{"id":60494,"date":"2019-08-07T12:42:07","date_gmt":"2019-08-07T11:42:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/centmagazine.co.uk\/?p=60494"},"modified":"2019-08-07T12:50:48","modified_gmt":"2019-08-07T11:50:48","slug":"modest-pure-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.centmagazine.co.uk\/?p=60494","title":{"rendered":"Modest; Pure Love."},"content":{"rendered":"

Star crossed lovers- the couple that should not be together but manages to beat the odds and fight the challenges that approach them. It is the same plot that thousands of film and books have been\u00a0built\u00a0on. These stories centre on ideas so core,\u00a0 the very nature of humanness that it’s not hard to always be emotionally engaged with the subject matter.\u00a0 There are of course a plethora of ways to tell the story, but filmmaker\u00a0<\/span>Annabel Jankel takes a newer twist on her film \u201cTell it to the Bees\u201d.<\/p>\n

Image the scene, it’s the 1950s in a small Scottish town where Dr Jean Markham returns back to take over her father\u2019s practice. She treats a little boy named Charlie and in doing so gets romantically involved with his mother, Lydia Weekes, who had recently left a bad marriage. Of course, within this time frame and place rumours fly about the two women and as the truth gets out, the town ostracises them for not fitting the social convention of the day.<\/p>\n

The title of \u201cTell it to the Bees\u201d holds symbolic meaning. It echos the parallel story of Jean and Charlie.\u00a0 Jean has her own hives in her yard swarming with bees, Charlie starts taking a special interest in them. She tells him about how he can tell all his secrets to the bees and they will not fly away from him. Charlie uses this opportunity to tell the bees whatever he can not say out loud, including his mom\u2019s secret relationship. The plot thickens as Lydia\u2019s ex-husband returns and the two women’s lives are changed forever.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This incredible story of two women defying the odds was based on the award-winning book by Fiona Shaw who was actually hands-on in the adaption into a film,\u00a0<\/span>with director Annabel Jankel falling in love with the book and the characters. The screenplay was written by Henrietta Ashworth and Jessica Ashworth.<\/span><\/p>\n

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It was after a trip to her local cinema, the Hampstead Everyman, that Jankel not only fell in love with cinema, but also with watching films. Next thing you know, the idea of making films was planted in her head, leading to her passion for studying at an art school.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0Initially started out co-directing with Rocky Morton on commercials and videos, moving on to their boundary defining artificial intelligence character breakthrough was creating the character Max Headroom, a cult cyberpunk TV character with his own tv show. Together with Morton they also directed Hollywood\u00a0movies.<\/p>\n

Forging on to her own career path , Jankel she went on to direct award-winning commercials for companies like Coca Cola, Bell, and Hallmark.\u00a0 Her accomplishments include Jankel winning multiple\u00a0advertising awards,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>including\u00a0<\/span><\/span>“World\u2019s Best-Humor Commercial”, “Best Directed Commercial” and “Best of Show” as well as\u00a0\u00a0producing and directing an adaptation of the Carnegie and Whitbread award-winning novel\u00a0Skellig<\/i>\u00a0by David Almond<\/span><\/p>\n

Jankel\u2019s reason of picking this book to adapt was because of the remarkable message behind it. In our world, loving who we want can still be looked at as wrong or illegal and causes great risk. Jankel wants to send the message of how this story took place 70 years ago and the same problems still occur. Most importantly, she wants people to have an emotional experience and response as some can relate or feel for the characters. Even when the TV is turned off, the dialogue should still be going, resonating and filling you up as it sticks with you.\u00a0T<\/span><\/span>he film also touches on subjects from mother-child bonds, missing fathers and love between same-sex couples even as far as non-tradtional roles of what is expected in small-town life within this time frame, yet echos themes still very real and relevant in modern-day Britain<\/p>\n

The film first aired at Toronto International Film Festival for its world premiere and then it made a limited release in the United States. It then released in the UK on 26 July 2019.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n