New film by Bradford Movie Makers highlights Vaisakhi parade

Now the film is being screened at one of the city’s Sikh temples, and Dave hopes it will become part of Bradford’s UK City of Culture programme.

Here Dave explains what led to the project...

Vaisakhi is one of the most important dates in the Sikh calendar. It is the Sikh New Year festival and is celebrated on April 13 or 14. It also commemorates 1699 - the year Sikhism was born as a collective faith.

The festival is marked in Bradford with an annual Nagar Kirtan procession through the city centre, starting at the Guru Nanak Gurdawara.

The procession is a highlight of the Bradford Sikh community's year (Image: Dave Marshall)

This was a long project starting in the summer of 2022 when I began planning it for A Bunch of Amateurs (Bafta nominated documentary about Bradford Movie Makers).

I carried out health and safety liaisons with the Bradford Gurdwaras and received an arts grant of £1,500 from Bradford Council to help pay for sound equipment and expenses.

The film was based on my stills project from 2003, when I took photos of the procession in Bradford.

At last year’s procession, everybody turned up to their agreed starting points on time and away we went, starting and ending at the Guru Nanak Gurdwara on Wakefield Road.

The March lasted just over five hours and produced seven hours of footage and sound. All the crew enjoyed the day and were made most welcome by the Bradford Sikh community.

The procession features colourful floats (Image: Dave Marshall)

The post-production was very time-consuming indeed. A shorter version was handed to the council in October 2023.

The version we will see at Guru Gobind will have a Punjabi introduction from Gianni Gurmeet Singh. This version will also be sent to the council.

There are many things I would do differently. I hope to make a better film for Nagar Kirtan 2025 but I would need at least six more crew members to achieve this goal.

I would love to show Nagar Kirtan 2023 and Nagar Kirtan 2025 on Bradford’s Big Screen in our City of Culture Year.

The whole point of the film was to promote Bradford Movie Makers and the Bradford Sikh Community. Throughout making the film we were welcomed and helped by all Bradford Sikhs.

The crew is: Producer: Dave Marshall; Executive Producers: Satpal Chand Joe Singh; Director: Dave Marshall; Edited by Craig Sands; Titles: Craig Sands; Film Crew: Bob Jordan, Ian Eggleston, Craig Sands, Jeremy Norman, Andrew Cockerill, Phil Wainman, Harry Nicolls, Joe Ogden, Ian Simpson, Gary Goldthorpe, Mathew Cockerill, Lydia.

Sound: Judith Simpson and Ed Davies; Travelling Liaison: Jim Walker; Crew Transport/ Drivers: Dave Marshall and Ian Simpson; Budget and Financial Facilitator: Andrew Cockerill

* The film will be showing at Guru Gobind Singh Gurdwara in Bradford Sunday, April 7 at 1pm.