“For years I heard tales of the Green Park Hotel. It is a subject that often comes up when people recall the past as Jews in Britain. It didn’t matter whether they went there or not. It just sparked stories of another time, another era. This was a time of important change for the Jews of Great Britain. Of immigration, integration and assimilation, of rags to riches, of holding onto past traditions while reaching out to become British, of questions of identity.

The hotel opened its doors in 1943 and closed them in 1986. And it’s scope brings in from the turn of the century to WW11, the creation of the state of Israel, the elegant 50’s, the swinging 60’s and finally to the 70’s and 80’s when Britain’s seaside resorts wilted as cheaper air travel brought holiday guests to sunnier climates. This tale follows of the evolution of a culture and the testimonies are priceless and need to be reserved and retold.

We started off making a documentary film and ended up creating as an important document of history and Jewish Education which will be housed in museums and libraries. That is why I began this project years ago, and that is why I continue to believe in its value to society.”

—Marsha Nuriya Lee

Our Team

Justin is one of the top historical film makers in the UK. A trained historian, Justin is determined that history should not be told with a straight face, and that in our collective past are stories to make you laugh and make you cry.

Combining his MA in history at Magdalen College, Oxford, and film studies at UCLA, he has specialised in directing period films with critical and popular success. He won the Royal Television Society’s first ever award for Best History Film in 2001 with The Great Plague. He won twice more in 2003 and 2005 with Invitation to a Hanging and Trafalgar Battle Surgeon.  He won the Judges RTS Award in 2008 for City of Vice. He has received three more nominations, including one for 1066: The Battle for Middle Earth in 2010. Although BAFTA does not have a History category, Justin’s films have been frequently nominated: The Great Plague  and A Harlot’s Progress for craft; The Relief of Belsen for specialist factual;  Forgotten Fallen for Best Actor at the Scottish BAFTAs in 2009.

Marsha Nuriya Lee is a director, producer, and creator of Definition Films, an independent production company that specialises in feature films.

Marsha has written for The Huffington Post and Scriptwriter Magazine. She holds an M.A. in Film and Television from the University of Westminster. She is a member of BAFTA, PACT and the European Film Academy.

Marsha also maintains several other philanthropic roles including Chairman of the British Friends of the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra, Governor of Swiss Cottage School Development & Research Centre for Special Needs, Board Member of the American Associates of the Old Vic Theatre and is the Creator and Chair of ‘A Perfect Day’, a London street festival in aid of children with complex special needs. She is also the proud mother of 5 adult children.

Credits

Directed by Justin Hardy
Written and Co-Directed by Jack Fishburn
Based on an original idea by Marsha Lee
Produced by Marsha Lee
Producers: Jack Fishburn & Muireann Price
Executive Producers: Marsha Lee, Algor Leiman & James Morton-Hayworth
Narrated by Maureen Lipman
Edited by Tom Bober
Original Score by Joseph Reuben
Duration: 65 mins
Country of Production: United Kingdom