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 project began with theoretical and practical workshops. A series of professionals and academics (each an expert in their own field) volunteered their time to come into HMP Wandsworth and talk to the students about the different areas of filmmaking (screenwriting, sound, documentary, etc).

 

Production groups came together, ideas were formulated and discussed, scripts were written and storyboarded, films were cast (again professional actors participated voluntarily) and finally, shooting commenced. What followed was an exciting, intense, emotional and rewarding two and a-half month period as the films took shape. With shooting over, the groups began to edit their films and lay down soundtracks on lap-tops brought into the prison. The whole process culminated in the first ever Wandsworth Prison Film Festival in December 2006.

 

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 made their films, they grounded them in their own experiences and used 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 were able to make thoughtful and innovative films of a very high quality.

 

To see the Constitution of Inside Film, click here.