In March 2025, John and the team were approached to capture an epic 80th birthday celebration across a 2 and a half day event attended by around 80 guests.

For a company founded on the principles of a film for John’s Dad’s 70th birthday…this seemed ‘meant to be’.

The twist? It was taking place in July in the South of France….

Imprint Films were taking on their first ever foreign shoot.

The client was after a completely non-invasive presence, resulting in a series of clips summing up the excitement, the location and mainly the spirit of the event.

There was a 3 course dinner taking place under a marquee on the first evening, in addition to a live band and dancing in to the early hours. This was followed on Day 2 with wine tasting and another big meal with games and speeches in honour of the birthday boy. And who could forget a choreographed group dance for all guests as one, inspired by Nicole Kidman’s Netflix Show ‘The Perfect Couple’.

While no set deadline was given, Imprint Films agreed with the client to complete by the back end of the Summer.

We set to work….

Shot - July 2025

Location - Goult, France

Delivered - Aug 2025

The Brief

The PITCH

We set about planning the trip in fine detail, with main conversations and work around the completion of the carnet (an international customs document for the uninitiated!). Every item of camera and sound equipment had to be individually itemised in order to cross the border - but now arriving safely home with no single complication on any of the four border crossings - it was a job well done!

In terms of telling Mike’s story through the footage we had, we put into practice what wey had learnt on numerous projects, specifically the Manchester Corinthians documentary, and filleted through numerous speeches picking ‘nuggets’ of information and storytelling that could feed the overall narrative.

This resulted in a 15 minute piece, to music, summarising all elements of the event, and crafting a lasting tribute to a long life well led.

Director / Producer - JOHN TUEART (@johntueart)

Production Asst. - CALLUM ATHERTON (@callum.atherton.producer)

DOP - LUKE HEARNE-BROWN (@lukehearnebrowndop)

Editor - LUKE HEARNE-BROWN (@lukehearnebrowndop)

Colourist - LUKE HEARNE-BROWN (@lukehearnebrowndop)

Post-Sound - MARTYN ELLIS (@ellisaudio)

Additional equipment - Media Dog Hire (@media_dog_hire), Martyn Ellis and Colin Lewin (@colin_lewin)