The Brief
Imprint Films was founded after John completed a 13 month project travelling around the UK and over to the US interviewing 69 people from his Dad’s life for a 2 hour documentary feature film to surprise him for his (big) birthday in November 2019. From the first moments of the company, John and Luke were both excited by the documentary genre, and the power of simple, emotive storytelling. Approaching the 18 month mark of the business, they wanted to return to these founding principles, so reached out to everyone who contributed to John’s Dad’s film in November 2024 to see if anyone had any gatherings of friends or family coming up. Manchester football historian Gary James reached straight back….
The Pitch
Gary had spent many years gathering research on the Manchester Corinthians - a pioneering women's football team founded in 1948/49, who flouted the conventions of society and even a nationwide FA ban on women playing football, in place since 1921. The team went on to great success over a 40 year period, raising hundreds of thousands of pounds for charity, and playing to sold out crowds across Europe and South America, with many of the team members becoming instrumental in the foundations of the women's game in the UK. Gary, in advance of his book 'Manchester Corinthians: The Authorised History' being released in December 2024, was hosting a reunion of as many members of the Corinthians and their friends and family at The Etihad Stadium; some of which hadn't seen each other for decades. We knew we had to be there with our cameras....So with just one week’s notice, we put into place all relevant permissions, equipment as well as conducting a full location recce at the stadium to ensure that we could capture these wonderful stories, whilst maintaining a non-invasive presence as the women reconnected with each other.
Having had no intention of creating a ‘piece’…once we heard their stories, we knew we had to. And ‘Oh What A Team’ (a line from the Corinthians official team song) was born…as some small tribute to these incredible women, truly deserving of their place in history.
The TEAM
Director - JOHN TUEART (@johntueart)DOP - LUKE HEARNE-BROWN (@lukehearnebrowndop)Cam Op - COLIN LEWIN (@colin_lewin)Second AC - LUKE DENNEY-WELSH (@lukedw.film)Interviewer - LUCY-ANN TUEARTHistorian - GARY JAMES
Shot - December 2024
Location - The Etihad Stadium, Manchester
Delivered - December 2024
From the moment we first discussed the idea of capturing the reunion I’d organised for The Corinthians, Imprint Films were an absolute joy to work with. They fully understood the significance of what was needed, and recognised the need for a sensitive and supportive environment.
John, Luke and the Imprint team approached this project with real sensitivity and an extremely high level of professionalism. They interviewed former footballers, many in their 80s and 90s, and no matter what their age, they felt comfortable and respected. Some of them had not had a particularly warm experience with other media interviews - but I needn’t have worried.
Imprint added significantly to the experience and one who was interviewed felt that Imprint allowed her to bring forward positive memories and experiences that had been hidden or overlooked for decades.
Through John and Luke’s hard, passionate work, the result was considerably better than any of us envisioned and really was worthy of the Corinthians’ status and achievements. The film gained positive comments from film archives, members of the public, and most importantly, the women featured.
Imprint are a wonderful team of talented filmmakers - they absolutely delivered on a film of true excellence and I would highly recommend them. More significantly they worked wonders and can be trusted to deliver remarkable projects.
THE Film
CLIENT TESTIMONIAL
Gary James, Manchester Football Historian and Event Organiser
