Kit West - 'a life in special effects'. A documentary by Dennis Lowe.
Dennis Lowe worked as special effects technician for several movie productions such as  'Revenge of the Pink Panther', 'Alien' and 'The Empire strikes back' with some of the best british special effects guys (Brian Johnson, Nicky Allder, Neil Swan,..) before he found his way into the visual effects.  He was the visual effects supervisor on 'First Knight', 'The English Patient' and  'The Talented Mr.Ripley', to name a few. His documentaries on different british special effects legends and his specials about the 'Alien'  production are a marvelous source of information and for sure of historical significance for the british  'special effects in movies' history.  One thing must be clear to us, the old SPFX legends are dying out! Their knowledge, stories and anecdotes will be lost! Thank you Dennis for your exceptional work.
In the documentary Kit talks about his beginnings as camera assistant and the exciting time with  Les Bowie and his growing 'effects house'. It must have been a great time in which almost anything was possible. Kit tells us some anecdotes and stories...and he talks about a phone call of Robert Watts. They wanted him for 'Raiders of the lost Ark'.  At first he was a little skeptical ... and in the end he won the Oscar for best special effects,  best visual effects, 1982! Kit West, a life in special effects.
For more detailed informations and if you would like to see the 'Kit West' documentary,  I recommend a dive into the website of Dennis Lowe: 'SPFX documentaries'.
Summer on the Spanish coast, 1969. Kit: "In my entire life in the film industry I think I probably spent two thirds of it living  out of a suitcase in foreign countries. I have to say without a doubt that I've been extremely lucky... I have seen thousands of things ... and places ... and people... I am very very grateful."