The Past Lives Project is a touring arts and heritage project creating new films with live music from local amateur cinefilm. The project has been funded by Arts Council England and the Heritage Lottery Fund and it was designed to visit eight regions of the Midlands: Bolsover, Ironbridge, Nottingham, Mansfield, Derby, Buxton, South Holland and Ilkeston over a three year period.
The final performance in Buxton will be at St. John’s church on 5th March 2016.
In each region we call out to the public for amateur cinefilm home movies, old photos, local music and oral history. The collected film is digitised (at no cost to depositors) then edited to create an engaging reflection of the region in the 20th Century. We then compose a music soundtrack with local musicians which is performed live with the film at the grand finale event.
The project works with local organisations, civic societies, history groups, archives and museums across the region. We currently have an exhibition at the Buxton Museum & Art Gallery (until Jan 4th) showing aspects of the project. There is also a digital archive of the project including films, photos and oral history being assembled online at PastLivesProject.com
We are looking for home movie cinefilm of Buxton and the surrounding area. It can be footage of towns, countryside, family events – anything related to to the area. If you have any film or would like to share your memories please get in touch ASAP.
You can email info@pastlivesproject.com, leave your details at the museum or call Dave on 07732 676803 or Anthony on 07890 211524