Nick Gifford ~ Filmmaker

“His work has to do with precision of understanding and portrayal, humour in both, and fellowship as an ideal.” Peter Sainsbury

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THE SELLING OF MONTY RACHMANINOFF (1971)


The selling of a bull from preparation to auction.


” One of the few films able to contain epic implications within a few hundred feet of shrewdly exposed and edited stock.”  PETER SAINSBURY

THE SELLING OF MONTY RACHMANINOV…


This was my first film in colour. By now I had an ARRIFLEX ST 16mm CAMERA (very noisy) and a NAGRA 3 recorder.


By the end of filming I had bought a much used ARRIFLEX 16mm BL (silent) camera from Adrian Cowell, which Roy Swift rebuilt for me on his kitchen table in Amersham. He was a superb mechanic.


Eventually I lost touch with him – but visited years later when Eli was fifteen months old and Judy very pregnant with Tilly. A delighted Roy carried Eli around.


My parents had a tiny slate cottage in Breconshire. An amazing landscape, I got to know the shy local farmer, Glynn Richards. Living with his old mother, this was a fast disappearing way of life. Monty Rachmaninov was a very gentle bull.


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(Playing time 29 minutes)