other than a film showing at the Duke of Yorks to something that could be a vehicle to make some charity monies and become perhaps a piece of recorded history.

Saul: Not really no, our view was that once the film was made, we liked it and wanted to show it to as many people as possible. If other people come to the screening and use the film in some way for their own purpose would be incredible. To have a film being shown to people by people that have nothing to do with us is great, where we don't have to show people the film or talk about it. That's the whole thing, I'd like to think of people watching this film and not knowing who we are, people watching it for it's content rather than friends watching it because they know us.

Henry: There's a website available now where you can check out the latest news on Exit To Beach sauleymanfilms.com which is Saul's personal website, that will be where to go, the hub of what's happening which includes the trailer.

Dug: Well, thank you very much for your time, to conclude I wish you all the best with the film and I'm sure this project will have a great future.