While the Apocalypse – Blog

Charting the trials and triumphs of the filmmaker’s homage to northern soul

“They’re not on drugs–we had people going round before the take with a basket of herbal cigarettes and chewing gum,” says Elaine Constantine regarding the fuel of choice of the protagonists in her Directors’ Cuts submission, a short that delves behind the filmmaker’s 17-years-in-the-making labor of love, Northern Soul. Inspired by Constantine’s first exposure to the underground dance scene in the Lancashire halls where she would “sit on the side and watch the dancers, go home and practice in my bedroom in front of the mirror,” the film beautifully captures the flare-sweeping energetic movements soundtracked by the black soul sounds of 1960s and 1970s America.

The period authenticity of the picture, helped by Constantine’s acceptance by and friendships with members of the notoriously protective northern soul subculture, hasn’t gone unnoticed: the passion project has been nominated for a Critics’ Choice Award, and talk of an American distribution deal coincides with the release of the director’s star-studded 9 Kisses film series for The New York Times.

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