I have faith in all you blues

Film submission for the screening of 'An Act of Faith' (1962), October 2020, Coventry. ‘A contemporary dance and music film created by Edgar, inspired by Robin Whitworth's script and John Read's beautiful colour cinematography in ‘An Act of Faith’. Edgar's film continues the proposition of the title of the film and is derived from the saying, 'I have faith in all you do', changing the word 'do' to 'blues' to represent Coventry's unique blue, but also all the blue tones of our sadness as well as the insignia of Coventry people. The film starts by entering a place of peace and reconciliation at the Great West Window, seeking the relationship between the body and the architecture of Sir Basil Spence. The camera dances with the dancer, inviting the viewer to feel the human connection to the symbolic artistry of the Cathedral. The dance marinates in the music, capturing a modern expression of place, space and time. There is something quite forgiving about how the body expresses itself through dance in the Cathedral, and like the theme of the Coventry Cathedral, atonement, sacrifice and resurrection, the dance and music do the same. The blue satin dress ravels along the stones 'Tablets of the Word' by Ralph Beyer, and the feet move by the colours of the beautiful stained-glass windows by John Piper and Keith New. We see our blue-ribbon fly and weave past the Graham Sutherland tapestry, 'Christ in Glory in the Tetramorph'. The film ends with the merciful scenes of the dancer in front of the striking gold mosaic of 'Byzantine'-inspired angel, by Stephen Sykes, taking you through to the Chapel of Industry. Then we blow the candle out to meet another peaceful day.