Episode 80
November 7 , 2019
80. In New York with Film-Maker Will Francome; US Prisons, Kenyan Orphanages, Arctic Ice Caves and Norwegian Poo
We’re in Brooklyn with documentary maker Will Francome talking about filming on location worldwide and everything from capital punishment, the American criminal justice system, the people who get let off death row, orphanages in Kenya, standing knee deep in sh*t for hours in Norway, ice caves in the Arctic, Thai Kick Boxing, racism, cocaine, pizza, rats carrying slices of pizza and the town in Nebraska with a population of one person. A wonderfully enjoyable insight into the world of a documentary maker with Will Francome.
On this episode we cover:
Pledging allegiance to the US at 6 days old
Living between the US and the UK
Growing up English and American
Being the unaccompanied minor on the plane
Feeling both an outsider and an insider
Working at a homeless charity leading to documentary making
Colin Firth and Livia Firth getting involved
Documentaries about the death penalty
The American criminal justice system and capital punishment
Anti-death penalty activist Clive Stafford-Smith on The Big Travel Podcast
Travelling to death row in Pennsylvania
Driving across America in an RV to interview people who had been let off death row for One For Ten
His new film The Penalty on Amazon
Finding how the same things; racism, bad forensics, corrupt police…playing into every single case of mistaken convictions on death row
How the US is great…except for capital punishment, guns, healthcare and racism
People in prison for non-violent drug offences
The US being the most likely country in the world to imprison
‘A massive rush to over-incarcerate’
100 times more prison time for crack cocaine than powder cocaine
the racialising of the US criminal justice system
Built in racism in the US criminal justice system
Monowi in Nebraska with a population of one person (!)
The beauty and contrasting US landscape
Working for BBC travel, BBC2, Crimebusters
Working from everywhere from New York to the Arctic
Having to turn down a gig in Chile to standing in sh*t for hours in Norway
The unusual story of Svalbard in the Arctic
The Svalbard Treaty sharing between 80 countries
Touring ice caves with his Arctic explorer mate
The moonscape light in the Alaskan mountains in the middle of winter
Recent filming in Kenya, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Nigeria…
Feeling happiest in South East Asia
Visiting Thai Kick Boxing gyms all over Thailand
Being so happy to be beaten up in the ring
Absolutely loving Africa
Making a film about the pitfalls of orphanages in Kenya
How tourists paying to visit orphanages can be traumatic to the children
Travelling around with armed guards
Many children in orphanages having a living parent
The pressures of documentary makers to being impartial and portray truth
Living in Brooklyn; noise, honking cars, museums, bars and pizza
The food being the best thing
Apartments being too small to cook in
How months of snow can drive you crazy
NYC being a visual feast for film-makers
The spectacular feeling of arriving in Manhattan from Long Island
New York in the 1980s being a more dangerous place
Manhattan losing its crown to areas like Brooklyn
The pros and cons of gentrification
New York having become a shockingly expensive city
Being shocked by more homogenous areas in American
Flushing in Queens having more nationalities than anywhere else on earth
Being able to eat a different type of restaurant every night of the year
Avoiding the bin rats
Loving going to the Mets with his brother, taking the ferry from Brooklyn to Manhattan and having the best pizza in the world
Being happiest with a slice of pizza and a dive bar
Lisa loving coming up with New York Songs (Living for the City, Across 110th Street, Nights on Broadway)
How Manu Chao captures the international travelling spirit
