Diane Tammes and I first met in 1977, when I was the BBC producer of an Open Door public access film campaigning to save the Other Cinema in London from closure. Working alongside the independent film-makers Marc Karlin and Stephen Dwoskin, who both had very different aesthetic approaches, Diane’s contribution as cameraperson was crucial.
This was not just because of the excellent quality of her shooting, but because of her tactful, constructive involvement in deciding the shape and purpose of the film. Beyond defending the Other Cinema as a venue screening radical and experimental independents and foreign films, our documentary for BBC Two challenged the politically conservative and aesthetically barren ethos of orthodox television. A particularly telling shot tracked through an empty Nationwide studio set.
Sadly the Other Cinema was forced to close between the first screening of our film and the repeat less than a week later. But that was through no fault of Diane’s.
