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International honour for Dales documentary maker

Sarah Urwin & Joanita Musisi
BBC News, Yorkshire
Juliet Klottrup A woman in a black dress with long golden hair stands in front of a red background holding a black oblong box.Juliet Klottrup
Juliet Klottrup with her Sony Future Filmmaker Award in Los Angeles

A North Yorkshire filmmaker has said it was "incredibly meaningful" to win a global award for her documentary exploring the culture and traditions of Gypsy and Traveller communities.

Juliet Klottrup swapped the rolling hills of the Yorkshire Dales for the glamour of Hollywood as she collected a Sony Future Filmmaker Award in Los Angeles earlier this month.

She won the non-fiction award for her film Travelling Home, which follows retired farrier Joe Cannon Snr on his annual journey to the Appleby Horse Fair in Cumbria.

Klottrup said she was "deeply immersed in documenting communities that are often overlooked - especially in rural areas".

She told the BBC: "Being recognised by Sony and sharing these stories on an international stage is incredibly meaningful.

"This work feels both personal and local to me, capturing stories of identity and belonging against the backdrop of the region's landscapes."

She said she was honoured to have an audience in Los Angeles watch her work which was "very different to when I premiered the film to Joe in a very small pub in North Yorkshire on a laptop".

Juliet Klottrup A man brushes the mane of a brown and white horse against a yellow sunset.Juliet Klottrup
A "chance encounter" on the moors led to the film that documented retired farrier Joe Cannon Snr

The filmmaker and photographer, who heralds from a rural community in the Dales near the Cumbrian border, graduated from the University of Brighton in 2016.

Klottrup began photographing the Gypsy and Traveller community in 2019 and said she felt it was "really important to preserve and record a heritage that really matters and is so unique".

She said: "Where I live the road connects North Yorkshire to Cumbria, and past my window Travellers make their way to Appleby Horse Fair."

She explained that she met Joe out on the moors with his horses and wagon and they "just got chatting, sharing life stories" and he agreed to having his portrait taken, which led to the film.

Travelling Home evolved from portraits and 8mm vignettes of Joe's daily life.

Klottrup said: "He so beautifully articulated what his heritage and identity meant."

There were more than 11,750 entries for the Sony awards, set up to nurture and celebrate new filmmaking talent.

Travelling Home has also been chosen to be shown at several Bafta-qualifying festivals, including the London Film Festival.

North Yorkshire filmmaker Juliet Klottrup has won an international award

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