This month we heard from two exciting Chelmsford based creatives.

First up was Vignesh Vyas, Filmmaker, Occupational Therapist and operational lead for Mid-Essex Recovery College. Vignesh described how he uses the power of filmmaking to help people ‘preview’ what they might want their life to be, rather than waiting to ‘review’ it at a later date – he cited It’s a Wonderful Life as his favourite film, and a perfect example of life preview/review. We saw some beautiful footage from Vignesh, and a trailer for his new film ‘The Long Walk’ with Michelle Collins and Daniel Casey. When asked about what makes a film successful he described a very short documentary film he made on his iphone, capturing bystanders’ passive responses to an accident – if you feel passionate and moved by something, that will come across in the film.

Our second speaker was Vicci Button, animator, illustrator, community artists and more recently primary school teacher. Vicci’s talk was full of humour, and tracked the evolution of her work through life drawing classes which saw her dressed as a cave woman walking around the British Museum, numerous projects and workshops at the Art Place, to supporting young people to make animations exploring topics such as shell shock and the Greenham Common women’s movement. Vicci stressed that it was the jobs which didn’t pay much which have given her the most freedom and satisfaction, and reflected that through her life when people have told her she cannot do something this has been a great source of motivation. Her favourite film is Ghostbusters (original).