Pomona Island
We're very proud to present Pomona Island, a new documentary by GG's award winning film-maker George Haydock. Pomona Island gives insight into an often ignored but well loved area of Manchester city centre. As with his previous film Concrete Sleep George takes on a subject that in less talented hands would be dry and sterile and injects it with emotion and a sense of awe. The film was premiered by the consistently fascinating Skyliner blog whose creator Hayley Flynn (who is featured in the film) asked George a few questions about the film: "Why Pomona Island?
George Haydock: "What fascinated me about Pomona Island is that somehow, through the cracks of hyper-development and regeneration, here lies a totally unmanaged, largely un-used and unnoticed area of land, over a mile in length, just quietly sitting a stones-throw from both Manchester and Salford. It just exists in a strange limbo between its former industrial use, and it’s inevitable destruction and future development. It’s existed in this limbo for 41 years, since the Docks closed. At first glance it does look a mess. However, take a closer look and you’ll see beauty in the chaos. It might seem like wasteland, but it carries a wealth of cultural, environmental, political, historical and philosophical implications. When I began researching it became clear that there is a very niche but varied fan-club of Pomona Island and spaces of a similar nature. I found this range of perspectives fascinating. Many implications and discussions can be drawn from this piece of land – and most people don’t even notice or realise it is there."
What do you hope to achieve by bringing Pomona to the public eye?
GH: "The Island is home to many biologically rare and important flora and fauna. It’s teeming with life and nature. If the development happens, it will be tragic. Hopefully this film will encourage people to go and take a look around while it still exists.
And of course, Peel. As it stands they seem to produce a report every half a year or so with new development plans for the area. The film however, is not political in its intent, making only one reference to Peel. My main intention was to capture the essence of this unusual space, to glorify it, live with it and let it dwell for while. I wanted to celebrate the areas state of limbo – and see it with open eyes.
A lot of people who look at the space see and feel nothing, they might see this film and think it’s trivial, but in a way that tension is what interested me. The film is ultimately an attempt to challenge and cause friction against most people’s perspective. For me, film should speak at an intuitive level – and this is what I aimed to do with Pomona Island."