FILM PROJECTS — DOCUMENTARY
Bunty: Love & Laughter Around the World
PRODUCED BY WHITTAKER LEMBERG PRODUCTIONS
📽️ The Pitch
From the quiet, stone-walled villages of the Yorkshire Dales to the dazzle of Las Vegas, the cosmopolitan warmth of 1960s Beirut, and the high-flying glamour of Swinging London — Rowena Harker Leder MBE lived a life that reads like a cinematic novel. Known warmly as “Bunty” in the North and “Rowena” to the rest of the world, her journey is a captivating testament to female ambition, resilience, and adventure in post-war Britain and beyond.
Now, Whittaker Lemberg Productions is bringing Bunty’s story from the pages of her acclaimed memoir to the big screen in a high-quality feature documentary.
We are raising £79,000 to capture her living testimony, preserve her rich physical archive, and produce a film destined for international film festivals and global streaming platforms.
The true story of a generation of women who lived through a transitional period—capturing the freedom, the friction, and the sheer joy of a rapidly changing world.
Crowdfunding Target: £79,000
Watch the campaign trailer for Bunty: Love & Laughter Around the World.
🌟 THE STORY
Who is Rowena Harker Leder MBE?
Rowena’s life mirrors the major social transitions of the mid-20th century—the birth of the modern teenager, the rise of career-driven women, and the dawn of global air travel.
- 1958 – Las Vegas: After learning French as an au pair, Bunty took a bold leap to Nevada as a Paris-trained Bluebell Girl, performing under the neon lights of the famous Stardust Casino’s Lido de Paris show.
- 1960 – Beirut: A year as a dancer in the “Switzerland of the Middle East,” immersed in fashion, art, and international society during the city’s Golden Age.
- 1962 – BOAC Airline Stewardess: Flying through the Swinging Sixties while living in Chelsea, Bunty worked at the intersection of glamorous international travel and strict corporate discipline—experiencing firsthand both the thrill of independence and the societal constraints imposed on women.
- The Return to Yorkshire: Returning home, she served as Artistic Director of the Grassington Festival for 18 years, earning an MBE for her contributions to the arts and community.
🎬 THE VISION
What This Documentary Will Achieve
With this documentary, Whittaker Lemberg Productions is not just making a film—we are capturing a crucial piece of social history before it fades.
1. Preserving a Vanished World
Bunty kept a remarkable physical shoe-box archive: 54 handwritten letters sent back to Yorkshire from 1950s Las Vegas, signed cards from Bluebell Girls, rare BOAC ephemera, and personal photography. We will digitise, restore, and incorporate these original primary artifacts to achieve deep sensory authenticity.
2. Giving Voice to a Transitional Generation
Bunty’s journey captures the quiet revolution of post-war women who pushed against rigid boundaries. Through high-definition interviews with Rowena and surviving Bluebell Girls and BOAC crew, the film reveals what it was really like to forge independence in an era before modern equality.
3. Cinematic Heritage & Archival Storytelling
Combining restored personal archives with licensed historical footage of Golden Age Beirut, 1950s Vegas, and Swinging King’s Road, the film will feature a rich period soundtrack and high-end post-production colour grading.
4. A Lasting Global Legacy
Our target is to complete full festival clearance, securing distribution across international film festivals and major streaming channels, ensuring Bunty’s story reaches audiences worldwide.
💰 THE BUDGET
How Your Support Will Be Used
Every contribution directly funds the high-standard production values required for international broadcast.
Crowdfunding Target: £79,000
- Production & Filming: Multi-point cinematic lighting, high-definition camera suites, and spatial audio capture for master interviews.
- Global Witness Interviews: Locating and filming surviving Bluebell Girls and aviation colleagues across the UK, Europe, and North America.
- Archival Scanning & Licensing: Professional high-resolution restoration of Bunty’s personal archive and licensing of historic 1950s–60s archive footage.
- Post-Production: Editing, period-accurate musical score, sound design, and colour grading.
- Distribution & Festival Entry: Securing global streaming rights and submitting to major international documentary festivals.
✉️ A NOTE FROM ROWENA
If you think this could be a successful documentary, I would so love to see your names on the credits.— Rowena “Bunty” Harker Leder MBE
🤝 Join Us in the Credits
Be a part of preserving this extraordinary British story. By backing this project, you help us honour a remarkable woman and celebrate a generation that helped shape the modern world.