On Saturday the 29th of March we hosted the finale screening of ‘Dartmoor Calling’ at the Museum of Dartmoor Life. To make it an extra special celebration, we were joined by local singer and composer Holly Ebony, who began the evening with a set of four haunting songs, including a song for our native ash trees and the Dartmoor curlews. Helen Bruce then shared the tale of Old Crockern, guardian spirit of the moor who threatened to ‘tear out the pockets’ of a greedy farmer in a prophetic dream. This story has found relevance in the modern activism movement, with Old Crockern being picked as the folkloric rallying figure for the historic protest on Stall Moor, near Cornwood, in opposition to the attempt to ban wild camping on Dartmoor.
We estimate that around 400 people have now enjoyed watching this collaborative documentary at intimate screenings, plus many hundreds more when it was broadcast on Together TV. Looking forward, we hope the film will reach many more people, as it will be played on loop as part of the new 2025 ‘A Shroud for Mother Nature’ exhibition at the Museum of Dartmoor Life. There are also a number of legacy screenings scheduled, including at Sandridge Barton, Dartmoor Outdoor Festival and the Chagford Film Festival. As of late April, the film will also be freely available online for all to watch and share.
Feedback on this collaborative, community inspired film has been overwhelmingly positive. Louisa Dean shared this after attending the finale screening: ‘This is such a great piece of work on both the importance of restoring the ecology of Dartmoor and the significance of the Right to Roam and The Stars are for Everyone movement. So many people see Dartmoor as a beautiful landscape when the reality is that it is ecologically barren. There are some incredible things happening here to restore it, and it is impossible to watch this film without feeling galvanised into action too. There is something very powerful about the magic of Dartmoor and it is very special to witness the coming together of beautiful beings to protect and care for it. There are a few showings left, urge you to see it if you can!’
As a mark of our thanks, the DPA presented Director Charlotte Bill with a sapling oak tree, grown by charity Moor Trees, who feature in the film. The acorn which this tree was grown from was collected at Venford, where Charlotte was filming with Moor Trees volunteers for the documentary. She was also presented a certificate, stating that a tree would be planted on Dartmoor for her, creating a living legacy of the connection she built with the landscape and the people she met.
After the film was shown, we had a lively Q&A with a panel made up of Tony Whitehead, Lisa Schneidau, Ruth Webb and Charlotte Bill. There were some very insightful questions around the idea of perception and the problem of shifting baselines when human memory is so short when it comes to the landscape. We discussed how what may look ‘normal’ now may be a degraded landscape which is suffering from depleted biodiversity, because this situation is, regrettably, not a new one on Dartmoor. Alongside this, we tackled the multifaceted topic of swaling, considering possible advantages and disadvantages, with the DPA sharing their decision to pause burning on their land at High House Waste this year.
It has been a privilege and a pleasure to support Charlotte and Clapham Film Unit in producing and sharing this important film. We were lucky to partner with the project from the beginning, sharing office space for training of oral history recording volunteers and having our Comms Officer Helen Bruce on the steering board. We have been delighted to see the enthusiasm of local venues to put on the film and it has been wonderful to see so many screenings sell out. One thing that has been hugely apparent, during every aspect of the project from filming to screenings, is the sheer love that so many people hold for Dartmoor. So many individuals, both historically and right now, are actively campaigning, rewilding, replanting, rewetting, restoring (and re-storying) Dartmoor. We look forward to seeing the future benefits of all this hard work and hope that ‘Dartmoor Calling’ continues to inspire more and more people to step up and play their own part in answering Dartmoor’s call.
Image: Museum of Dartmoor Life