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Yousaf’s dinner date with Blair
30/11/2004
A film based on childhood memories of Salford has helped win its
writer and director a dinner date at number 10 Downing
Street.
Yousaf ali Khan, the man whose memories of growing up, in
Langworthy inspired his acclaimed short-film Talking with Angels,
met both the Prime Minister and his wife Cherie Blair at Downing
Street at a star studded event.
The evening-get-together was staged to celebrate the 21st birthday
of Arts for Labour - with luminaries Melvyn Bragg and culture
secretary Tessa Jowell there to quaff champagne.
Yousaf's invitation came after his film, which was shot on
Langworthy estate and using a cast largely drawn from the local
area was nominated last year for an Oscar and their prestigious
counterpart, a BAFTA.
The film was first noticed by the critics as a gritty but
outstanding work when it premiered at last year's Salford Film
Festival.
Since then the film has gone onto be screened at 50 different film
festivals throughout the world.
Yousaf, who says he's always been proud of his Langworthy roots: "I
talked with Cherie all about the Talking with Angels project and
the Salford Film Festival.
"She was very sympathetic, made all the right faces and put a DVD
copy of film in her pocket to watch later."
The rights for Talking with Angels have been sold to Channel 4, but
Yousaf insists fame and fortune are the least of his
concerns.
"For me this film isn't part of a career path," he said.
"We want to build some continuity in the area and continue to make
film here and hold workshops.
"You can find talent anywhere so why shouldn't that talent come
from the community?
"I wanted to work in salford because that is where I grew up. It
would be in bad taste not to take into account that you \re filming
in a community and you have a responsibility to put something
back.
Talking with Angels is set in 1970s Salford, 10-year-old Alan and
his family make their way to the clinic for mum's regular injection
of Largactil, a drug intended to subdue her 'schizophrenic' inner
voices and visions.
Alan takes upon himself the responsibility for holding his family
together. He negotiates the two worlds his family inhabit: his
mother's vivid inner world occupied by demons and angels, and the
stark reality of everyday life haunted by poverty and the
ever-present threat of the social services splitting up his
family.
To others Alan's family is a world of madness, neglect, and
eccentricity. To Alan, it is his family..
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