The Ballad of Shirley Collins
Feature documentary. 93 mins
Rob Curry and Tim Plester's follow-up to the award-winning documentary ‘Way of the Morris’ is a creative response to the life of musical icon Shirley Collins.
It is a universal story of a singer who lost their voice, and traces her attempts to regain it at the grand old age of 80 after not singing for nigh on 40 years. The film intertwines this with the story of her formative years, with particular emphasis on a now-legendary trip she made around the 'Deep South' of America with her then-lover, the pre-eminent ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax.
Our third feature documentary, The Ballad of Shirley Collins was a co-production with Burning Bridges, Fire Films and Miles of Smiles. It premiered at the BFI London Film Festival in 2017, and was selected for festivals including IFFR and CPH:DOX. The film was released theatrically in the UK in 2018 and in the US in 2019.