I usually travel far and wide as a foreign correspondent and end up in some pretty uncomfortable situations, so it was a delight to work on ‘Weave of Time’ where most of the shoot took place a few hundred yards away from my front door. I got to know the village of Cotignac intimately and its fascinating history. Although I’ve had a small fruit farm here for the last fourteen years, there have been long absences in places like Baghdad and Afghanistan, Jerusalem and Johannesburg.
Since I helped set up a tv station in Georgia with my wife Melanie and the former BBC Moscow correspondent Rob Parsons, I have finally managed to plant some deep personal roots in Provence. The cameraman and editor whom I chose for the film last worked with me in Eastern Ukraine covering the rebel positions near the border with Russia. We all found working together in Cotignac a delight in comparison!
My wife has been crafting documentaries for most of her life. I have been in television news. We decided we had to start working together for once in our lives, so we set up a production company here called Quince Media. The name was chosen as a tribute to the village. Cotignac means quince paste in France. It’s delicious. Like living here!