Filming History in Real Time
How the meaning of "The Line We Crossed" has evolved over 70 screenings
I have come to realise that my documentaries are never finished. While the final cut does not change, the context of the moment we are watching them in does, and the film evolves. If you make a documentary about events long past you know already how the story ended. You know which moments mattered and which did not. But when I am documenting events as they are unfolding, I am working without that map. The meaning of what I am filming is still in flux. I do not yet know what role the people I am filming will play in the longer story, and I do not know which moments will later prove decisive. The film becomes part of the unfolding story rather than simply a record of it. This is no truer than in the case of The Line We Crossed.
The final phase of making a film cinema and broadcast ready is really satisfying. This stage involves incredibly detailed finessing work at an online post production house. You work with a colourist and spend time meticulously getting every shot looking just right. Sometimes it is about making that shot across the Thames look as beautiful as possible. Other times it is subtle effects like adding that extra bit of exposure on a face to draw the eye. You also work with a sound mixer. I love the sound mix phase. Those little moments where you dial up an important sound, or add in layers and effects that make the film richer. In The Line We Crossed I always listen out for the horse’s winnow when we cut back to the Old Bailey. This finessing is not just about making the film well balanced to the eye and the ear, it also plays a part in telling the story. This painstaking work can transform a film and it is why I encourage anyone who can, to watch the film in the cinema. That is where those subtelties get to be appreciated to their full. I have had people say to me they thought the cinema cut was better, when the reality was the cut was no different to the one they had watched on their screen at home. The bonus of a cinema or community screening is also the opportunity to watch it with others and the group discussion that can follow.
Since June last year The Line We Crossed has screened over 70 times in cinemas and community venues. Most have been followed by post-film discussions. At the screening last Tuesday night at the magical Sands Film Club it struck me how those discussions have changed over the last nine months.
In spring 2025, at the moment when the final finessing of the film was taking place, Just Stop Oil announced they were “hanging up their hi-vis”. In the UK the stakes for taking part in civil disobedience as a form of protest had gotten a hell of a lot higher. Many of the people leading the charge were in prison, and the deterrent effect of the harsh sentences and the criminalisation of climate protestors was playing a role. It was in that context in June 2025 we began our tour with the film. The dominating question then was “what now?” and “what next?”. It was a time of pause and reflection for the climate movement.
Then the prosciption of Palestine Action happened and the tone changed to “WTF!?”. The campaigning group Defend Our Juries lept into action and began the Lift The Ban campaign. Now The Line We Crossed had an added layer to it for the film charts the emergence of Defend Our Juries around Trudi Warner’s story. This grassroots campaigning group were suddenly headline news as thousands of peaceful sign-holding protesters were carried off by the police accused of terrorism. Some of those arrested and charged with terrorism were featured in the film and when I watch it now, I do so knowing what is to come. The introduction of terrorism charges into the mix took the repression of our protest rights to a whole new level, and the post-screening discussions moved on accordingly.
With time passing the “what now?” question dominates less. Grassroots action groups are organising again and are adapting to this new repressive protest environment. The energy has moved to a wider social justice struggle and a recognition that we are in an omni-crisis. Over these last nine months polarisation in Britain has increased further. What I am hearing now in post-screening discussions is “how can we bridge the gap?”, “how can we can we not alienate one another and work together?”.
This is a question I find really hard to answer. The answer most often proferred is of local community building, listening to each other, a move to a more participatory democracy or sortition. But, every day I feel like I am witnessing the hate and vitriol ramp up another notch making it hard to imagine a pathway back to civilised debate and policymaking. I vacillate between hope and despair. I think of the genius of human beings. Looking at the big picture it is, after all, quite remarkable what we have achieved as a species. I think, “surely we can use our ingenuity to fix this?”, and then someone goes and throws another very real bomb into the mix and grasping onto human ingenuity feels like grasping at straws. What I do hold on to though is this: in the UK we are still in a partially functioning democracy which means there is still a window of opportunity for us to change course. Now is definitely not the time to give up in despair. A positive course change is still possible, but it will not happen if we do not fight for it.
I wonder what the historians will make of The Line We Crossed when I, and the people in it, are long gone?
Upcoming in-person screenings of The Line We Crossed
📍 The Quaker Meeting House, London Euston
📅 Monday 23 March, 2pm
🎟️ https://www.tickettailor.com/events/londonquakers/2065583
💭 Q&A with Marcus Decker, Holly Cullen-Davies, Trudi Warner & Liz Smith
📍 Pavilion Cinema, Galashiels
📅 Sunday 29 March, 2pm
🎟️ https://galashiels.merlincinemas.co.uk/film/100050-the-line-we-crossed-plus-qa
💭 Q&A with Trudi Warner & Kate Prasher
📍 Showroom Cinema, Sheffield
📅 7 April, 7:30 pm
🎟️ https://showroomcinema.org.uk/film/perspectives-the-line-we-crossed-director-qa
💭 Q&A with Liz Smith & others TBA
If you can’t make it to a screening, The Line We Crossed is now available to stream.