Young People of Bradford show their films in the Cinema  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Young people from Bradford primary schools will attend a special screening next week to present films that they have made in school as part of a two day celebration event at the National Media Museum, hosted by Bradford UNESCO City of Film.

The young people involved will also have to speak about their approach to making the films, where the ideas came from, how they made the film etc to a packed cinema audience of other school children. The screenings form part of a celebration event to mark the second year of the Film Literacy programme running across Bradford schools. The work in schools is supported by the Curriculum Innovation Centre, based in Little Germany with input from the British Film Institute.

In the last three months the programme has attracted funding from Cape UK to bring professional filmmakers, local and nationally recognised, into the classroom.

The manager of Magiclight Pictures who made The Gruffalo and Room on the Broom, Barney Goodland, was one of the filmmakers who came to Bradford to support the programme.

Barney said, ‘’ The Film Literacy Scheme is a wonderful way to help young people learn. By using interactive film and animation workshops the programme encourages creative thinking and ideas, whilst at the same time developing key literacy skills.”

Another guest filmmaker on the programme was Paul Sapin, a director and producer from Brooklyn. Paul has worked on many award winning series and documentaries with the likes of the BBC, Channel 4, Sky and Al Jazeera English some you may have heard of Ross Kemp on Gangs and The Spice Trail.

Bradford’s Film Literacy project aims to ensure that children learn to read and write in order to empower them to live their lives to the full as active citizens. In an age when children and young people receive much of their education, information and entertainment via moving images it is suggested that children and young people should similarly be enabled to be media literate too. Film literacy enables them to understand how the film and moving image texts that they consume make meaning, encourages them to watch films from a variety of sources and inspires them to create films of their own. In so doing they are empowered to be culturally literate – to be able to ‘read’ the films and moving image texts they see every day and ‘write’ their own for others to watch too.

The film literacy strategy highlights the idea that, since children and young people receive much of their education, information and entertainment via moving images, they should be media and culturally literate too.

David Wilson, director of Bradford City of Film, said “film literacy helps children to ‘read’ the films and moving image texts they consume daily, and ‘write’ their own for others to watch. The opportunity for both pupils and teachers to work directly with film makers is a fantastic way to inspire the next generation of actors, writers and directors, as well as encouraging more young people to enjoy watching films. Bradford wants to move film education on from being a series of disconnected experiences to becoming an integral part of every young person’s life – a systematic process in which confidence and articulacy grow by having the opportunity to see a wide range of films, to gain a critical understanding of film and to enjoy the creative activity of filmmaking.”

Cllr Ralph Berry, Bradford Council’s portfolio holder for Children and Young People, said “Using our UNESCO film designation in such an innovative way is really starting to make a difference in terms of attainment in Bradford schools. Over 70% of pupils involved in the scheme so far have shown a marked improvement in literacy skills as a result. The project is also attracting attention across the UNESCO Creative Cities network and I understand that there is a PhD research programme accompanying the work. We look forward to see the results next year”.

The Film Literacy Programme continues to grow, and this latest phase is funded by Cape UK (the Arts Council’s ‘bridge organisation’ for Yorkshire and the Humber) and delivered by the Curriculum Innovation Centre, with support from the BFI and Literacy Shed. The current programme also incorporates Arts Award as a core element of the programme going out to 900 pupils across the Bradford District.