Conversations for Kate — a Listening Matters podcast Thursdays at 10 on Water Waves Radio.

This week: Katie Brown.

Katie Brown never set out to be a councillor. She was working at the council when she was made redundant — and instead of walking away from the town she loves, she stood for election. She's now one of sixteen unpaid Dartmouth town councillors, and she isn't yet forty.

She sits down with Julia and Stephen for a warm, unhurried conversation about what it actually takes to make a difference in a small coastal town — and about how hard it is to be heard. Dartmouth's three layers of council, the business rates people shout at her about in the street, a council meeting where one person turned up, and Facebook threads of a hundred and fifty angry comments with nobody in the room. Katie is honest about all of it, and clear about the one thing that would change everything: people talking to her.

Along the way there's ceramics and social activism, the film studio that grew out of Southwest Cork, the cameraman everyone calls Nick the Hat who has quietly built a creative network nobody knew was here, and a new radio drama called Hope Bridge that the town itself will help write. There's an invitation to the schools, and a plan to bring the council into the conversation.

And, as ever, the five questions — ending on the hardest one of all: what do you love about yourself?

Conversations for Kate is made for one listener. She's a woman in her forties who used to make things, who knew exactly who she was, and who has spent years looking after everyone else instead. She isn't short of motivation. She's tired, and she's quietly stopped believing the spark is still in there. So we don't tell her what to do. We bring her someone who's been somewhere near it — a filmmaker, a farmer, a lad who's just started out in our studio — and after each answer we bring it back to Kate. Not advice. Recognition.

Not therapy. Not coaching. Just listening properly for forty minutes, without anyone telling her to try harder.

Listen at waterwavesradio.net, or wherever you get your podcasts. No notes needed — just press play when you have a moment.

• Website: waterwavesmedia.org
• More about Listening Matters: listeningmatters.me

This episode: Stephen and Julia sit down with Felix Wood — a barista, singer-songwriter, and astrophysics graduate who walked away from a "safe" future to build a life around what matters most to him: happiness, creativity, and friendship.

Same five questions we ask every guest. A completely different life. Same honesty.

Felix talks openly about difficult times, what he learned, and the small steps he takes daily toward music, collaboration, and connection — instead of the corporate path he was expected to follow.

If you're watching your own teen or young adult wrestle with who they are — this conversation might open a door at home too.

Listening Matters — designed listening that changes behaviour, 35+ years in the making.

• Website: waterwavesmedia.org
• More about Listening Matters: listeningmatters.me

I can only describe Caroline Corrie, the maker of the movie Shalborne, an absolute star. She is determidly taking on the closed door world of filmmaking by creating incredible art. Shalborne is a must see and in the Actors Studio at the Flavel we were delighted to listen and learn. If you are interested in film and performance art this is a must. Recorded at the Flavel with Actor Studio Dartmouth members Noah Langley and Jude Marsh, Juila and I were honoured to host such a group of incredible people, determined to deliver art and determined to learn how to do it. I hope you enjoy this programme. "I miss who I used to be." If you've thought it — this one's for you. Caroline Corrie trained at RADA, stopped dead when her children came, and years later made a feature film. Not with more time. With five questions. Conversations for Kate — a Listening Matters podcast. This week on WaterWaves Radio, and wherever you get your podcasts. No notes needed. Just listen.

DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT

I love a historical drama. And I am drawn to the early 20th century. My grandfather was born in 1901, my upbringing was founded on Victorian values, I love the art, literature and fashion of the time. I’m nostalgic for a life before machines and the world before the two world wars. I find this most recent history enables me to understand the origins of our exponential progress into post, post modern life.
‍
1905 and the Bloody Sunday Massacre in Saint Petersburg became the starting point for my story as a pivotal moment in the modernisation of Europe and the decline of traditional and patriarchal institutions. How might this period of revolution and social change impact an individual? Might it inspire an Edwardian woman, isolated by marriage and restricted by society to take action against her tyrannical husband and launch her own personal revolution against the conventions of her time?

In this retrospective look at the life of a woman fighting oppression I found universal relevance. The courage required to change a situation, however grave, is something everyone can relate to and at the time of writing, I was overwhelmed by stories of refugees fleeing warzones, travelling huge distances with their elderly relatives and children with nowhere to go and nothing but hope to push them forward. In spite of her class, my protagonist, Helen, is as powerless as a refugee, her sexuality her only weapon. By pushing against the injustice of established order she becomes disenfranchised, homeless and wholly dependent on the kindness of others. She moves from one vulnerable state to another.

I wanted to set Helen’s story in a beautiful but lonely world. I live in Devon, England, close to the moors and to the sea, where the natural beauty and wilderness is both liberating and constraining. There is dramatic tension here. Endless sky, water and moorland feel empowering but then the wind, the rain and the cold, barren expanses of space with no shelter are harsh. Helen’s connection to the natural world and her ability to survive its brutality give her strength and a sense of ultimate freedom, far from the confines of social order. The natural world and the seasons play an important role in the illustration of her emotional journey.

I used mostly natural light to enhance the raw, authentic textures in both the landscapes and the costumes to give a true illustration of the period. Impressionists such as Claude Monet, Albert Edelfelt, Vilhelm Hammershoi and William Merritt Chase inspired the imagery and the production design. This was a creative dream for me, to attempt to imitate the artists and writers I admire so much, to film in the landscapes I adore and create a story which I may well have lived through myself. All these components gave me a very personal connection to the creative process and became the perfect setting for my debut feature.

• Website: waterwavesmedia.org
• More about Listening Matters: listeningmatters.me