Our latest project has been working with a group of food bank users in south London to make a film about using food banks.


Our latest project has been working with a group of food bank users in south London to make a film about using food banks.
Inside Film began in August 2006 in HMP Wandsworth with the aim of using film as a means of creative expression and as an educational tool.
The projects begin with theoretical and practical workshops. A series of professionals and academics volunteer their time to come and talk to the students about the different areas of filmmaking (screenwriting, sound, documentary, etc).
Production groups come together, ideas are formulated and discussed, scripts written and storyboarded, films cast (again professional actors participate voluntarily) and finally, shooting commences. What follows is an exciting, intense, emotional and rewarding period as the films take shape. With shooting over, the groups begin to edit their films and lay down soundtracks. The whole process ends with screenings of the films.
One of the reasons why education often fails is because of a lack of engagement with the experiences, values and cultures of students from working class and ethnic minority backgrounds. Inside Film tries to create a space where those experiences and cultures are a valued and valid starting point for creative expression. When the students make their films, they ground them in their own experiences and use their own voices to tell their stories. The films demonstrated not just a replication or mimicking of the film and television world the students are so familiar with, but a critical engagement with it. Within a very short period of time they are able to make thoughtful and innovative films of a very high quality.
SOME FACTS
52% of male prisoners and 71% of female prisoners have no qualifications at all.
When you factor in child care and other benefits the annual cost of imprisoning a person can be as high as 50,000.
Around a quarter of all prisoners have been taken into care as a child.
Half of male prisoners, and a third of female prisoners have been excluded from school.
72% of male prisoners, and 70% of female prisoners were suffering from two or more mental disorders.
The UK has the highest rate of imprisonment in western Europe.
Over half of all prisoners are back inside within 2 years.
This project is inspired by Engels’ book written in 1844, The Condition of the Working Class in England. The aim of the project is to draw parallels between then and now. Over the course of two months we will be working with people living in Manchester who will develop a dramatic performance that interprets Engels’ words in a contemporary context. The whole process will be filmed and will become part of a documentary reflecting on the condition of the working class in England today.
Going into production May 2012.
Location: Manchester.
In collaboration with Not Too Tame Theatre Co.
www.nottootametheatre.com
For More information see: www.conditionoftheworkingclass.info/
or contact: [email protected]