SILENT VILLAGE

In 1943, the film-maker Humphrey Jennings was invited by the government to make a film in honour of the miners of Lidice, a village in Czechoslovakia destroyed by the Nazis. His chosen location was a similar Welsh mining community, the village of Cwmgiedd in the Swansea Valley. Jennings didn’t use actors; instead, the villagers performed in the film. As a son of Cwmgiedd, Ed Thomas takes a look at the village and the legacy of the film fifty years on. Directed by Ed and Marc Evans, it was broadcast on BBC1 in December 1994 as part of the BBC Wales “Statements” series.