share Green Man film feat. Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Joanna Newsom, James Yorkston and more

Unearthed Film of the 2005 Green Man Festival

In 2005 a film was made of the Green Man Festival in Wales. It has been unreleased and unseen for nearly 20 years and features performances by Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy and Joanna Newsom among others.

Watch/share/stream the film: YouTube link: https://youtu.be/l7U8ARco4ao?feature=shared

Artists performing live in order of appearance:

King Creosote

Alasdair Roberts

Daimh

The Fence Collective

Josephine Foster

Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy & Matt Sweeney

Malcolm Middleton

His Latest Novel

The Earlies

James Yorkston

Wizz Jones

Joanna Newsom

Adem

“2005 was an incredible year” says founder and organiser Jo Bartlett. “It was the last year Danny (Hagan the other founder and organiser) and I did absolutely everything ourselves. We were so busy leading up to and after the festival that we weren’t able to work on a release for the film. Our wonderful friend, Jason Glenister had directed and produced it, we saw him and his crew (of two), buzzing around the site with their cameras. Every now and again one of us would call the other and talk about what to do with the film, but then life would take over again and it remained unseen.”

“I watched the film about a month ago and it blew my mind how wonderful and special it is. It is now an historical document, not just of the festival, but also, a music scene. I realised this time, we need to get it out there, for as many people as possible to enjoy. The time feels absolutely right and I am very excited!”

As Jason Glenister says:

“My main memories are of Jo & Danny physically building the main stage, booking artists, having fraught last-minute calls, curating the band times, sorting out portaloos – and all the while herding and corralling their two young children away from festival site hazards.

This is all part of the reason why Green Man 2005 is such a beautiful coming together of music, friends, family and celebration. And in turn, I felt the only possible way to capture all this energy was to be as honest, open and un-intrusive as possible in creating a documentary of it all.

I approached the entire idea as a fan of music and an audience member caught up in the middle of that joy. There are no ‘artist or musician interviews’ but instead, simply chats or conversations had in a passing moment, over a beer or between a song. I doggedly stuck to this approach, with all the people involved constantly roaming around with cameras rolling – caught up in an impromptu ceilidh with James Yorkston – or King Creosote campfire sing-along with Adem, families with kids and Joanna Newsom. That is why it’s so special to me and why all involved felt joyous to be part of it.

Folk was the word of the moment – in all its truest sense and meaning. I vividly remember there being a tangible communal buzz of simply being together at a point in time, with great musicians, great people, with no real difference between audience and artist. So the only real approach to capturing this was to be as invisible as possible, in both filming style and then in editing and shaping it afterwards.

To give it a sense of simply opening a door, stepping into a moment in time and watching as it magically unfurls before you. Being carried along on the music and the flow, then once it has flickered through it’s story, to then simply recede until there is only a yellow moon hanging over a Welsh valley in the sultry summertime. A magical music box with all the treasures and joy of celebration held inside, waiting until someone opens the small door and steps inside.”

Jo has been steadily writing about the years she and Danny ran the Green Man – her 2005 memories can be found here: https://indiethroughthelookingglass.com/2005-green-man/