Film uncovering the historic lives of Preston people gets award nomination at the home of the BAFTAs

Give Me Today, Anytime, created by Lancaster film-makers Jonny Randall and Tom Diffenthal, has been nominated for an Arts and Humanities Research Council Research in Film Award.

The film is a documentary produced for the Walking In Others Footsteps project, led by the Lancaster-based arts and heritage company, Mirado. It was made as part of the celebration of the digitisation of the Elizabeth Roberts Working Class Oral History Archive by the Regional Heritage Centre at Lancaster University. It features interviews with people in Lancaster, Preston and Barrow about their domestic life, combined them with voices from the past recorded by Elizabeth during the 1970s and 1980s.

Jonny, 30, said: “We are really excited and proud. We started putting the film into festivals and this was the first one that has got us shortlisted. The Arts and Humanities Research Council Research in Film Awards is a prestigious event and is being held at the home of the BAFTA. As film makers, it is really exciting to have your film honoured in the place that is centred around British film-making.”

The film, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, was premiered at an oral history event at Lancaster University and has been screened at The Dukes in Lancaster and The Continental in Preston.

The winners will be announced on November 8.

The awards are judged by senior academics, journalists and industry professionals, including Dorothy Byrne, Channel 4’s Head of News and Current Affairs; John Rowe, Head of Digital Effects at the National Film and Television School and Jan Dalley, Arts Editor at the Financial Times.