Why the film 'Everybody to Kenmure Street' is an inspiration to all
After surviving Christmas, Janet Christie is looking forward to Everybody To Kenmure Street by the filmmaker behind Nae Pasaran. Both films highlight the very real difference that ordinary people can make to the world
January, best month of the year, with the banishment of all the decs to the box in the shed (yes, we love you Christmaaasss, but bye now) and a whole 11 tinsel-free months to explore fresh possibilities.
I don’t do resolutions but inadvertently started Dry January, having foregone my customary dram at The Bells as I watched the fireworks from the park because I was going clubbing – start the year as you mean to go on – and was the designated driver, plus I don’t really drink anyway, my New Year dram being for Auld Lang Syne.
So not resolutions but inspiration, and since top among my festive gifts were two books from my kids, I will read more, scroll less. One book is on Trump, trade wars and economic crisis, which I’ve started but Venezuela and Greenland in week one of 2026 have given me the fear so I’ve turned to the second, Positivity For Every Day: Simple Tips and Inspiring Quotes to Help You Look on the Bright Side.
Old Me on receipt: ‘Humph, thank you, cheeky wee *****” New Year Me: “DO WHAT YOU CAN WITH WHAT YOU HAVE, WHERE YOU ARE” (AND USE CAPITAL LETTERS IN PASTEL TONES AT ALL TIMES).
Teddy bears and Sesame Street
Don’t thank me, thank Theodore Roosevelt, who the book says said it, although who knows. And not the pastels bit, with which the pages of my book are splattered, the words in friendly curvy fonts, but Roosevelt did keep the White House Green Room green.
That might have been wife Edith who did the redesign and was pleasingly endowed with the middle name Kermit. Never mind the Trust Busting, Square Deal, national parks and Nobel Peace Prize, for the teddy bears and Sesame Street alone we salute you.
I’ll also be cinema-bound, first for Hamnet, starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal. Maggie O’Farrell’s book is awesome and I’m hoping ditto the film.
The spirit of Nae Pasaran
The announcement that next month’s Glasgow Film Festival is kicking off with the documentary Everybody to Kenmure Street, about how protestors stopped two Sikh men being taken away by immigration officers in 2021, should be an inspiration to everyone.
I was once at a party in Edinburgh where someone with a guitar was singing in the big room, someone else was reading their poetry in the kitchen and a guy called Felipe was showing his half-made, crowd-sourced film in a bedroom.
Sitting cross-legged on the floor, we were riveted by the story of the East Kilbride Rolls Royce factory workers’ role in the fight against Pinochet's regime in 1970s Chile, an illustration of the difference ordinary people in Scotland can make to global events. Felipe Bustos Sierra got his film funded and Nae Pasaran went on to win a Bafta. Maybe Everybody To Kenmure Street can do the same.
“Oh yeah”, says my Glaswegian friend when I tell her about the documentary, “I was watching that happening in real time on my phone that day, that’s brilliant.”
Real lives, real people making a difference, in real life. Here’s to more of that in 2026.
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