Filmmakers use their loaf and mark baker’s rise to top

A MINI documentary on an award-winning Stoke Row bakery has won third place in a southern counties film competition.

Filmmakers Carsten Pleiser and Franky Dean produced a short film on Imma The Bakery in Busgrove Lane, which in April won an award for producing the best plain sourdough loaf in Britain.

The pair filmed a seven-minute video featuring head baker Tonatiuh Erreguin and her path to creating the sourdough bread, which contains only three ingredients, flour, water and salt, and takes 72 hours to produce.

Mr Pleiser, from Caversham, is a member of the Reading Film Club and the competition was run by the Institute of Amateur Cinematographers. About 18 clubs and individuals entered from across the south of England.

Mr Pleiser, 41, said: “I’d been coming to the bakery when they first opened and I followed Tona’s journey. I saw it as a secret spot and I came there to buy my bread every week.

“I wanted to find out more about Tona’s story so I got in touch with her. I asked her one day if I could do a documentary because I found it quite inspiring that she came over from Argentina and Mexico where she ran a restaurant and decided to go into the bakery business.

“I wanted to tell her story from transitioning from fine food dining to baking and showcase the heart and passion behind it. It’s a local business that deserves recognition, not just for its incredible bread but for the spirit it brings to our community. After they won the bread award, we thought it would be really good timing to do this.”

Mr Pleiser met Franky, who had studied filmmaking and journalism in New York, at Anonymous Coffee Co in Reading and reached out to her about the idea for the documentary and to collaborate. It took them two days to film.

On the first day of filming, they recorded Ms Erreguin from the early hours of the morning to 12.30pm to show the process of the bread-making in the bakery, including interviews with Ms Erreguin to camera.

Mr Pleiser said: “We also had a shoot day on the Sunday where we took some more B-roll for capturing moments where the clients come in but we spent most of the time editing it.

“The whole editing process took about three or four weeks. It was a great collaboration. Franky is very talented. She’s really up and coming and I wanted to work with her on this. She came in on this first shooting day a couple of hours later and she was helping me with one of the shots that played a big part in this.

“We decided to do this completely free of charge. It was a gift to Imma The Bakery because I felt like her story needed to be told.”

The pair submitted the video after being encouraged by Mr Pleiser’s clubmates and was surprised to hear back.

He said: “I didn’t expect to hear anything back from them but then all of a sudden, I got this email with the results. I was in the Isle of Wight at this stage and I struggled to get connection  because of the internet reception but eventually learned that we made third place.

“I didn’t expect we would come third. I wasn’t expecting anything. It was a complete surprise. They announced the three positions and there was a five star rating on our film. We got really good feedback from two judges and a page long of feedback on the film.”

Franky Dean, 25, from near Sonning Common, said: “It was really exciting because for Carsten and me, it was us doing something we loved. We were doing it because we wanted to do some footage for a lovely local business and so it was a great achievement to get something out of something you’re just doing for fun. The story about how she became a chef and a baker was so inspiring.”

Judge Tom Hardwick said: “Imma is a really feelgood production and this is solid grounding for success in any film festival. Tonatiuh is naturally relaxed in front of the camera, sure of her skills and direction, loving what she’s doing, revelling in her customers’ reactions. This comes over so well, so smoothly. Her undisguised enthusiasm for family life and the coagulating effect of family meals shines through as a real truth.”

To watch the full video, visit https://vimeo.com/992077813