Just a quick note on the epic ride from 20 second clips to my two minute plus short film.

So, my kids are currently learning about World War I, and one of them will soon visit the sites in France and Belgium where the 1914 Christmas Truce and the legendary football match took place. That story, of soldiers briefly laying down arms to kick a ball around in No Man’s Land, always struck a deep chord with me but my kids didn’t know the story. The image of the German and British soldiers stretching across enemy lines to shake hands, captured in the statue “All Together Now” by Andy Edwards (after a The Farm song) in Liverpool, inspired the first scene of this short.

At the same time as the WW1 focus was going on I was mixing a song I recorded years ago with my family called Don’t Count the Love—recorded live in New England with our kids (then just 4 and 6), friends, and bluegrass players. The song was written to be simple and lighthearted, because it had to be something the kids could sing and feel. It was a little Woodstock in spirit—full of love, spontaneity, and the joy of singing together. The setting, no-mans land, and this hippie ballad somehow worked together.  

By the end, I found myself wondering how people would react. Would they find it moving or scandalous or be interested to know more? Perhaps utter ambivalence? I asked the kids and the eldest said “Dad you made it with a good heart so it will be fine”. True.

The technology has improved so quickly that making a short like this wouldn’t have been possible 4 months ago. And I hope, even in its imperfection, it lands as a quiet moment of reflection for you.

As ‘What’s Happening Brother’ by Marvin Gaye put it “War is hell. When will it end”

Because in the end, those who are lost to war were all part of a family—someone’s father, someone’s daughter, someone’s home.