Documentary that takes us into the jungle on our doorstep

Daniel Nelson

The  Calais Jungle was a testament to government neglect but also to human  compassion, says volunteer carpenter Thomas Laurence. Now he’s made a film that proves the point.

His documentary, On Our Doorstep, is a “reminder that people still care about people”.

It’s an outstanding film, serious but not preachy, full of action and fascinating people.

It is about some of the 10,000 people trapped in the camp, whose energy, ingenuity and life-force turned the place into a home and a small town with 12 churches and seven mosques, despite the hostility and  lack of cooperation of the authorities. But its focus is on the mostly inexperienced volunteers who moved in to help.

Laurence went for a week and stayed a year: “I’d never volunteered before - I didn’t know what I was doing…The situation  was so  desperate and yet, at the same time, so inspiring that I couldn’t bring myself to leave.” 

Another volunteer captures the spirit: “It was so simple. That simple act of giving someone soup or putting a roof over their heads. Who gives a shit what the government says? Who cares what the politics are?”

Laurence does a great job in capturing the spirit of the people who created the muddy, under-resourced camp: “A local French volunteer had  brought an old piano into the camp and dragged it to the top of the highest sand dune in the camp,  next to the open-air boxing gym. By the time I arrived the piano had drawn quite a crowd and the  Afghan boxing instructor had started his lesson. A Sudanese pianist started taking requests from his mates while the boxers sparred just a few yards away ..  this very footage would eventually become  the human heart of a feature documentary.”

Documentaries like this need to find an individual - a character - who provides a thread, and dramatic events that pitch the story forward. The first came in the shape of the remarkable Liz Clegg, who set up the Women and Children’s Centre and became a surrogate mother to children, adults, refugees and volunteers alike.  

The plot twist came with the police destruction of the camp by an army of police. Teargas, smoking ruins and missing children ensued: “It was a functioning, staggeringly brilliant shantytown. Then suddenly all the people we loved were  traumatised. Everything we loved and believed in had gone straight to hell.”

Laurence weaves together a motley collection of people and actions, hope and failure, idealism and despair, and of crushing state power, yet leaves us with a picture of inspiration and humanity.

His film is compelling testimony to what Clegg has described as “an incredible response to human need” and to the irony pinpointed by another volunteer: “Calais was 90 per cent bad. But if you looked for the 10 per cent you would see good things.”

Sadly, shockingly, the film tells us that asylum-seekers still sleep rough in Calais, with the government confiscating sleeping bags and volunteers doing what they can to plug gaps with food, water and tents.

https://www.onourdoorstepdoc.com/ 

SCREENING DETAILS & THE VENUES 

www.onourdoorstepdoc.com/screenings

Curzon Soho, London 

Monday 22 May, 6:20pm 

+ Q&A: with Rhianna Dhillon, director Thomas Laurance, actor Juliet Stevenson and author Gulwali Passerlay 

The Palace, Broadstairs, Kent 

Tuesday 23 May

+ Q&A with Thomas Laurance and  current Calais volunteers 

The Picturehouse, Uckfield, East Sussex 

Thursday 25 May  

+ Q&A with Thomas Laurance

Chelmsford Cathedral, Chelmsford 

Friday 26 May

• Q&A with Thomas Laurance 

First Site, Colchester, Essex 

Thursday 8 June 

• Q&A with Thomas Laurance

The Electric, Birmingham 

Tuesday 13 June

+ Q&A with Thomas Laurance and Salman Mirza a 

The Genesis, London 

Wednesday 14 June  

+ Q&A with Thomas Laurance, Deborah Frances White (The Guilty Feminist), actor Yasin Moradi (The Jungle play) and Care4Calais

The Phoenix, Exeter 

Saturday 17 June

+ Q&A with Thomas Laurance 

The Depot, Lewes, East Sussex 

Monday 19 June

+ Q&A: Jerry Rothwell (director of The Reason I Jump), and Thomas Laurance

• Bridport Arts Centre, Dorset 

Tuesday 20 June  

+ Q&A with Thomas Laurance and fundraiser for Freedom From Torture 

The Cube, Bristol 

Wednesday 21 June 

• Q&A with Thomas Laurance with Care4Calais as part of the Bristol Refugee Festival 

The Electric Theatre, Guildford, West Surrey 

Tuesday 27 June

• Q&A with Thomas Laurance 

Rich Mix, London 

Thursday 29 June

• Q&A with Thomas Laurance and with Care4Calais CEO and actor Yasin Moradi