Meaningful Films

Meaningful Films Meaningful Films is a production company specialising in creating films that make a difference.

It was a seminal moment for us at Meaningful Films today. ❤️🎥We had our own private viewing of Briefest Encounters at th...
07/11/2025

It was a seminal moment for us at Meaningful Films today. ❤️🎥

We had our own private viewing of Briefest Encounters at the Little Theatre Cinema in Bath with manager Mason Po***ck.

A chance to see our documentary on the big screen and an opportunity to note any final changes that need to be made.🎬

It’s been an overwhelming but really rewarding experience, especially to be told that our film was engaging and emotional. ❤️

Tickets are *SOLD OUT* for the premiere screening on Wednesday 26th November. But there are seats available for the Double Bill screening on Sunday 30th November at 1.30pm followed by a Q&A.

🎟 https://www.picturehouses.com/movie-details/003/HO00017011/brief-encounter-premiere-screening-of-briefest-encounters-q-a?filter=

And there’s already plans to have other screenings of Briefest Encounters around the country. 🎥

Thanks for all your support!

Joanna and Luke x

We are in our first week of editing Briefest Encounters and it’s been an intense but rewarding process. 🎬Piecing togethe...
24/10/2025

We are in our first week of editing Briefest Encounters and it’s been an intense but rewarding process. 🎬

Piecing together this untold love story and seeing it beginning to take shape is making all the hard work worthwhile.

We want to be really proud of what is going to be the most important piece of work we have ever done together in our 15 years of collaboration. 🎥

We’re really excited to let you know that with most of the tickets already sold for the Premiere, the Little Theatre Cinema in Bath has opened sales for a second screening on Sunday 30th November at 1.30pm.

Tickets here 🎟 https://www.picturehouses.com/movie-details/003/HO00017011/brief-encounter-premiere-screening-of-briefest-encounters-q-a?filter=

We are hoping we will be able to do other screenings across the country to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the iconic film Brief Encounter.

Cyril Raymond's Diaries - Our final filming day for Briefest Encounters 🎬 We celebrated our final day of filming for Br...
17/10/2025

Cyril Raymond's Diaries - Our final filming day for Briefest Encounters 🎬

We celebrated our final day of filming for Briefest Encounters by interviewing paper designer, illustrator and author Helen Friel who bought Cyril Raymond’s diaries at a car boot sale in 2007.

Joanna was reunited with the only tangible keepsakes she has of her grandfather ten years later when she was interviewed with Helen and actor Lucy Fleming (daughter of Celia Johnson who played Cyril’s wife in Brief Encounter) on BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Live programme.

And eight years on from that broadcast, Helen and Joanna met to discuss the content of the diaries in more detail. Cyril Raymond was definitely there looking over our shoulders and not only did we learn about his touring experiences but had insights into a more meaningful side of his character.

We’re so looking forward to sharing his story with you and we are now heading into the edit suite to start to piece together this extraordinary ancestral story.

Tickets are now on sale 🎟 for the premiere screening of Briefest Encounters at The Little Theatre Cinema on 26th November.

Link: https://www.picturehouses.com/movie-details/003/HO00017011/brief-encounter-premiere-screening-of-briefest-encounters-q-a?filter=

Thanks again to you all for your support.

Joanna and Luke x

That's a wrap! 🎬We can’t quite believe that we’ve finished filming for our Briefest Encounters documentary and will be h...
10/10/2025

That's a wrap! 🎬

We can’t quite believe that we’ve finished filming for our Briefest Encounters documentary and will be heading into the editing suite. 🎞

It’s been an extraordinary journey and we couldn’t have done it without you! 💜

Thanks to all your support, we have raised £10,480 through Indiegogo! This has made a huge difference to us. The money we’ve raised will go towards filming and production costs as well as licensing archive material.

Tickets are now on sale for the premiere screening of Briefest Encounters at The Little Theatre Cinema in Bath at 7pm on Wednesday 26th November. 🎟

Follow the link to get your tickets: https://www.picturehouses.com/movie-details/003/HO00017011/brief-encounter-premiere-screening-of-briefest-encounters-q-a?filter=

Thanks for all your support with our campaign and we look forward to sharing more with you soon.

Joanna and Luke x

Honouring Lives 💜 Preserving Legacies ⭐ One of the most soulful visits for the Meaningful Films duo was to Barham Cremat...
03/10/2025

Honouring Lives 💜 Preserving Legacies ⭐

One of the most soulful visits for the Meaningful Films duo was to Barham Crematorium near Whitstable and to Eastbourne where Joanna’s theatrical relatives met their final resting place.

Barham is set in natural woodland with views overlooking the Elham Valley. It was here that Janet Morrison – and previously - her mother and aunt Zoe and Dora were laid to rest under the magnificent Ash tree. 🌳

Luke and Joanna then headed to Eastbourne Crematorium in Langney in East Sussex to find Cyril Raymond’s resting place. There had been mention that Cyril had had a tree planted in memory of him, but instead there was just a small cardboard ticket with his name on it.

There were no headstones to honour any of these people – instead their ashes had literally been scattered to the winds. 🍃

So visible in life, but invisible in death. Ironic to think how all four of them had been centre stage in their lives but no trace of them or their legacy.

Somehow these visits made the telling of Briefest Encounters even more important. Our contributions in life should be held in the ancestral memory bank and whatever we think about what happens when we die, it is surely fitting that there is something to remember us by for future generations.

But, as Shakespeare said:

All the world’s a stage, men and women merely players. 🎭

As we head into the weekend, we’re delighted to be filming something very special for the documentary, which we look forward to sharing with you in next week’s update. With just five days left of our campaign, we’re truly grateful to have raised nearly £11,000 so far. 🙏

Please keep sharing our campaign online to help us reach our goal. ⬇️

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/briefest-encounters-an-untold-love-story #/

Thank you for your support.

Well, yet again the sun shone for us on another filming day for our documentary Briefest Encounters – An Untold Love Sto...
26/09/2025

Well, yet again the sun shone for us on another filming day for our documentary Briefest Encounters – An Untold Love Story. 💜

This week, Joanna and Luke headed back to Carnforth in Lancashire to gather shots at the Brief Encounter Heritage Centre 🚂 and to interview the volunteers. Situated next to the platform is the lovingly preserved Refreshment Room where Laura and Alec’s unforgettable love story began and a museum full of memorabilia from the film.

Brief Encounter was filmed during World War Two and Carnforth was a chosen location because it was considered remote enough to be safe from any attacks. Interestingly, the crew and cast had to shoot between 10pm and 6am so trains could still run through the station during the day. 🎥

The Centre not only recreates the atmosphere of David Lean’s 1945 masterpiece but you really feel like you’ve gone back in time. Visitors can also enjoy sitting in the plush seats of the recently restored miniature cinema where the iconic love story is run throughout the day. 🎞️

But, the museum wouldn’t exist without the volunteers, some of whom have worked there since the Heritage Centre was set up in 2003. The team is led by Robin who also creates extraordinary model railways and that includes one of Carnforth, complete with the cinema showing of course – Brief Encounter!

This week we also hit £10,000 🌟 on our campaign. We are truly grateful for all the support. 💜
 
Please continue to share this story and help us reach our goal.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/briefest-encounters-an-untold-love-story #/
 
Thank you!

A Seaside Town of Memories and Legacy 💜 🌊 Whitstable has become a favourite place for us to visit. This seaside town on ...
19/09/2025

A Seaside Town of Memories and Legacy 💜 🌊

Whitstable has become a favourite place for us to visit.

This seaside town on the north coast of Kent has always been a popular destination for tourists and celebrities alike and is known for its oysters as well as the famous actor Peter Cushing who lived there. 🎭

When Joanna discovered that her grandmother Janet Morrison spent the final years of her life in Whitstable (she went to look after her mother and aunt - actors Zoe and Dora Davis in their dotage) – it became a place that held poignant memories of the long lost relatives she never met.

We went to film 🎥 in Whitstable a few weeks ago and the sun was out and the town full of visitors which lent it a cheerful atmosphere. 🌅

But in truth, it seems that Janet wasn’t as happy to live here as some. She had gone through duty to look after her relatives at the family home of Pear Tree Cottage and by all accounts was planning to go on her travels again. Known as ‘Madame Pear Tree 🌳 – the Lady from the BBC' – she was found dead in her home, alone, at the age of 66.

The cottage which must have given her a measure of sanctuary and the garden, salt air and sea some peace, this was the place where Janet would have reflected on her life and losses. Waiting for things that never quite arrived. 💔

Joanna had the chance to stay at Pear Tree a few years ago when it was a holiday let and she went there with her three children, Skye, Merrick and Sedona and the family dog – a large and rather badly behaved 🐕 Bouvier des Flandres. It was so special for them to be in the former home of their ancestors.

On this occasion Luke captured some beautiful shots of the sea 🎥 and the evening light and we reflected on how Janet would have taken some solace and comfort from these elements when in so many ways her life hadn’t been full of the fun, laughter and opportunities that she must have once hoped for.

With just 19 days left, we are close to reaching £10,000 on our fundraising campaign. We are so grateful for all your support. Please continue to share our fundraiser and help us achieve our goal. ⬇️

https://igg.me/at/briefestencounters/x/38658911 #/

Thank you. 🙏

We’ve been continuing our fundraising efforts this week to bring our story to the big screen and we’ve been setting up m...
12/09/2025

We’ve been continuing our fundraising efforts this week to bring our story to the big screen and we’ve been setting up more interviews. 🎥

One of the most fascinating parts about making a documentary (particularly when it’s about your own family) is how many more stories and characters start to emerge. 💜

We realised that we needed to give a voice to Iris Hoey, Cyril Raymond's first wife. Not only was she a notable actor in her day 🎭 but Cyril had met her when they were in a play together and she ended up marrying him and having their son John Raymond.

I think we had assumed that Cyril’s marriage to Iris had been a mutual parting of the ways but we found some old newspaper cuttings that revealed a very different story. This leading lady of her time had been documented as saying she had never been happier than being at home with her son John and married to Cyril. We discovered that just two months after this article had been published, Cyril was having an affair with actress Janet Morrison when they were in New York in Jew Suss and so it turns out that Iris Hoey became another emotional casualty in this story. 💔

Joanna was also fascinated to discover that her uncle, John Raymond had been a well-known literary critic and journalist in his day and like his niece had worked in Fleet Street and frequented many of the same wine bars some decades before! It was interesting to see how another familial thread was running through the generations. Sedona the actor on stage; Joanna the journalist and broadcaster.

Joanna started ordering any books 📚 she could find written or edited by John and was beyond thrilled when one of the books turned up with his autograph in it. So it is really exciting that we are able to bring even more characters to life and tell their story through our documentary Briefest Encounters.

We are halfway through our funding campaign and are delighted to share that we have raised nearly £10,000. 🥳

Please continue to support us by donating and sharing our campaign ⬇️

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/briefest-encounters-an-untold-love-story #/

05/09/2025

If we could have picked two dream locations for filming our documentary Briefest Encounters it would have been at The Little Theatre Cinema and the Theatre Royal Bath.

Unbelievably, we got to film at both this week!

We took over Screen Two at the Little Cinema where Manager Mason put footage of Joanna’s father Nicholas up on the big screen and she and her actor daughter Sedona reflected on his life and adoption.

Ironically, Nicholas probably went to the cinema to see the film Brief Encounter back in 1945 never realising that he was watching his father on screen. Also, Nic adored drama, acting and films throughout his life.

In the afternoon we relocated to the Theatre Royal Bath. Luke set up his four cameras and monitors on the main stage with help from partner Dan and Henry at the TRB who sorted lighting and props.

It was an extraordinary moment to record how Sedona had literally been treading in the same theatrical footsteps as her great grandparents who had been on that same stage as her decades before.

Cyril Raymond and Janet Morrison had both performed on several occasions at the TRB during their lifetimes and Janet had made a notable performance in Pollyanna and had been celebrated as the ‘youngest leading lady’ of her time.

One hundred years later, almost to the day, Sedona Rose made her acting debut on that same stage when she was 11 years old in the Musical Annie and went on to perform there as a professional actor.

These moments were beautifully captured by award winning Bath artist Ben Hughes who did a series of pen and ink drawings as a memento of the occasion - www.benhughesart.co.uk

For Luke, the day carried its own full-circle significance. He met Sedona when they were both working at the Egg Theatre 14 years ago and she told him about the extraordinary story of her great-grandparents Janet and Cyril. He was later introduced to Joanna and they have been working together ever since but making this documentary is their most important and meaningful work to date.

It was also Luke’s birthday AND our campaign reached £8,000!

Thank you for all your support and please keep sharing our fundraiser.

Address

Bath
BA13AN

Telephone

+447786175284

Website

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/briefest-encounters-an-untold-love-story#/

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