Platforma

For anyone involved in refugee-related arts, the Platforma project is worth exploring. There’s a website where artists and organisations can upload work and connect with others around the country.

In November-December 2011 there was also a very lively and wide-ranging Festival, which took place in East London at Rich Mix and Rochelle School. Click here to read the report.

You can also click here for the interviews which we carried out with participants. These are available to download and share on not-for-profit radio programmes.

Big Society meeting in Stockport

On Thursday 9th September I stumbled on an interesting thread on Twitter tagged #Bigstock. This turned out to be the tag for tweets from a regional Big Society meeting in Stockport.

There are lots of videos from the meeting published online – click here for the first (of about 25). Work upwards (backwards) to watch in chronological sequence.

A sample of points:
~ Feedback 6: We need to deal with the hand that we’ve got – how can we help business people help each other
~ Feedback 7: How do decisions get made in a collaborative environment?
~ Feedback 8: There is actually strong infrastructure out there around the country – should be building on that foundation, not starting from scratch
~ Feedback 12: There is a lot of community work already happening – also, if you expect people to do things unpaid, how are they going to eat and clothe themselves etc?

Unfortunately, the sound is a bit hard to make out on some of the videos and it would be good if the participants were identified. However, they give a useful take on how online media sharing is being used in the work going on with initiatives such as the Big Society.

Community media organisations take note and do likewise, if you aren’t already doing so! It would be good to see more recordings from community media events – or recordings by community media organisations of local events such as this… Show off your broadcast quality sound/video and all those excellent technical skills which are widespread across the sector :~)

Reel Lives

I went to an event at the BFI Southbank on Monday – Reel Lives: Film, Performance and Memory, organised by the British Film Institute and Age Exchange, a London-based charity working in the field of reminiscence.

We watched a presentation of films about two inter-generational projects:
~ “Positive Ageing: Learning Between Generations” – an intergenerational film made by Lewisham young people, exploring attitudes to ageing and the value of life experience.
~ “A Healthy Risk: The Making of ‘To Care For’” - a film showing the creation of an intergenerational reminiscence theatre production from start to finish.

Together they raised some interesting thoughts and questions. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay for the afternoon sessions. But I’ll definitely keep in touch for news of future projects.

Documentary Filmmakers Group

I went to a launch and screening at the Documentary Filmmakers Group yesterday. We watched three powerful films:

~ The Strongest Bond, on maternal health in Ethiopia (Director – Deborah Kingsland, Camera – David Scott, Editor – Dani Jacobs)

~ Sam, on childhood sexual abuse – Sam, a courageous young woman, tells her story for the first time (a film by Deborah Kingsland and Jenny Saunders, Editor – Dani Jacobs)

~ Sound Waves, one of the Science on Film series, about two families, both with children who are deaf. One has decided to have a cochlear implant for their son, the other has not. (Directors – Sasha Andrews and Jeanne Guiraud, Editor – Anton Califano)

Ceremony
After the screenings, there was a presentation of the Scinema Trophy won by Sound Waves, as best short film at the Scinema Film Festival 2009.