Who’s The Most Cornish Person You Know?
A tongue-in-cheek 2024 documentary, where Carey embarks on a quixotic quest, joined by filmmaker Neal Megaw. The pair follow a chain-reaction sequence of interviews, hold unique and thought provoking conversations and head (they hope) to the epicentre of Cornishness.
“Whilst making the podcast in 2021, I found myself repeatedly in “Louis Theroux” scenarios. I’d rock up at someone’s house, ready to interview them, but before I knew it I’d be on a guided tour, being shown weird and wonderful objects from their life – shrines, collections, photographs. Most of the time, but not always, these things would be related to Cornwall. I knew then; I must return with a camera.
With his kind permission, I borrowed Dave Waller’s idea: to go looking for the most Cornish person there is. It excited me, as I love a wild goose chase, a road movie that doesn’t really go anywhere. Like Jodorowsky’s The Holy Mountain, I knew we’d get to the end of this journey only to find more questions than answers.
Everyone has a different answer to what ‘being Cornish’ means – ‘Cornishness’ feels so malleable and certain at the same time. This felt like rich ground for investigation via a documentary film. However, it didn’t seem that way to the various funding pots I applied for to get the project going. Luckily, Neal Megaw got excited by the idea, and (with no budget) we decided to quit waiting for permission and get out there and film. It may not have made much business sense, but from an artistic angle – it was massively liberating. We interviewed whoever we wanted, followed dead ends, made our own schedule and had no targets to meet. Sometimes work is better when there’s less expectation, I think.
We hope this film acts as a visual companion to the podcast; in which we get to really see the characters, the landscape, the beauty, the oddness and the humour of Cornwall. But if you’ve come looking for answers, you’re probably watching the wrong film...”
Written & presented by Seamas Carey
Camera: Neal Megaw
Additional camera: Charlie Key
Music: Seamas Carey
Editor: Neal Megaw
Based on an original idea by Dave Waller
Filmed in Cornwall / 2023