Knight Films

A white boy and a black Jamaican girl have a day out in a city where racial hostility prevails.

Co-directed by innovative British filmmakers David Gladwell and Derrick Knight, The Great Steam Fair is a beautifully crafted documentary filmed at Shottesbrooke Park, Berkshire in 1964 at a nostalgic event which brought together many traditional fairground rides and steam engines. The film skilfully combines the techniques of traditional sponsored documentary with the new approaches of the direct cinema movement.