Episode Transcript
[00:00:10] Andy: Hello and welcome to the Dream Swarm podcast. This is your home for supernatural film stories and art. I'm your host, magic realist filmmaker Andy Mark Simpson.
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Hello, everyone. Welcome to the next episode of the Dreams form podcast. I'm really pleased today, for the first time on dreamswarm, we are joined by a documentary filmmaker. Pleased to be joined by Dave Brewis. So, hello, Dave.
[00:00:41] Dave Brewis: Hello, Andy. Pleased to be here.
[00:00:42] Andy: So we're here to talk about your new documentary which is out, which is called Gatherings. Could you please give us a quick introduction to what Gatherings is?
[00:00:50] Dave Brewis: Yes, sure. Well, Gatherings is a six part TV documentary series and I'm exploring some of Britain's most enduring folk traditions. So think of those ancient games, customs and annual rituals that really continue to this day to bring communities together in remarkable ways. So each 30 minute film focuses on one specific gathering. So we look at the Buryman in South Queensferry, for example, Rush Bearing in Sowerby Bridge, Abbots Bromley Horn Dance, of course, which is England's oldest traditional dance. And bonfire celebrations in Rye. I decided to make individual film films of each of the events and not try and string things together a long time coming. So I'm delighted to release it to the world.
[00:01:37] Andy: Such a good idea for a documentary, I thought a while ago I was like, oh, someone should make a documentary about these events. But you've gone and done it and you've been actually doing it for a number of years, haven't you? Could you give us some insight into how you approached making this documentary and what your kind of artistic goals were for what you wanted it to feel like?
[00:01:54] Dave Brewis: I mean, I've always been in media and specifically television.
Since about 2002, I sort of fell into folklore. Actually around 2005, I was working out of Paris at the time, running my production services company. The American broadcaster contacted me and asked me if I could provide them some offbeat content for a TV magazine style show that they were putting together. And I sort of turned them down really. And then I started thinking, well, what do they mean by that? You know, so that of course spurned about six or seven years of filming all manner of events in France and in the uk. And some of those events were like, you know, designed to be daft and wacky. Right. So World Gravy Wrestling Championships, Hen Racing Championships, Bogner Birdman, Bog Snorkeling, Wife Carrying, that kind of stuff, the bit at the end of the news, if you like. But it also involved covering ancient traditions which were very often still via the mainstream media, seen as weird, wacky and offbeat. So Abbott's Bromley Horn Dance, Haxey Hood for instance, and. And the Burry Man. And So I shot 75 of these things in the UK over five or six years and the same amount in France. And I always wanted to come back and return and do a deeper dive, I guess. And on the more interesting and ancient ones there was just such interesting, deeper inherent themes, you know, around community and continuity and sense of place.
So it's been a long time coming. I've got really, really nice archives. Ob for the first time I shot thought it was about time. Time in my life to actually go and go and make it, you know. So I spent the last two years doing just that.
[00:03:43] Andy: You have been returning to some of the same events time after time, as you're saying, to really get to know the people in there. Now I've watched the documentaries and you took a decision that it wouldn't be narrated by yourself or anyone else, that the stories are told and explained and the history is all explained by the participants in the villages where these events take place. What was your thinking behind that?
[00:04:03] Dave Brewis: Yes, I mean that was really important to me.
Early 20th century, since Pathe newsreels, this topic subject matter has always been treated as a bit offbeat, strange, weird and given short shrift, you know, the maximum it ever gets is three to five minutes. I just felt like it was way, way more interesting than that. And I was getting kind of bored with how this stuff tends to get treated. I don't mind presenter led stuff, but I'm a big fan of observational documentary. I prefer it when the protagonists themselves tell their own story. Some of my favorite documentaries go down route and it's a very different approach, you know, especially in. In the post production phase. I've created, I think a space for the custodians. Right. As opposed to the commentators, as you say. And the everybody in the film tells their own story, whether they're people who care deeply about these. These traditions continuing or whether they're just the practitioners themselves. But it really is a space for the communities themselves. And really not about TV presenter holding your hand or. Or even a voiceover. That been the approach I took.
[00:05:10] Andy: Yeah, it really comes across really well because the people in there are so enthusiastic about the events and they're so knowledgeable about the history of their events. That warmth really comes across more, I think, from the participants themselves. You've also formed a bit of a partnership with a fellow called Doc Row, who is another person who's filmed a lot of these events over time. And I know that some of his archive footage is joined alongside your archive footage as well. What was his influence or what was his assistance like and how did that partnership form?
[00:05:39] Dave Brewis: Well, Doc Rose a friend firstly. I first met him in, we think, 2005 at the Bury man, but we can't. We can't quite remember. But I've seen him these events off and on and continually since then. He started covering this stuff since the early 70s, right, when you're talking 8 millimetre and then VHS and then SVHS and then MiniDV and then to the HD era. So it was an absolute no brainer really to. To ask Doc if I could use his archives three, three films specifically because it would help me show, you know, what's changed and what hasn't changed visually without having to explain it again and be too explanatory in a voiceover. I regard myself as a visual storyteller, really. That's the bit of the documentary side that I really enjoy. You know, how. How can you show, not tell, take the audience and cement them in a place, give them that sense of place, but at the same time move them through time, which we were just very lucky, aren't we, that I live at a time where the formats of the. The video themselves, aesthetically, sort of timestamp the images, for example, you know, when we look at VHS, we immediately think the 1980s, don't we? So when I took Doc's archives, I made a decision really early on myself and. And Dave Scott, an editor. We sort of shared the editing process. We thought very early on that we weren't going to treat the archives.
We were just going to point to the fact that they are archives and if it's, you know, low definition VHS, we're going to make it look as if that's how it was. Because I've got my archives, which are HD from 2005, 2012, were basically blasting between sort of standard definition in the previous century HD between around 05 and 12, and then the contemporary stuff, which of course is 4K and full screen. So where possible, what we've tried to do is stay in the same place which shift people through time, you know, and, you know, subliminally, I think tells the story and speaks to that inherent theme of things not changing or changing. You know, that was huge fun in, in the edit room, to play with that.
[00:07:54] Andy: Yeah, it really works that, as you say, visually, to put us back into those moments. And it is very visual. It really brings you up into the atmosphere of it. The slow motion bits, some really hectic bits in some of the other kind of more rigorous energetic events. But that archive footage really takes you back in time and tells it sociological history of the folk revival. I suppose you've got that the 8 mil in the 70s and extending beyond there. But also I think it fits into the sentimentality of it as well, where sometimes there are people talking about, yeah, my grand. I used to do this and my great uncle and my great grandfather and oh yeah, my best mate who's no longer with us and. And then it's showing that and having those people who are no longer in those villages no longer alive to continue the tradition. But it's kind of done in their memory as well. And I think that was quite emotive, I think. And using the archive untreated, as you say, let's use the original as shot. I think that really adds to the power of that as well.
[00:08:50] Dave Brewis: Yeah, thanks. I mean in three films specifically, that's the approach. Right. So Abbott's Bromley Horn Dance at Haxey Hood, which is episode six and Bury man, which is episode one in Haxey Hood. And so obviously one of my artistic goals was to make films which the communities themselves felt were authentic, were an authentic mirror of actually what goes on, which is very different to what they usually used to, which is news media turning up and writing the same things about them and then leaving. You know, if I was going to go in depth, I wanted to go all the way. So I've gone back to these places and done screenings to the community.
I must admit I was a little nervous. You know, it's like I've made a film about you and your ancestors, you know, how do you feel? But in actually Hood was. Was amazing. It was quite emotional really. I mean there was a 92 year old lady in the, in the audience, you know, it was just meeting people that she hadn't seen for. For a time and again, Rushbearing in episode two. You know, it was fantastic doing screening for those guys, you know, and there's just an awful lot of warmth around it, you know, which I felt like if nothing else had achieved that artistic goal, you know, I'd managed to make an authentic film, I guess as a documentary maker, especially given the subject which might endure centuries. Right. My guess is that Abbott's Bromley Horn Dance is going to be around in 2135. You know, I'd love to think that that film gets. Gets pulled out and shown in some. In, in the, in the village at least, you know, because it is a snapshot, albeit a snapshot of over 50 years. It is a snapshot in time of, of a ritual which is essentially endured centuries. Right?
[00:10:33] Andy: Yeah, Mike, endure for centuries more than we use in your footage as the archive for the next documentary make in 100 years time to use. So should we talk about the events? You've mentioned them. So we, we've got the Burryman, Haxey Hood, which some people might not have heard of. We've got the Jedburgh Hamburg which is one of the kind of mob football as a very broad, probably inaccurate definition of it there, but that type of event and then Bonfire in Rye and the Rush Baron in Sowerby Bridge. So could you tell us about these events and, and maybe also why you picked those events as well?
[00:11:08] Dave Brewis: I find it easy to talk about each one because I feel that they're all unique in and of themselves. They are their own story. Where commentators and some folklorists actually start coming a cropper on is they start comparing, you know, I mean we are patterns seeking animals, aren't we? And sometimes if you use a more academic approach, you start lazily comparing one with other. But you've got to remember that these are rooted in a time or the majority of them are rooted in a time when there wouldn't have been that much influence actually from outside. They are in that respect quite unique to the places that have managed to. To keep them, keep them going. Having said that, you know, to your point, there are around 14 of the, you know, large participation games or mass participation. I'm not crazy about the, the term, you know, football. Yeah, it's actually there's an awful lot of honor and pride and, and fun around it and it just feels like that it might be linked to sort of like blokes being hooligans and it, you know, some of it's tough. I'm not, I'm not saying it's not.
[00:12:14] Andy: You know, that's something that came across actually in that one and in, in both the Haxey Hood and the Jedburgh one. It's kind of self monitoring of it, of people in the game, the unwritten rules of it and the respect for each other and looking out for the safety of each other throughout the event. Even though it's a very, it looks very rough, it looks very physically demanding, looks very rigorous actions that they're doing, but they are also aware of each other and keeping each other safe throughout the event.
[00:12:40] Dave Brewis: Yeah, I mean it might be for your listeners it might be, might be useful to give a bit of context. So Haxey Hood is an ancient game which happens on January 6th in the depths of midwinter year. One of the larger games, mass participation games but it's got deep folklore around it. Basically you have this huge sway set in two villages, Haxey and Westwood side. And these guys are trying to get the, this leather hood to one of four pubs. Three of them in Huxley, one of them in Westwood side. There's a lot of honour around it, right. So although it's extremely tough and very cold because you're in the height of winter, if someone goes down and you do pick up the man in front of them, you know they have this ancient chant Oos against oos toon again toon. If a man meets a man, knock him down but don't ‘ott him. The idea being there sort of protecting each other there are, you know I've been, I've shot Orkney ba, right in Scotland, Workington in Cumbria, Ashbourne, those three I would say probably tougher. Workington's quite hard, you know, settles a score I think on those days. Some historians believe that it all started in, in Normandy, in Brittany in a game called La Seul which ultimately pushed north. And there's only one of those games left in France in a place called Trico which I filmed that as well. That's really interesting. It's the married guys versus the single guys, right. Which is actually the case one of the Border games up here as well. So it's like very interesting. That's.
[00:14:04] Andy: You did do some mentions of the Orkney one in the work in the Jedburgh event film. So you've got Haxey Hood. I think it is very different to these other games though. They are all unique. Talk about the Jedburgh mass participation game. So what about some of the other events? What was the attraction to those?
[00:14:19] Dave Brewis: Well I think Abbott's from the horn dance. It is a bit of the poster child really for the ritual year isn't it? They do tend to show up on the front of all, all of the guides and the books. It's quite spectacular to look at. One of the horns was carbon dated as 11th century. Obviously that doesn't mean to say that the dance goes back to that time but it does engender a sense of wonder and all sorts of groups tag themselves to it. I've seen that quite a bit in, in over the years and just working with that community plus having docs archives that was a no brainer really because it's just a really interesting one.
I should say that all of the films I chose them because there's a sense of place. So the Bury man in South Queensferry, it's an amazing community in Scotland. You know, Sowerby Bridge is a very interesting part of the Upper Calder Valley. That's where Rush Bearing happens. You know, Abbots Bromley is a smaller place. It's a village, Rye in Sussex. I chose that over the. Some of the larger bonfire celebrations. All these places are roughly the similar sort of size and they've got an identity in an in and of themselves. I think, you know, they must have for really because they wouldn't have managed to procreate this tradition for centuries. You know, there must be some level of community and pride, otherwise things would just not have worked. I'm often asked, you know, why do you think these things keep going? And it's really down to partly tradition but it's mainly because there's so much fun that they're looking forward to the next one. And that's the Same answer in 2025 as it is in 1864 or you know, 1795. You know, it's just a lot of fun and people are planning for the next one, you know.
[00:15:59] Andy: They all seem to have pubs nearby which kind of adds to the, to the kind of community feel. But also one of the things I noticed is how many kids are involved, not necessarily in the main event, but other bits seem to have. I think even in their bonfire one there was kids carrying banners maybe for the Hastings Junior version of the Bonfire Society or something. And then I noticed in the Jedburgh participation game they had a boys game and then the adults and then also in the Haxey hood they had like children's hoods that were kind of little practice ones. Seem like next generations have an opportunity to get involved with it so that it's not something that just the older folks do. It's kind of a family event all the way through.
[00:16:38] Dave Brewis: Yeah, I think there's two points there, Andy. The first one is these events typically are intergenerational. You know, you go to South Queensferry and there's kids of 2 years old and also 92 year old people on the streets in celebrating. Right. That's pretty rare, isn't it, in 2025. That's sort of sense of sort of intergenerational community. And the other point would be how these things are passed from, from one generation to, to another, you know, and I think there is an element of older generation thinking, well this is what we've always done and we love it. It's important to pass on some of, not the rules but certainly the customs around these things so that the younger people who've got probably a good bit more energy and verve run with it. And it starts very early, right? You know, in, in South Queens, free. It's two year olds being Bury Man. You know, they grew up, they have daughters and sons and they'll drag those sons out to be scared of the Bury man. You know, 25 years later. That's how it, how it works in bonfire. Of course you've got bonfire societies right across Sussex. Sussex is very much the capital of bonfire celebrations in the UK. People get involved fairly early.
Some are more family orientated than others. You know, it's pretty rowdy and Lewis, you know, multiple societies there. But Rye is more family oriented. The list goes on. The rush bearing, you know, is like three year olds in clogs with straw hats, you know, and shawls. There's something beautiful about it, right. It's tradition, but there's also an element of continuity and I do like the idea actually that it's real. Especially in 2025 when much of our reality is based around having a screen based experience, isn't it? And also no one's there because of money, right? No one's incentivized to do this. Everyone's doing it because it's fun. People around out doing these things because they feel like it has a bit of meaning and it's fun. Yes, you're right. I mean there's usually pubs involved in drinking. It is celebration after all. It is Britain. Beer and folklore go hand in hand. There's a lot to be said for them.
[00:18:38] Andy: You've done some media and press about it now. What's the media reaction being like to the documentary and does it contrast to how these events have been perceived in the media before?
[00:18:47] Dave Brewis: First of all, it seems to have a lot of success actually in the media, you know, and I'm delighted. Obviously I'm a little bit surprised because is this approach is really about a very different one to the. The way that the mainstream media have approached this subject matter in, in the past, which is quite telling in itself. I think. I did want to lead with the approach as well, so. But BBC, who usually produce personality fronted documentaries, their local radio have been all over gatherings. It's been fantastic. It's mainly because they've realized that for regional audiences is this stuff is quite interesting because it speaks to that sense of place and community and discovery. Of course, that thing that the BBC radio producers love. But I found the whole thing extremely rewarding in Sussex. You know, they were extremely well briefed and knew exactly what goes on across their calendar customs in, in the year. And it was a brilliant conversation. I absolutely loved it. So it just shows you that, you know, this stuff means stuff to the actual audience. It's real, it's not entertainment. It's actually a. About them, you know, the storytelling they have around themselves and the places that they're actually from. And I need to respect that as a documentary maker. It is a place for the custodians and for the communities. It's not about what I think necessarily, it's about what the communities think. And that's, that's what I was trying to get over with the films goes.
[00:20:10] Andy: Beyond that listicle thing like you sort of get in media and your approach has really gone to the depth to respect those communities and bring their voices forward. And so I can see how that would work for kind of local, local community radio and BBC areas radio as well.
[00:20:25] Dave Brewis: And likewise in the press, you know, I've had national press and big regional press. Two of the events are in Scotland and went out on BBC Radio Scotland in the morning and big Sunday, sort of national paper covered it and Doc Row and I did a, an interview with those guys and I was just really grateful the way that they wrote it up actually. You know, they talked about the approach, approach that talked about authenticity, that talked about all of the themes, continuity, community. And I just felt like, because we'd sort of respected the subject matter, the journalist obviously was interested in Scottish traditions, respected the fact we'd done a thorough job on it. Both Doc and I read it and were like, wow. Because press articles on folkloric subject matter, there's very often factual errors, there's very often sort of plastic attitudes or like sensational stuff. And it was just like, yep, that was really, that was really good. We couldn't have written it better ourselves. So that's a really good press around ‘Gatherings’ because especially with the BBC, you know, because this is going out on the TVOD platforms, right, Apple and Amazon Prime, it's not for them to plug really, but, and as I say, usually they would push their presenters in front of this folkloric subject matter and to do documentaries, but certainly on a local level they definitely see the value of it. And that's very, very encouraging. You know, bring back observational documentary, right? It was, it's a bit out of vogue, you know, it was very in vogue in the 1970s. I would love if that came back, you know, in the age of AI. Perhaps we'll need it.
[00:21:58] Andy: Right, so what about how the public have taken to it and maybe it might lead onto what the kind of public perception of folklore and folkloric gatherings in this country is like. Are people aware of it, do you think? Or has a new thing brought to light for them?
[00:22:13] Dave Brewis: Folklore is such a massive, wide ranging subject, right? So sometimes it's around the oral tradition or myths or legends, and sometimes it's about happenings or gatherings, you know, people coming together and they might come together for lots of different reasons in the past. It might to do with the agricultural calendar, right, or the. The religious calendar or even ones associated with the aristocracy or more around commercial exploits, if you like. You know, think about Halloween and Mother's Day, for instance. So folklore covers all of those. It's a vast thing. So often when you talk to people, they'll think in terms of perhaps, you know, superstitions. That's one that comes up. And when you talk about the calendar, they'll know what cheese rolling is. It's the poster child of sort of eccentric English events. They'll know about Mayday traditions, probably. They'll bit. Sometimes we'll think about folk horror, right, because they'll look at the aesthetic associated with some of these events, particularly the Burry Man, for example, and they'll…
[00:23:12] Andy: Yeah, or the horn dance, potentially.
[00:23:13] Dave Brewis: Yes, exactly. And they'll relate it to the sort of 1973 onwards folk horror genre. That stuff gets pushed wildly, you know, aesthetically via social media and it's big at the moment. And I quite like folk horror, don't get me wrong. But there's absolutely no relationship. No relationship whatsoever.
[00:23:31] Andy: Well, like you say, because the imagery in the world, in the world of Instagram and TikTok and things where quick images connect people in. I mean, I love folk horror. The thing I like more about it is the folksiness, not necessarily the horror of it. But I was trying to think of a way of describing your documentaries and I've come up that they're the almost the opposite of folk horror. And I came up the phrase ‘folk harmony’ because I think there's a kind of community togetherness that it brings in there, like you say, the rough and tumble ones is the respect and there's looking after each other in it and there's a family history of togetherness, there's a community involvement and they're very uplifting films that are about celebration and togetherness. So yeah, I came up the phrase ‘folk harmony’ as almost like the opposite of folk horror. So whereas people might be drawn to those images in a similarity in some of the images, I think the feel of these are very different.
[00:24:20] Dave Brewis: ‘Folk harmony’, you heard it here first. Quite like that, I must admit. Yeah, it's nice. I mean certainly when I've done Q&As after screenings, key thing to do there is just like shut up and listen. What is it you want to say? You know, not what I want to say, just listen. I want to hear what people think and feel about what they've seen. And typically they'll have watched two, maybe three in a screening. What I'm getting back a lot is isn't it wonderful that these things have survived? That's the first thing. Even when there's quite male dominated and pretty rough like Haxey Hood, I'm still getting isn't that nice that they're so passionate about that thing. It's more important than Christmas to them. And how wonderful that it's end all throughout the centuries. To your point, it encompasses all of the generations and sometimes the younger generation on the screenings will come out with things which are quite revealing. I'm quite interested in what Gen Z think. You know, I’m a parent as well. Some of them speak to our relationship with nature. Not directly, but they look as if they do. Right. So the aesthetic of folk, it seems to be about our relationship with nature at a time when we have a broken bond with nature. You know, that's the best way I can of think of putting it really. They do ask questions if there is a bit of a revival going on or at least a fascination around some of these themes, albeit it might be fuelled by social media and aesthetics. It's been a factor in the real world because the participation in these things is exploding. Right. You can be generations of joint Morris sides. I was out down filming with Boss Morrison in Stroud in May. That was really interesting, you know, very female led progressive movement almost really around traditional morris dance steps but taking it to a much more artistic expression I think. And that's really captured the imagination of a lot of young folk in that region and beyond. You know, they've got a huge following so things are happening.
[00:26:16] Andy: I think perhaps there is maybe an undercurrent of that. People wanting to reconnect with nature in it. I mean we could go on about this. We'll just use the phrase, you used ‘a broken bond with nature’ and perhaps people are looking to reconnect with that and certainly in the imagery does that. And I love the May Day events that happen around the country. I think they really, really symbolize that. There's also that danger that thinking about maybe what a shallow version of the press might treat it as, these things are kind of always attributed to some kind of pagan thing, or this is pre Christian or this is pagan and that's maybe not historically accurate. I think there is a thing of people wanting to connect with nature. And if that works for them, whether they're pagan or they're not pagan, I'm happy for people to believe what they want to believe. But if that makes them happy connecting with nature, I think that's great. The way these things are sometimes treated in a very shallow way is to just do a very lazy association with kind of… ‘oh this is potentially pagan’ or potentially pre Christian ritual where some of these events are very new, aren't they, or revived in it in the recent past.
[00:27:14] Dave Brewis: Yeah, that's why you have to treat them sort of event by event, really, and look into the history of that specific event and where it came from and people's relationship with it. I mean, the vicar in Sawbury Bridge in Rush Bearing, episode two, you know, when she joined the parish, she was worried, worried that, you know, she was getting involved in some sort of pagan festival. And actually it's a revival in 1977 of a very ancient tradition of strewing rushes on earth, beaten floors in churches so that people could worship during the winter months. That's what it comes from. Now, of course, she's the biggest fan as a filmmaker, which is deco with what you've just said, really. I'm always interested in what people believe. Definitely don't have an agenda. So I more than happy go and do something on Druidism or something on the different types of pagan identities, if you like. I just don't think that's necessarily the point actually in 2025, I don't think that's the point at all. I think it's the fact that clearly these things, if you have to group them all together, do have a meaning to the communities themselves. Otherwise they wouldn't endure, would they?
[00:28:20] Andy: That fun aspect and the generational family community aspect that is probably the thing that ties it together beyond the aesthetics of it. It's that. That it's fun and it's what your mates do when you family do. And that's what you do this time of year.
[00:28:34] Dave Brewis: If it's normalized at 2 years old, then you do it. There's a 5 year old Tommy in Haxey Hood who wears his flowery hat for the first time in episode six. You just know with a fair wind he'll probably be Chief Boggin. You know, one day, you know, it's going to be absolutely normal to him, you know, but it's a completely un. Unique Haxey Hood. Completely unique. And, and from the outside in the media and people scratch their head going what, what is that? Those deeper inherent themes that we've talked about, you know, community, continuity and certainly sense of place. One thing I'm seeing is because these things are so individual and typically very regional, is that perhaps they're sort of combating this sense of homogeneity that maybe globalizations provide this, you know, but now of course, everyone has a very fractured media experiences almost and we see silos, do we not, you know, which creates problems actually. You know, silos of beliefs even, you know, and that's not necessarily that healthy. Could end up pretty much disagreeing with your neighbour by the time you've met your neighbour. Right, so that's odd then. That's a new, that's a new thing, right? That's since 1995, since the Internet became a thing. That was never a thing before. You would know pretty much everybody in your community. Probably this is it.
[00:29:46] Andy: These events are like you say, the real world. You are standing next to your neighbours and the other people from your village and celebrating together in real life, not, not in a silo on your own, on the Internet. And that's part of the appeal as well.
[00:30:00] Dave Brewis: There is this idea that perhaps regional identity has a positive role to play in the future. And I'm really pleased actually that you've picked up on the idea, idea that they're positive. And I quite like the term folk harmony because I think there is, is that, you know, I mean, we haven't touched on politics, but you know, we, we live in a very divided country at the moment and that's because of our political culture as much as anything else. Right. That's come from a different place. But I know for a fact, hand on heart, there's people who vote very differently, enjoying themselves at these events. If you work on the Beck basis, that understanding where people are coming from is better than assuming that you're right and they're wrong or, or perhaps because you just don't understand them at all and they become the other, then these, these events have to be positive. Perhaps they can induce the harmony or perhaps even be a vehicle for healing. You know, I've heard that banded around recently, that's quite lofty. But I don't know, it's growing. It's definitely growing. There's a lot of focus on. On folklore right now. Know it's right across my timeline. It seems that everybody's interested, right?
[00:31:04] Andy: Yeah, I think so. I mean I'm certainly, I've have this podcast that talks about folklore half the time and there's been huge trends on what used to be Twitter, which I think a few people have gone away from now. But Bluesky and everything. I think it is a really big thing. I also had a question about would you fancy doing another series of these? You've done six episodes in this series. Would you consider doing another series of gatherings? And if so, were there any events, maybe ones you've already filmed that you think, oh, this would also make a good episode? Episode.
[00:31:31] Dave Brewis: I've got so many ideas, you know, and the thing about this stuff is that if you're going to execute on your idea, you've got to throw yourself in it. I think I've worked seven days a week since January 1st this year. You've got to see it through. So you've got to be careful which of those ideas that you choose. There's definitely scope for more. Not all of them are worthy of 30 minutes. 30 minutes is a long time in documentary format, but there's probably, I would say there's another 20 or so they could easily do. I am thinking actually of maybe a feature length piece which is contextualizing folklore where we are right now. Some of the things we've just talked about, actually its relevance today, given that it is obviously coming back with aplomb. Why just answering that is 1 hour, 40 minute feature length documentary, isn't it? This space.
[00:32:18] Andy: That sounds really good. I really love the films. I've seen all six parts of the documentary and as I say, I thought it was very uplifting. The folklore and the folk imagery is really exciting, but it's the human stories behind that that I think were really uplifting. So for the audience, could you let us know how they can watch Gatherings? What are the best ways to go and see these films and to get a hold of them?
[00:32:39] Dave Brewis: ‘Course… Gatherings is available in 4K on Apple TV. Just go to Apple TV and search for Gatherings or Amazon Prime. Again, just search for Gatherings. Or if you're really stuck, then just go to Gatherings.TV and all the links are there.
[00:32:54] Andy: Gatherings.tv. And that's got all the links to watch it, but also more information about yourself and about the events that are covered as well. So Dave, thanks very much. I really enjoyed this chat today and hope the rest of the release of Gatherings goes well. And I just think it's a really fascinating subject and the events look really fun. So I'm really glad that someone's been able to cover them in such an authentic way.
[00:33:15] Dave Brewis: No, thanks very much, Andy. I'm pleased you've enjoyed it and I've enjoyed our chat. ‘Folk Harmony’. I will take that with me and I'll have a think about that. Yeah, yeah, it's quite nice.
[00:33:29] Andy: Thank you for joining us for this episode of the dreamsworn podcast. I've been your host, Andy Mark Simpson. We hope you'll join us for the next one. Remember, you can subscribe to stay in touch with future episodes and follow us at the website www.dreamswarm.org or follow on Twitter and Instagram reamswarm. And we look forward to joining you for more supernatural film stories and art.
In the meantime, be creative, be curious, be kind, we'll see you soon.
