Take us as we are

Liza Mortimer presented a short film about her family. “Take us as we are” intercutting archive footage with contemporary. She had access to the hour-long documentary in 1969 made by Charles Parker for the BBC. She contrasted how in the earlier film they were observed and dehumanised. As a film maker Liza’s approach is to tell her own families story.

Based on the 1969 BBC archive documentary, “Where do we go from here”, and the family roots of Minty Smith, ‘Take us as we are’, cultivates the spirit of freedom of the Gypsy and Traveller community – a nomadic culture still prevalent as ever. Liza Mortimer is the great grand-daughter of Minty Smith who features in the original documentary. “I am first and foremost a Romany Gypsy, I travelled around Kent when I was too young to remember, I lived on a caravan site with my family for 11 years and then I got an education and studied Dance at De Montfort University, Leicester. Now, I am currently studying a Masters in Art at DMU and the topic for my study focuses on my identity and how that informs my creative practice”

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