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Olivia Fraser used her university final assessment project as an opportunity to document the history of the island she grew up on, producing ‘Guernsey: the most fortified place in the world’.
The 20-minute documentary has been released to rave reviews from her interviewees, their families, and others, with one reviewer calling it "a very human take on the toughest time in Guernsey’s history."
“Speaking to all my interviewees, it became such a personal project – I took it away from the uni project and made it my own,” said Olivia.
“Guernsey is my home and I thought ‘why don’t I go back?’ The island has this amazing story, and I can give back to my home a little bit and preserve the history of where I’ve lived my entire life.”
Pictured: The documentary includes interviewees with local people who lived through the occupation, including Roland Duquemin, who had to live with a German soldier.
Olivia started filming her final year project in January this year, finishing it in May. Ultimately it led to a First Class Honours Degree in Journalism from the University of Winchester.
With the help of her cameraman, Bradley Ford, Olivia collected interviews from several people who lived through the occupation.
“The Guernsey grapevine helped me source my interviewees and I also went up to the Guernsey Museum and spoke to Richard Heaume (German Occupation Museum Owner), who appears in the final film,” she said.
“There are still so many stories that couldn’t fit into the documentary so I’m going to try and compile those for the interviewees' friends and families.”
Pictured: The documentary has been published on YouTube.
Olivia hopes to pursue her dream of becoming a documentary filmmaker, developing a name for herself, and tell more stories in the future.
“Yes, the process could be stressful, but I really loved putting [the film] together. It was really satisfying putting together all the clips, from hours and hours of footage,” she said.
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