Directed: Kanhaiya Trivedi
This 16 minute short film is made of two love letters to the best city in the world.
With deep love, 2 international students describe their feelings for London and how it has shaped the people they are becoming.
Both the spoken testimony and the filmic record of Yours Faithfully leave the viewer with no doubt that London heightens the senses.
‘Trust’, ‘euphoria’ and ‘zest for life’ are some of the words chosen to describe the city and its electric energy.
‘There will always be something for you’, says one of our ‘letter writers’ over long takes of iconic locations such as London Bridge, Camden Town, King’s Cross, Battersea, and Picadilly circus, and its people as they fully inhabit the city.
On a boat on the canal or playing football with my friends, she says ‘I felt like I belong somewhere’.
Takes of the classic locations mentioned before are combined with those of the more modern bits of London: such as North Greenwhich and Canada Place.
Football, pub and pints, food and music from around the world, busking in Tube stations, public transport, sprawling urban parks- Yours Faithfully showcases London not just as a place, but as a culture.
East London fashion gets a shout out- with outfits on Brick Lane like a public catwalk.
Our second ‘letter writer’ also mentions the elation and challenges of London. The city, she says, ‘has a way of welcoming everyone’ and ‘facilitates growth’.
The takes in this film are simply stunning Extreme wide shots of St Paul’s and of the City from a South London hill at night (hills alive with the sound of music, much like those famous ones in Salzburg) and yes, a majestic cloudy sky.
‘Arrived a local, left a foreginer’, the film proclaims at the end.
If only politicians truly realised that what makes the city unique is simply its people. Whether born or arrived- the essence of London is humanity and its unending capacity to express itself.