)
Valrie (Val) Bristow Ellis (1937-2018) was a Manchester-based schoolteacher and prolific amateur filmmaker whose work spanned a 50-year period from the mid-1960s onwards. Val was a member of several amateur cinema clubs including Humphrey Park Cine Club and Cheadle and Gatley Film Club. She was also a member of the Institute of Amateur Cinematographers (IAC), becoming the first woman chairperson of the IAC National Council (1999-2000) and first woman president (2002-8).
Many of Val’s films are held at the North-West Film Archive (NWFA) with a small selection included in the IAC collection held at the East Anglian Film Archive (EAFA). These collections cover a breadth of filmmaking styles and genres including animation, drama, comedy, and travelogues, made on film, video and digital formats.
Val Ellis in Happy Dayze (2012). Courtesy of Frank Parker
Ellis’ interest in amateur filmmaking began after seeing the results of a film made by a friend at Val’s sister’s wedding. The friend, who "was very hard up" at the time, purchased a kit for £50 leading Val to realise that, as "poor people like me could afford cine, […] I’ll have to have a go at this myself" (LongstoneLHGroup, 2018).
Val was soon making her own films, many of which with the assistance of friend Celia, shooting under the name Cavalier Films – Cavalier being an amalgamation of Val and Celia. Cavalier was also the name of the boat featured in one of Val’s early films, Return of the Cavalier (c.1960s), depicting a boating holiday through Shropshire with Celia.
As with her other travelogues and documentary films, Return of the Cavalier is accompanied by a voiceover from Val, combing her joviality and understated humour with a genuine desire to inform and educate. After joining Humphrey Park Cine Club, both Val and Celia became part of a team making three or four films a year and, with their "posh cine equipment", the pair were "at the heart of festival projection teams" (Andrew, 2018).
As a teenager, Val attended Stretford High School for Girls (1949-53) and later trained as a biology and drama teacher before returning to teach at the same school, eventually taking on the role of Head of Science (Motrescu-Mayes and Norris Nicholson, 2018: 207). Her experiences at Stretford are documented in the film Time for Change (1990) in which Val appears in front of the camera, guiding the viewer through the school in which she was both student and teacher. Val often worked with the underprivileged or troubled children, the experiences of which she would often reflect on in later life (Andrew, 2018).
Upon hearing of Val’s filmmaking ventures, the school signed her up to a filmmaking course and subsequently ran a series of media workshops for the students. The course also introduced Val to various animation techniques which became integral to her amateur work and the knowledge she imparted to her students (LongstoneLHGroup, 2018). In the IAC North-West film Animation Workshop 1984 (1984) Val talks about the animation process illustrated by key examples of recent films made by fellow IAC members.
Genesis (1980). Courtesy of the East Anglian Film Archive
Throughout her career in amateur filmmaking, Val received awards at many of the amateur film competitions including a Gold Star in the Movie Maker Ten Best Film Competition for Genesis (1980) which also received a ‘Highly Commended’ award at the 1981 IAC International Film Competition (EAFA, 2022). The film is a short animation depicting the first encounter between Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, infusing the recognisable bold colour designs and dry wit common to many of Val’s works.
Set to the well-known song ‘Windmills of Your Mind’, Windmills – My Style (1982) offers another side to Val’s animation. Employing multi-coloured abstract patterns and kaleidoscopic imagery, the short film is illustrative of Ellis’ accomplishments with animation techniques. Her proficiency in animation meant that Val soon became a guru to many film clubs (Andrew, 2018), leading to a series of in-person demonstrations and pre-recorded tutorials that toured the country (B.B., 1987: 19).
Reflecting on the move to video, Val felt that as "animation is very much to do with film […] I think I’ll always make film but the video is so much more fun. Especially as a group activity because you can all monitor and everyone can see what you’re doing" (LongstoneLHGroup, 2018).
Her amateur films also reflect a passion for art history and fascination with Escher’s single-frame demonstrations of animal movement (Andrew, 2018). Her film Impressions (1997), an homage to Monet, features images of the artist’s key works accompanied by a voice-over provided by Val, expressing the joys of art appreciation and her passion for the subject.
In later life, Val worked with Paul Curtis, art lecturer at Sheffield University, and the pair regularly holidayed together with Val’s sister and brother-in-law. One such excursion is captured in The Artists of St. Ives (2002), in which we see Curtis leading the group in a series of painting sessions, followed by sightseeing trips to Barbara Hepworth's studio, the Tate gallery, and home of artist Alfred Wallis.
Variation (1979). Courtesy of the East Anglian Film Archive
Val also took a keen interest in the work of UNICA (the international filmmakers’ federation), travelling to various international festivals and conferences as a result. In addition to the UNICA trips, Val also regularly holidayed with friends, visiting Burma, Russia, South America, Australia, the Arctic, and elsewhere. The film G (1998), of a trip to the Guggenheim in Bilbao, illustrates Val’s continued development as a filmmaker through the use of various post-production effects designed to complement shots of the building’s unique architecture and exhibits.
In Keep Taking the Tablets (2014), an "experimental film created with iPads, iPhones and Androids", Val worked alongside fellow amateurs, including former IAC President Gerald Mee, to create a short film comprised of a series ‘selfies’ recorded by each contributor. The purpose of this experiment was to assess the quality of video recorded on smartphones and tablets for future amateur productions. It also illustrates Val’s continued involvement in the amateur community and club filmmaking during her final years.
Reflecting on the production of Millennium Movie (2000) in 2011, Val stated that:
I’ve been involved in group filmmaking for some years and I’ve found it can be quite hazardous. Sometimes personalities clash and tempers get frayed. But it can be quite fun. If the group dynamic is strong, then the films will often be more successful and it’s a much more enjoyable experience. We made the film where Alan played God, Garth did the graphic effects, William did the lighting and some of the other properties and I sort of ran about looking after Alan making sure his acting was right and in general just stop World War Three developing! (LongstoneLHGroup, 2018).
Selected Filmography
Return of the Cavalier (c.1960s)
Variation (1979)
Genesis (1980) Watch via EAFA.org
Windmills – My Style (1982) Watch via EAFA.org
Animation Workshop 1984 (1984)
Time for Change (1990)
Impressions (1997)
G (1998)
Millennium Movie (2000)
The Artists of St. Ives (2002)
Happy Dayze (2012)
Keep Taking the Tablets (2014)
Bibliography
Andrew, David. 2018. ‘Val Ellis Eulogy.’ Unpublished eulogy notes delivered by the author at the funeral of Val Ellis, Feb 2018.
B.B. 1987. ‘Ambulance Boat Drama on Film.’ Southport Visiter. 13 March, p. 19.
EAFA. 2022. ‘Genesis.’ [Online] Available at: https://eafa.org.uk/work/?id=1025711 [accessed 27 October 2022].
LongstoneLHGroup. 2019. A Moving Picture Tribute to Val Ellis [Video]. YouTube. [Online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7yDWkqNs_38&t=8s [accessed 19 December 1022].
Motrescu-Mayes, Annamaria and Heather Norris Nicholson. 2018. British Women Amateur Filmmakers: National Memories and Global Identities. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.