Imagine that your first film hasn’t even been released yet, but you’ve picked up no less than a dozen awards for it, and celebrities like Bono have attended its premiere at festivals around the globe.
We Are Together is director Paul Taylor’s first feature film, and so far has won the audience award at all of its premieres – from the International Documentary Festival in Amsterdam, to the Tribeca Film Festival in North America, and the Edinburgh International Film Festival.
We Are Together is also the first feature film for its producer, Teddy Leifer.
“We both studied film and television at Bournemouth”, explains Paul “We were students when we first started making this. We’d only made student shorts”.
“It’s all snowballed – it got bigger”, he laughs.
After his first year of studying at Bournemouth, Paul volunteered for 3 months in South Africa including a stint at the Agape Orphanage. He had no plans to make a film, but started thinking about it when he returned and was studying in his second year at Bournemouth.
“If I’m being honest, part of it was because I was looking for an excuse to go back out there to South Africa, but these kids were amazing, and there was also a real value in making the film too – for them.” Paul continued filming on and off, while he was at university, over the next three years.
We Are Together follows 12-year-old Slindile and her siblings and her friends at the Agape Orphanage. They might have lost their parents to AIDS, but they are still kids and teenagers. Slindile and her friends form a choir at the orphanage. The choir ends up recording a CD, which makes its way to New York – and on discovering their talent they’re invited across to sing with Alicia Keys, and appear on US TV to raise awareness of the impact of AIDS and also raise funds for their orphanage.
As they train for what they hope will be their big break with the choir, Slindile and her siblings are hit with more hard news – their oldest brother Sifiso, who has been sick for months, has AIDS.
“There are certain things we were very conscious of, around the making of the film”, says Paul. “There is some really sensitive content in the film – deeply personal moments we share with them. One of the things we did weekly was sit them down and re-ask their permission, and tell them that they could choose to be a part of it still. They really welcomed us, and really understood the value of it, they were completely behind it”.
Perhaps the most intimate scene in the film is the death of Slindile’s brother. Paul says he switched the camera off, out of respect, but one of the sisters asked him to turn it back on and record what was happening. “We had to make sure they were comfortable”.
One thing that the film highlights is the happiness despite the pain. “The majority of the time there was fun stuff going on, we wanted to make sure that this came across”, says Paul.
“People think they’ve heard about AIDS, and the problems Africa is facing – they think the film won’t be enjoyable or will make them feel bad. But people are surprised that our film is different, and life affirming. There are so many funny moments in the film. Overall, these sad and emotional things are part of it, but they don’t overpower it”, says Paul.
The most notable aspect of the film’s success is the flow on effects, and the possibilities for the orphanage that could result from this exposure. While many aspiring filmmakers dream of making it big in Hollywood, all the profits from Paul’s film are being donated to charity.
“We pledged from the beginning to donate the profits to charity – it helped us in some respects, and helped a lot of people came on board”. Editor Masahiro Hirakubo, whose credits include Trainspotting, A Life Less Ordinary, and The Beach, came on board once he’d seen the footage, and the credits are an impressive list of filmmaking names.
As Paul says, they haven’t benefitted financially, “but this has been great for our careers – it’s a win win situation, a launch pad for our careers, and we’ve helped the kids”.
“We want to give access to education for these kids. We have £100000 now, and are aiming for £500,000.”
So where to from here?
“We just love making films – this was a great challenge. We’ve set up a company, and we have two films in production”.
Paul hopes, overall, that the film doesn’t reinforce negative stereotypes. “I hope people make a connection, and see that the kids are not that different to kids anywhere, that people reconsider their preconceptions”.
Click here for information on screenings.
And visit the film’s website, wearetogether.org for more information on the soundtrack.
