‘Shooting the War’ produced by Bristol based indie Available Light, shows WW 2 in Britain and Germany as it has rarely been seen: through the lens of home movie makers. Some of these amateur film enthusiasts were soldiers who took their cameras to the front line and filmed men at war; others who stayed at home recorded everyday life on the home front. At first, they filmed the novelty of war.

But they did more. German and British home movie makers at the front lines filmed the horrors of war alongside the mundane and the monotony of life as a soldier or airman. Those who stayed at home continued to film even when death and destruction came to their own doorsteps.

These remarkable amateur films and the stories of the fighting men, women and children in them, take us into the heart of the wartime experiences of ordinary people and show us how they survived these extraordinary times.

The first episode, “Men” transmits on Wednesday January 20th, BBC4 at 9pm and features the films of four fighting men who took their amateur film cameras to the front lines and filmed the everyday life of the soldier and airman in battle.

The second episode, “Children” (Wednesday January 27th, BBC4 at 9pm) is about the experience of children in war in Britain and Germany, seen through the films of them shot by parents, friends and school teachers. The films, and the recollections of the children in them, capture the novelty of war at home and as that novelty gradually turned to reality to death and loss, the home movies capture that too. And the third episode entitled “Women” (Wednesday February 3rd, BBC4 at 9pm) features women in both Britain and Germany who were drawn into the war. Those experiences were filmed, sometimes by women themselves. In Germany, Elisabeth Wilms, an amateur film-maker, filmed everyday life of women in her home city of Dortmund and as those lives changed she filmed the changes, including the absolutely stunning films of the destitution experienced by women in the immediate aftermath of the blitz on her home town.

For more information please contact Series Producer David Parker:

dparker@availablelight.tv or call 0117 908 4433

Click here for more information on Available Light