Journal
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Knight Foundation Funding Application
We’ve entered an open funding challenge with the Knight Foundation in the US. It’s ‘open’ in that it can be critiqued and enhanced ahead of the deadline, Dec 15th. If you have a few minutes and would like to support our project in East London, please have a read and comment here.
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The 24 Hour East London Film Challenge
Throughout the summer Germination and I have been working with young people from Newham in an intensive media training and film-making project. The participants were tasked with making six short films that reveal their take on the London 2012 Olympics.
With the editing wrapped, we are delighted to invite you to the premier screening of 24 Hour East London Film Challenge at 12pm Sunday 27th September at the Rio Cinema, Dalston.As a brief background, this project was inspired by stories of poverty in Newham. It was developed out a of a series of short films made by 18 year old film-maker AJ Nakasila, which were screened on Channel 4 in 2008. AJ revealed the irresistible path into gang-culture in Newham when few other opportunities exist for disadvantaged young people at Neighbourhood-Stories. This was also the subject of True Vision’s documentary Kids, Knives and Broken Lives aired on Channel 4 in 2008.
Fast forward two years, and the Olympics has huge potential to offer new hope in the host boroughs: access to jobs, community development and regeneration of neighbourhoods. Following on from AJ’s original warnings, we wanted to hear whether young people in Newham feel there is true legacy for them, and also what they demand from London 2012.
The 24 Hour East London Film Challenge is the beginning of a larger project with young people in the lead-up to the Olympics, that will follow how the regeneration impacts on those living in Newham.