amazon films: yam review

A low-budget comedy about hormone replacement therapy, anyone? Hardly an obvious blockbuster, which is why local film-maker Angel Garden had to bank-roll the whole project herself. Robin Askew talks to her about the making of "Yam".

As movie pitches go, the story of a menopuasal woman who discovers a safe natural alternative to HRT is unlikely to appeal to film studios, boasting as it does limited oportunity for explosions to sate the presumed appetite of their target 16-24 demographic. Little wonder Bristol film-maker Angel Garden decided from the outset not to bother with the rigmarole of securing funding and distribution for her first feature, "Yam", and opted to do it all herself.

Luckily, Angel had a bit of cash in the kitty following successful litigation against a medical practitioner for causing her walking disability. "I was a guinea pig," she explains. "I had an operation when I was a child that they probably wouldn't now do on anybody, because they've learned through doing it on people like me that it doesn't really work. It's quite severe. It stops me from choosing to walk. So when I managed to claw something back from the horrific experience I've had, I thought I'd better use it to do this, because it's the only chance I'm going to get."

It's obvious where Angel's interest in health issues comes from. Her arrival at film-making was alittle more circuitous.

After doing a course at the Fool Time circus school, she toured her one-woman show, "Nursing a Grievance", round the country for three years. She then became compere of the Tongue in CHeek comedy club at the Mauretania, but resisted the lure of a stand-up comedy career in the Smoke. "I decided that I wasn't cut out for it. It's far too frightening. It's frightening tgoing on stage, but the most frightening thing is what it can do to you. You've got to be a very particular sort of person to cope in that cut and thrust.

During a spell retuning videos for Channel Five back in 1997, she found herself working on the equipment of a tutor from Bristol University's film department, who encouraged her to apply for the MA course. "I'd always wanted to make films ever since I was a little kid," she explains. "And I always thought I should be making films if I ever wanted to get any decent parts."

Budgeted at less than £30,000, "Yam" was filmed on location at angel's homein Ashley Down and surrounding area, using a crew recruited from 2002 Bower Ashton media graduates. Many of the cast came from London, though there's a big role for well-known local face Amirah Cole, Chair of the St Paul's Carnival Committee. It's the tale of menopausal Pamela Plagely, who's having something of a hard time. Her husband doesn't understand her, their son is doing time for dealing skunk, and her doctor is eager for her to go on HRT. Then she learns from a friend that wild yam offers a safe natural alternative to synthetic hormone treatment. This leads to Ealingesque comedy shenanigans, when Pamela starts growing yam hydroponically in her loft, attracting the attention of the police. Despite a few cluky moments, the film boasts higher production values than you'd expect on this budget, and manages to shoehorn in quite a bit of practical information without sacrificing the lightweight comic tone.

"Initially, I thought it might e going too much towards the information side," Angel confesses. "In fact, while it was being made some people said, 'Isn't this going to be like a documentary?' But for some reason, in film I feel I can allow more fluff and entertainment because it's a very plastic medium. It can be working on several levels all at once. That said, I have received phone calls from people wanting information about yam. That's why I did it. I believe there's a massive audience for films like this, contrary to what the distributors think."

Realising that there was little point in seeking cinema distribution, despite festival success at "Picture This" in Canada and the Disability Film Festival at the NFT, Angel decided that the best way to get "Yam" seen was to put it our herself on DVD through Amazon Films - the company she runs with her partner Steve Paris. Filling their attic with DVDs while they embarked on the steep learning curve of getting them into the shops without any corporate negotiating muscle was certainly a risk. But it seems to have paid off, as many of the discs have been shifted since the office release last month and the ocuple are now considering having another 1000 made. In the meantime, all Angel wants to do is make another film. And she's already got the idea for a script. "It's a fantastic historical story, which is a real bit of Bristol history that hasn't been told to my knowledge. Another thing you can do on a low budget is wild special effects on your home computer. And let's face it: horror is what sells. So the next film is going to be a fantasy horror film about midwifery and birth."

Wow! A semi-political feminist message movie with explosive special effects and gore?

"You've got it," she laughs.