Changing Your Perspective is a compilation of documentaries which includes both light-hearted and incredibly poignant topics. There’s Lift and Fish Story; the former includes hilarious encounters that occur in an elevator. The latter is about a man’s mission to find out the truth behind a fishy story. On a more serious note, Lowland Kids explores the pain of being a climate refugee, Black Sheep is a man’s heartbreaking account of racism, and Dear Araucaria is a quest to figuring out the genius behind the writer of the Guardian’s crossword. Their common connection? Alice Aedy. Alice Aedy has curated this incredible playlist; she is a documentary filmmaker and activist whose work has been published by the Guardian, The Atlantic, Al Jazeera, Monocle, BBC and Vice.
Lowland Kids
Director: Sandra Winther
Lowland Kids tells the story of Howard and Juliette, the last teenagers on Isle de Jean Charles, a sinking island on the coast of Louisiana. For the two siblings, this place has always been home. After losing their parents, their uncle has raised them on this island, passing on his love and appreciation for the land.
Dear Araucaria
Director: Matt Houghton
Better known by his pseudonym Araucaria, John Graham set the Guardian cryptic crossword for 55 years. In December 2012, crossword number 25,842 appeared in the paper with a series of clues that once solved, revealed a personal message from Araucaria to his followers. A puzzle in itself, this short film unpicks crossword number 25,842 to journey into John’s world of clue-making: the memories that he draws upon and the themes that inspire him.
Black Sheep
Director: Ed Perkins
Black Sheep tells the story of Cornelius Walker, whose life changed on 27 November 2000 – the day Damilola Taylor was killed. Damilola was 10, the same age as Cornelius. He lived five minutes away. He had the same skin color. Cornelius’s mother, scared for her son’s safety, moved their family out of London. Cornelius suddenly found himself living on a white estate run by racists. But rather than fight them, Cornelius decided to become more like the people who hated him.
Fish Story
Director: Charlie Lyne
Sometime in the 1980s, Caspar Salmon’s grandmother was invited to a gathering on the Welsh island of Anglesey, attended exclusively by people with fish surnames. Or so he says. Thirty years later, filmmaker Charlie Lyne attempts to sort myth from reality as he searches for the truth behind this fishy tale.
Lift
Director: Marc Isaacs
When filmmaker Marc Isaacs decided to make a documentary about a lift in a London tower block he had no idea how the residents would react and what they would reveal of their lives. He simply set himself up in the lift with his camera and waited for the right moment to ask questions. The result is both humorous and moving.
Playlist: Changing Your Perspective
Channel: Argo Selection
You can watch it on Argo’s app now.
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