Brett Gregory, writer and director of the recent short film adaptation of Franz Kafka’s ‘Before the Law’, which was shot in Rivington and Bolton, has released the trailer for his biographical documentary about 76-year-old Bolton-based poet Peter Street.
It features the cairns at Winter Hill, the waterfall at Tiger’s Clough, as well as St. Mary the Virgin’s Church.
It explores the Irish writer’s astonishing life as a slaughterhouse worker, a gravedigger, a Croatian War poet and a BBC writer-in-residence alongside the challenges of living with both autism and epilepsy.
“The public interest generated by Franz Kafka’s ‘Before the Law’ which we shot at the Old Magistrates Court on Le Mans Crescent and at Pigeon Tower in Rivington,” Brett enthuses, “has been incredible.”
“Not only has the film been officially selected by FICIMAD 2025, an important international film festival in Madrid, it is also being taught as a part of a degree module in ‘Independent British Cinema’ at London Metropolitan University.”
Peter said: ‘I read on LinkedIn that Brett and his cinematographer, Gwyn Hemmings, had recently delivered a filmmaking masterclass to students at Bolton College based on their Kafka film.
“So I contacted Brett to see if he would be interested in adapting a gothic novel that I’ve written called ‘Killer on the Loose’. The next day, however, he replied that he would rather produce a documentary about me instead!”
Brett said: “Peter’s life story is utterly unique and essential.
“I read previous interviews with him in The Guardian newspaper from 2016 and in Bolton News from 2021, and discovered that, as well as living with autism and epilepsy, he shattered his spine in 1982. And yet he still carried on, writing and publishing five collections of poetry and a memoir over the years.
“My mind was immediately made up. We paused our work on Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Tell-Tale Heart’, and began filming ‘The Art of Autism with Peter Street’ at a residential property on Glade Street in Bolton on February 11th.
“Similar to my adaptation of Franz Kafka’s ‘Before the Law’ and my debut feature film, ‘Nobody Loves You and You Don’t Deserve to Exist’, this documentary will explore the life and times of a working-class man in Greater Manchester who is trying to survive on the margins of British society.
“Hopefully, it will be embraced by those whose lives have been affected by autism in one or another.”
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Brett said: “I only moved to Bolton in 2023. I learned a lot about the borough while shooting my film adaptation of Franz Kafka’s ‘Before the Law’ but not nearly enough.
“Fortunately, during my research for this project, I came across Landscape Britain, a brilliant website which is run by enthusiast Andy Blundell, who, coincidentally, also lives in Bolton.
“Over the years he’s photographed and catalogued a multitude of UK heritage buildings and sites of outstanding natural beauty and, following an email exchange, he gave me all the information I needed, free of charge, to start planning the production.”
The 45 minute documentary, Autism and the Arts: Poetry with Peter Street, explores the life and work of the local poet who was diagnosed with autism when he was 66 years old.
“Peter messaged me on LinkedIn because I have ‘working-class’ in my bio,” Brett continues. “He’d also heard about my Franz Kafka film being a part of Bolton Town of Culture last year, and things took off from there.
“I discovered that, as well as having epilepsy and undiagnosed autism, he’d worked as a slaughterman, a gravedigger and a war poet during the Bosnian-Croatian conflict during the 1990s.
And I thought to myself: ‘What an incredible life story!’”
The trailer also features a recitation of a poem by the 19th century working-class poet, John Clare, and this is narrated by Peter Firth, treasurer for the Bolton-based community-based arts organisation, Live from Worktown.
Brett explains: “Julia Uttley, who’s the chairperson for Live from Worktown, attended a screening of ‘Before the Law’ at Bolton Library and Museum last October. She was really impressed by it, and interviewed me on behalf of Bolton FM.
Peter Street
“I wanted the documentary to be as authentic as possible, and so I contacted her because I knew it was crucial to have a narrator with a genuine Boltonian accent. She then suggested Peter Firth to me, and he’s amazing: earthy, lyrical and honest.”
With the documentary now complete the producers have launched a GoFundMe campaign so they can hire and screen the film at The Light Cinema in Bolton, The Film Factory in Leigh and HOME in Manchester.
Brett Gregory and Gwyn Hemmings with Tom Martin Head of Community Learning at Bolton College (002).jpg
“Then we can have in-person screenings,” Brett adds, “hold Q&As with the audience, and help raise awareness about the important relationship between autism, the arts, and the working-class in the north of England.
“Within five hours of the launch we raised £200, which is amazing.’
The GoFundMe page for Brett Gregory’s ‘Autism and the Arts: Poetry with Peter Street’ documentary can be found at https://www.gofundme.com/f/76-year-old-workingclass-poet-with-autism-needs-your-help?
