The UK's First Ever Zero-Waste Restaurant
Our latest Free of the Week is “A Failure of the Imagination”, a beautiful portrait of the man behind the UK’s first no-waste restaurant, Silo.
Founder and Head-Chef Douglas McMaster was never able to conform to the systems around him, even at school. But today it’s his difference that has given him the strength and inspiration to carry forward the Silo project. Despite being told by everyone around him that he was being too ambitious, and despite his numerous setbacks, Silo has recently opened in London to critical acclaim.
This is our second Free of the Week feature from the England Your England series produced by director Matt Hopkins of the Progress Film Company. The series seeks out individuals living on the edges of modern society, challenging our views and questioning our norms. It has had phenomenal success on Vimeo, with some videos reaching over 500K views.
We caught up with Matt to ask him more about the making of the series, how he goes about discovering EYE’s fascinating characters and what his plans are for the future.
- Talk us through the EYE concept and what inspired you to start it.
Matt Hopkins, Director and Founder of the Progress Film Company
“England Your England is a collection of stories offering an alternative look at life in modern day Britain. Mainly focusing on underdog characters or outsiders, the series aims to capture inspiring real stories that often reject mainstream culture.
The inspiration for the series comes from many sources. The name is derived from Orwell’s essay of the same name where he attempts to define Britishness during the Blitz in the fear that it might be wiped out by invading forces. While the series doesn’t pretend to define British culture in such broad terms, capturing untold stories for posterity is certainly an aim. The idea to group these films into a collection again came from literature - allowing each film to feel like a chapter in a wider story holds far more impact than single films.”
- You've discovered some amazing people and stories. Just how is it that you find them?
“I came across the characters in a range of ways. Some I read about in news articles and reached out to them (Richard, Leon), others were people I’d met while working on other film projects (Patrick, Mark) and some were friends of friends (Merville, Pete) who I’d heard about and thought they had an interesting story.
Importantly, there’s usually a far bigger story to each of these characters which couldn’t be told in a short format - Richard for example recently went to prison for protesting against fracking in Lancashire and there is a huge activist element to his character we could have explored. Whilst Douglas' (A Failure of the Imagination) main achievement has been to create a zero waste food system, there’s a wider story about food systems and sustainability which we could have explored, but the format of the series couldn’t quite sustain - so I like to think of these characters as accessible introductions to big issues which viewers can use as a starting point.”
- Is there one character you've filmed that sticks out to you?
“All of the characters are special to me - I learnt a lot from each of them - but Douglas really stands out to me as someone with complete conviction about what he's doing and very little interest in conforming to societal norms. Spending time with him was truly inspiring and thought provoking. He had a huge amount of determination and perseverance to try and change the world and really needed a thick skin at times to continue the journey without faltering or questioning himself.”
Douglas McMaster, Founder and Head Chef of Silo
- What's been the reaction you've had to EYE so far?
“The reaction to the series has been really positive. It’s evolved over the 7 years since we started and now we have a new home on Instagram to try and engage a new audience. One of the big questions I get is about how the series get’s funded and it’s always been the same, a pure passion project which we (The Progress Film Co) self fund allowing us complete creative and editorial freedom. In a similar vein to the characters, it’s important to me that the series itself feels like an outsider in the crowded world of online video.”
- What are your ambitions for the future?
“Looking forward, I’d like to make a feature length film that feels very England Your England in essence. There’s a few characters I’m keen to make films with, and I’m looking at ways to interweave their stories in order to make the feature format viable.”
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For more England Your England episodes, visit the Vimeo page and follow the series on Instagram
