Mai (1973)
A portrait of the eccentric and obsessive collector (or compulsive hoarder) Mai Finglass, landlady to founder Amber members Murray Martin and Sirkka-Liisa Konttinen, when students in London.
When studying film and photography at Regents Street Polytechnic in the late 1960s Martin, Konttinen had lodgings in Shepherds Bush with Mai, who was born to Irish-Persian parents in India around 1890. The film was initiated as a student project, but completed in 1974. Mai’s house in Elgin Avenue was filled with her treasures to the point where doors were permanently jammed, so she rented the house in Shepherds Bush, where the kitchen was shared with a family of hedgehogs. Konttinen later suggested, ‘All the Amber men were in love with Mai.’
Amber Films, 30 mins, 1974
Watch the full film
