This short film, Berinsfield for Berinsfieldians', directed by Samuel Mansell, was created in collaboration with local residents — capturing their stories, experiences, and the spirit of everyday life in the village.
Watch Berinsfield for Berinsfieldians' on YouTube
Samuel Mansell is a documentary filmmaker and community facilitator from Oxford. With extensive experience across music, media, and youth work, his work now focuses on telling underrepresented stories of community triumph, hope, and shining a light on issues that matter to everyday people. His credits include commissions from BBC Arts, Adobe, Warner Music, and SoHo House.
When speaking about the project, Samuel shared:
“The project was inspired by an open call-out commission put up by Fusion Arts and South Oxfordshire District Council to create a project engaging with the Berinsfield community. The film was initially a side project that ended up taking over my life for a couple months and I was lucky enough to spend a lot of time in the community with people. The more I learned the more I wanted to capture!”
Reflecting on his experience working with the local community, he added:
“‘Berinsfield for Berinsfieldian’s’ seemed like a fitting title, for a rural’ish community, I thought it could be a place outsiders were shunned and the locals were cliquey. Oh how I was wrong! I felt ignorant as soon as I spent any time there, realising people were friendlier than most places and more welcoming than many communities I’d made films with before. The work I made was really acting as a documentarian, capturing what was already going on in the area in a fly-on-the-wall style with little to no direction.”
To see more of Samuel’s work, visit dropallwordsmedia.com, follow @dropallwords or Drop All Words Media on Facebook, and find him on Instagram or LinkedIn at @samuel_mansell.
