02/10/2026
We were delighted to hear that our screening of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Leaf by Niggle at The Undiscovered C.S. Lewis Conference, hosted by George Fox University and C.S. Lewis Initiative at George Fox University was so well received by delegates - reportedly the ‘highlight of the event’ for many.
Tolkien specialist and biographer John Garth John Garth - who’d seen us live at the Tolkien Society 50th anniversary - introduced the presentation. John pointed out how Leaf by Niggle breaks two of Tolkien’s own rules of creativity. Firstly, he normally wrote at a glacial pace and rarely finished anything, and he also claimed he never wrote allegory. This one, he dreamt and wrote down in four hours flat, and it’s hard to read as anything but allegory. He also reminded us that Tolkien was not only struggling to complete Lord of the Rings but also serving as an Air Raid Warden when he wrote it. The fear of never finishing his magnum opus was tied in with a sense of his own mortality and the pressures put on the creative arts by wartime bureaucracy. He helped the audience envision themselves not in a plush university lecture theatre of the 21st century but a smoky cinema of the 1940s with the promise of ci******es and ice creams for sale afterwards ;-)
Many thanks to and the entire C.S. Lewis conference team for taking such good care in the sharing of this special piece. 🌳🍃🖼️🪜
Performed by Richard Medrington, with an original score by and - Filmed by in , and shown by kind permission of the Tolkien Estate.
