SEASIDE SPECIAL is a love letter to Brexit Britain: a consciously warm-hearted look at Britain’s only remaining “End-of-the-Pier” variety show – far away from London – as the town of Cromer and the cast prepare for the 2019 summer season.
The film portrays a town from a different time, full of quintessentially British types, but which also offers a highly topical outlook: It’s about attitude, craftsmanship, and authenticity. It’s about community and values, about the humor of our British neighbors, their originality, and their quirks – which we as Europeans will sorely miss.
Seaside Special
Jens Meurer
Born in Nuremberg. Worked as a regional journalist and photographer at the Rand Daily Mail in South Africa. Studied at Oxford University, at the Sciences Po University in Paris, and at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Active as director and producer.
1989 NO PARKING, NO STANDING, NO KIDDING, Kurzfilm
1989 HARLEM – A DREAM DEFERRED, Kurzfilm
1992 BEYOND THE KREMLIN WALLS, Serie
1993 BRUDERMORD IM KAUKASUS, Fernsehdokumentarfilm
IM OSTEN WAS NEUES, Fernsehserie
1994 KRAFTWERK DER LEIDENSCHAFT / PASSION FACTORY, Dokumentarfilm
VIVA STALIN, Kurzfilm
1995 UKRAINE – LAND AN DER GRENZE, Dokumentar-Serie
1996 EGOLI: MY SOUTH AFRICAN HOME MOVIE, Dokumentarfilm
1998 JECKES, Dokumentarfilm
1999 PUBLIC ENEMY, Dokumentarfilm
2000 JECKES 7, TV-Portraitreihe
2019 ZAUBERBERG / MAGIC MOUNTAIN, Fernsehfilm
2020 AN IMPOSSIBLE PROJECT, Dokumentarfilm
SEASIDE SPECIAL, Dokumentarfilm HOF 2021
“There is a reason I called SEASIDE SPECIAL 'a love letter' and not just 'a film by…', and that reason is: I am upset. As a
European with close ties to Britain who also believes in “Europe”, I feel like a jilted lover. I am just angry and frustrated by the whole crazy Brexit thing. And I’ve had enough of idiotic populism and division politics. I had to do something about it. And that something became a very personal documentary film about… everything I love about Britain. SEASIDE SPECIAL became my rejoinder. Not a political documentary, but instead a defiantly convivial, colorful, passionate missive by a fellow European – with full-on singing and dancing. My reaction to the sense of community I experienced in Cromer, the very antidote to populism. It’s all about things being better together.”