Swings &
Roundabouts

Thrown out of his house in LA, Nigel rediscovers some old cine film from his childhood and decides to make a nostalgic trip home in search of his estranged father

Cast

Gordon Peaston

Nigel

Mariah Nonnemacher

Roni

Ralph Davis

Dad

Cast

In order of appearance:

Nigel

Gordon Peaston

Roni

Mariah Nonnemacher

Dad

Ralph Davis

Crew

Created by

Alex Sultoon

1st AD

Stephen Gates

Props

Keeley Hire

Vintage Footage

Joan Davis

Film Processing

Cinelab London

Tech

Runtime

3 mins 25 secs

Camera

Nizo 156 Macro

Format

Super 8 Kodak Vision3 200T

Ratio

4:3

Production Dates

18 March 2018

Completion Date

26 March 2018

Sound Mix

Stereo

Swings & Roundabouts is the first of 3 films made for the Straight 8 challenge - in which the rules are to make a film on 1 reel of Super 8 with no retakes, no editing and a blind soundtrack sent in without seeing the finished film. All edits have to be made in camera by simply starting and stopping the motor and hopefully with enough planning, timing and sheer luck, the film will come out ok!
The story was inspired by finding my own family cine film, which was projected and filmed for the actual film, using the original park location. My grandfather who was in the original film also features at the end.

Hollywood player Nigel is turfed out of his LA home by his glamorous partner and his his bags unceremoniously thrown at him out the front. He finds a vacant room somewhere and goes through his belongings, finding an old projector and his family cine films. He watches an old movie of him and his family playing on the swings and roundabouts in a park back home, many years ago. He resolves to fly home and retrace his steps in the park, now thick with snow. He then finds his old house and knocks, but is about to leave when nobondy answers. To his relief, his elderly father answers the door.

Selected for the Straight 8 London premieres in 2018, Swings & Roundabouts first screened in front of a packed audience at the National Film Theatre in the British Film Institute in London. It went on to screen at the TweetFest Film Festival in London and was nominated for Best Music and the Jury Award at the Milan International Film Festival 2018 and the Austin Micro Film Festival 2019 in the USA.

Gallery

Music

Alex Sultoon Films · Swings & Roundabouts

Swings & Roundabouts Lyrics

Dreams of gold may turn to dust
For no reason or no rhyme
Out in the cold, your life’s a bust
A scapegoat for their crime

You draw your breath and put on your brave face
Once more unto the breach, dear friend
But love’s like death, you’ll never win in this race
Time’s up trying to pretend

Some things never change
On the swings and roundabouts of life
Some things never change
On the swings and roundabouts of life

Looking back I just hurt myself
So I never even tried
But I’m so off track now with such a wealth
Of ghosts that never died

Round and round like a wagon wheel
Fallin’ down a one way track
My senses drowned I don’t know how to feel
I’ve got to find my direction back

Some things never change
On the swings and roundabouts of life
Some things never change
On the swings and roundabouts of life

Though the world keeps turning faster
I’m looking for a way to rewind
To turn the tide and put the past
Behind

Walking along down memory lane
Is something I swore I’d never do
But I’m not so strong that I don’t know the pain
I caused you

So here I am a lonely stranger
A figment in my own life story
To be a better man the only danger
Is putting love behind glory

Some things never change
On the swings and roundabouts of life
Some things never change
On the swings and roundabouts of life