The Happy Man Tree
In 2020 I became involved in a campaign to save a 150-year-old London Plane tree in Stoke Newington,
north London, a few minutes cycle from where I live. Scores of mature trees had already been felled in
and around Woodberry Down Estate - Ash, Elm, Lime, and many an Oak - by a leading housing developer
as part of their ongoing 30-year redevelopment of the housing estate. When local people found
out that a huge, much-loved 150-year-old London Plane street tree - which even had its own name, the
Happy Man Tree - they started a campaign to try to save it. Within days the "Save the Happy Man Tree"
petition had reached 10,000 signatures.
A week after the protest had begun contractors were sent in to fell the tree. Seemingly the plan was to
'nip it in the bud', as it were, and avert widespread negative publicity against the developer and Hackney
Council. That didn't happen - locals were tipped off by a Council insider (huge respect to whoever that was!)
and on the day that the contractors came for the tree local people had already gathered around it and
managed to protect it from the clutches of the chainsaw.
A bitter legal battle ensued between the peaceful protestors and the housing developer and Hackney
Council who were in cahoots. I filmed the campaign over nine months, from beginning to end, and when
I couldn't be there other campaigners captured the action with their mobile phones and DSLR cameras
and contributed their footage and photos to the film. It was a real privilege to spend time in the company
of The Happy Man Tree and its protectors and I made many friends during the course of the campaign. It is
always a huge privilege - and a gift of trust actually - when people allow you to film them so my mission
was a filmmaker was to honour the efforts of the campaigners and show audiences what it's like to be an
environmental activist from the inside. The people I filmed were mostly just ordinary people who
weren't affiliated to any environmental organisation.
I have always loved trees - see my etchings from 2014 - and being part of this campaign really deepened
my connection with these majestic life-giving plants. It also made me realise just how important peaceful
direct action is to human advancement.
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It was very tough making this film in that I had to more or less learn everything myself 'on-the-fly' -
directing, cinematography, production, sound recording, and editing - but for that reason it was a great
opportunity to really work on my practical skills. My tutors, Riete Oord and Vera Simmonds helped me
with the edit. The film is now touring UK cinemas as part of the Green Screen Network, an initiative to
show more environmental films across UK cinemas, the brainchild of Flick Bennet, programmer
at Picturehouse Cinemas.
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