Nottstopping Festival highlights: In conversation with Jeanie Finlay and Clare Finlay Thompson

The Nottstopping Festival celebrates all what Nottingham has to offer and brings endless coverage for audiences across this Bank Holiday weekend to enjoy virtually.

The festival is taking place over this weekend (23rd and 24th of May) and is being held in order to fundraise for our key workers during these unprecedented times. Also, it brings an extravaganza for all the residents of Nottingham to celebrate what the city has, whether that is in film, music, art, comedy or dance.

One of the highlights from Saturday was a conversation (over Zoom call of course) with sisters Jeanie Finlay and Claire Finlay-Thompson. Jeanie is an award-winning documentary maker who now works at the much-loved Nottingham landmark, Broadway cinema. Her sister Clare is an acclaimed costume designer who has designed for some much-loved shows such as Gavin and Stacey and The Inbetweeners.

Jeanie and Clare firstly gave us the lowdown in a quick swoop of their career and all the success they have had so far. We get the vision into what it was really like to work on the sets and the real behind the scenes action which we never get to see for ourselves. The sisters also discuss their road to stardom, right from their first jobs to their university days and they big breaks.

Facebook Live with sisters Clare Finlay-Thompson and Jeanie Finlay

Jeanie studied in Middlesbrough whilst her sister first studied in Hartlepool and went on to study at Wimbledon College. Even though both pursued different careers, they are still both poignant examples of how successful you can really be in the arts if you put your mind to it and dream big.

This was a worthy watch from this digital festival because it gave audiences an insight into the personal experience of someone who has worked in the film and TV world. For example, Jeanie describes how she is just a ā€œ5ft 7 woman with a massive camera.ā€ However, for everyone who watches her documentaries she says: ā€œWhat you are experiencing is the relationship I have with people in my film.ā€

From this conversation (that was broadcast live by the festival and Broadway cinema on Facebook), we understand the dedication and love people such as Clare and Jeanie have for their career in the arts and as viewers, we can appreciate more of the effort that goes into the films and every aspect including costumes that goes into everything we watch.

A particular highlight Jeanie talks about was her production of Panto! ā€“ made in Nottingham ā€“ which she described as a ā€œobservational portraitā€. She chooses this as one of her best moments in career just because of how much she loved making it and the fact she could work in Nottingham.

Clare explained to us about how she is dealing with lockdown and what she is doing to keep on working during these times. in order to keep busy, she feels the need to be creative (which is no surprise considering her career). As she must work with what she has got, she has now turned her top bedroom into a studio.

Viewers saw some of the work she has been doing whilst in lockdown, including a sewn bear head which she hopes to put on her wall and describes how she has ā€œfallen in love with sewing again.ā€

This broadcast was definitely a standout highlight of this digital festival weekend and not only gives us some great viewing time during this lockdown, but also an understanding and awareness of what it is really like to work behind the scenes in film and TV.

By Katie Green

Feature image: Nottstoppingfestival.com

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