Filmmaker buoyed by positive feedback for dive documentary
The local diver and filmmaker who found a historic First World War wreck in waters near the island has continued to learn more about those who were onboard after the film had an international release this year.
Karl Taylor said he received positive feedback from locals and viewers from further afield since the release of his documentary the Hunt for Lady Olive and the German Submarine.
The documentary aired on the BBC for the first time in October after four sold-out screenings at Beau Sejour earlier in the year.
‘It took a while for the BBC to decide when to air it as they wanted to do it after the Olympics and everything else going on over the summer,’ said Mr Taylor.
‘Since then we have had lots of emails with good feedback and have had from people across Europe and France get in touch who had a connection.
‘We had two sets of people whose relatives were crew members.
‘It has been interesting to hear more about the crew.’
Mr Taylor received a photo from the German War Graves Commission on behalf of the nephew of a crew member from the German submarine.
‘Before we went diving we had never seen a picture of the crew and it was always quite haunting thinking about the submariners down there, and having seen the picture it is still quite haunting,’ he said.
‘It has been interesting getting to learn more about the crew members.’
The documentary is set to be aired by the BBC three times a year for three years. It is available on BBC iPlayer as well as Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video.
‘On Apple TV it is the 75-minute version and the one that the BBC shows is only the 60-minute version, so in the Apple TV one there is a bit more,’ said Mr Taylor.
He said that it was a worry for him when the documentary was shown, because while the feedback from the Beau Sejour screenings was positive, he did not know whether it would appeal to a wider audience.
‘It was popular with locals because of the connection, but I questioned whether it would have a global appeal,’ he said.
‘It has a nice ending though, it has a good build up and then a nice conclusion because we had found it. Sometimes with documentaries like this they don’t always find what they are looking for or an answer, so it was a good end.’
Mr Taylor hopes that the documentary will now be shown in other countries that have a link to the story.
‘We may see it on other TV stations in different countries,’ he said.
‘It was a brilliant project to work on, regardless of the feedback, and we would have still done the project, but then it would have been an untold story.’
