Neighbourhood film project report 7 april

Neighbourhood Film Project (part one)

Bradford UNESCO City of Film Neighbourhood Film Project Who We Are Launched in 2004, the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) aims to strengthen cooperation with and among cities that have recognized creativity as a strategic factor of sustainable development as regards economic, social, cultural and environmental aspects.

By joining the Network, cities acknowledge their commitment to sharing best practices, developing partnerships that promote creativity and the cultural industries, strengthening participation in cultural life and integrating culture in urban development plans. Bradford is the world’s first UNESCO City of Film and joined the Creative Cities Network in 2009. This permanent title bestows international recognition on Bradford as a world centre for film because of the city’s rich film heritage, its inspirational movie locations and its many celebrations of the moving image through the city’s film festivals, filmed related events and unique approach to learning about film and learning with film. www.bradfordcityoffilm.com This project was supported with funding support from the Near Neighbours Fund.

What We Wanted To Do We wanted to start a Neighbourhood Film Project in the city Ward in Bradford with a view to developing the project across other neighbourhoods in the Bradford district over time. The idea was to show 6 film presentations and host regular meetings. The films were to be chosen by the residents. We held a community consultation event to gather support and promote the project. The plan was to show the films in 6 different locations in the City ward area of the district. The project aims to bring diverse communities of different faiths to meet and talk to each other, form friendships and to work as a group.

City Ward Area City Ward is a deprived area with high unemployment rates, poor housing and social problems. Indices of Deprivation show city ward scores very high in terms of poor health, social mobility and unemployment (Bradford Observatory). The area has a high welfare claimant percentage. The area has no real programmes for new settlers in the area. Youth unemployment is high and the area has seen diverse communities settling in the area over a sustained period. Since the Brexit vote, there is an increased amount of anxiety among some communities and this project will try address this by getting people to meet their neighbours and start conversations about who they are, where they come from etc. The film project aims to break down barriers and promote community cohesion.

Project Plan

The Neighbourhood Film Project is intended to bring together different community groups who live in the area by holding consultation events in different locations. The main aim of the project is to bring neighbours together who had not engaged with each other previously, through film and conversation. The area has seen new communities settle in recent times, communities such as the African, East European, Arab and South Asian. Most of these communities have not engaged with each other. Our main focus was to bring these communities together and start conversations about culture, identity and faith through film presentations and weekly community coffee sessions to discuss future film titles and to get people to participate fully in the running of this project. Most of these people would meet each other for the first time and will have the opportunity to talk to each other.

Research has shown that unemployment amongst some new communities is very high. One key aspect of the project was to recruit volunteers who will gain and learn new skills. We will work to try to ensure that the project is able to continue after the initial funding by encouraging local businesses and other groups to support the project and in turn promote community harmony and encourage people to volunteer and learn new skills.

The Team As part of the project a team of community advisers were recruited to help shape the plan of action David Wilson - Project Director Zuhair Bashar - Sudanese Community Centre Zana Karim - Kurdish Muslim Association - Community involvement officer Warris Ali - Highfield Food Coop - Film Programmer Deb Collett - Support Coordinator - Artworks Creative Communities James Crump - A resident of Bradford and a keen social activist, whose role included visiting organisations and distributing film promotional material

David Wilson, Zana Karim and Zuhair Bashar

What Happened - Film Programme We have shown the following films based on a number of consultations between the team, with other individuals and community groups and in keeping with the setting/ venue for the film. It was always intended that the film choice would be dictated by the project and the community and was also subject to the availability of the license for screening.

Wadjda- (2012) This film is about the relationship between a mother and daughter in modern day Saudi Arabia. The film deals with themes around identity, role expectations and aspirations of a young Saudi girl, who wants to buy a bike and all the trouble she gets herself into.

Members of the Bradford Sudanese community with David and James

Leave to Remain -(2013) This film deals with what refugees have to go through, when they are living in the UK and follows the lives of a group of teen asylum seekers,who try to make the best of their situation. The film also gives the viewer a glimpse of the legal system at work when dealing with asylum seekers.

The Athlete- (2011) A story about Africa’s first Gold medallist at the Olympics. The film tells the journey of an Ethiopian who runs for his country and for his emperor. The film gives rare accounts of life in Ethiopia in the 1960s and how one man achieves stardom at home and abroad. The film also shows how Abebe Bikila ends ups in a wheelchair due to a motor accident.

The Jungle Book (2016) A children’s classic animation film recently released as a live action movie. This film was shown to family audiences in the Frizinghall area. It gave parents a chance to spend some time with their children and to meet other families who live in the area. Such was the response that Frizinghall Community Centre now intend to start a community film club with the help and support of Bradford UNESCO City Of Film. This film was chosen following consultation with some of the parents at Frizinghall Primary School.

Suffragette (2015) This film was shown on International Women’s Day. A film that celebrates the bravery and courage of women who fought for Equality and Justice. A film which is relevant to todays society, where women are still discriminated. A film that inspires confidence for people to stand up to social injustice. A discussion followed after the film presentation.

Court (2016) A fascinating film that gives an insight into the complexities of the Indian Judicial system. A film that portrays how justice is handed out in modern day India. The film was shown in the old court room in the City Hall. A real treat for people who had not previously visited the court room or indeed City Hall. This screening took place the day after the terror attack on Westminster and a one minute silence was held as a mark of respect.

Venues It was agreed from the start of the project that we would try to use a range of venues appropriate to what the project aimed to achieve. Most of the venues are community venues with the exception of City Hall, which of course should be considered as a community venue but some of the communities we were working with had not previously accessed the building.

St Stephens Church Delius Arts & Cultural Centre Frizinghall Community Centre City Hall Marketing and Promotion We used a range of marketing tools to ensure that the communities we wanted to reach regarding this project were aware of it but also the wider public. A dedicated web page was created on the Bradford UNESCO City of Film website. We printed a number of posters which were displayed in and around the community venues but also other venues across the city. We also sent regular updates on the project and the screenings across our social media; Facebook, Twitter etc.

We also advertised the screenings on the what’s on section of the Bradford Big Screen which is in City Park in Bradford and has a monthly footfall of approximately 500,000 people.

Bradford UNESCO City of Film also spoke about the project on a regular slot on BBC Radio Leeds and on BCB Radio.

For the final screening we paid for Facebook advertising. This was as much about highlighting the project as it was about filling seats. We were able to use smart words/ tags to target groups of individuals who we thought would be interested in the project.

Feedback We wanted to keep the feedback process informal but also informative for the future events.

Much of this took the form of informal conversations with people. Did they like the film?

Venue etc? Did they want this project carry on and become a regular activity that they wanted to be part of and watch films as part of social integration and meeting new people.

We also made a brief film and took photographs of some of the screenings. Audience members were invited to take part in the film and photographs if they were comfortable with that. We were conscious throughout that not everyone would be comfortable competing questionnaires or talking to camera.

Legacy The Neighbourhood Film Project is seen as the start of a much longer term and wider reaching project for Bradford UNESCO City of Film and partners. Already we have seen a number of legacy benefits from working with the above communities and organisations.

From the very first screening it was apparent that there was a willingness to try to develop a more cohesive community cinema offering in the BD5 area and at St Stephens Church in particular which is a real community hub. We had previous knowledge of a retractable cinema screen in a neighbouring community centre which was about to close. We arranged for the safe dismantling of the screen and its relocation to St Stephens Church and are now looking for funds to support the installation of the screen there to enable more community cinema events to happen on a regular basis. There is particular interest from the Sudanese community to utilise this resource in the future.

From our partnership with the Delius Arts and Cultural Centre we were also able to provide an old screen from Bradford UNESCO City of Film on a long term loan basis to enable the venue to host a wider range of films events and talks in the future without the cost of hiring a screen.

Frizinghall Community Centre are developing plans to create a community film club because of the feedback they got from the screening of the Jungle Book. We are currently advising on funding and equipment for this Training We have trained 5 people on how to set up film equipment: Screen, Sound Set up etc. This half day training course proved to be very useful. The participants learned about all aspects including health and safety issues, how to safely keep the wires separate, keeping minimal sunlight out, room set up, seating arrangements etc. The Training was aimed to get the people interested in what goes behind the scenes when the film equipment is being set up.

Organisations that we worked and engaged with.

1) Sudanese Peoples Centre 2) Kurdish Muslim Association 3) Highfield Food Coop 4) ArtWorks at the Delius Arts and Cultural Centre 5) St Stephens Church 6) Frizinghall Community Centre 7) B.I.S.A.A.N 8)Bradford Action for Refugees 9) Bradford Community Broadcasting

10) BBC Radio Leeds Final Reflections The project has been a huge success and has encouraged the communities involved to work together in the future and also shown that film is an excellent way of bringing people together and stimulating debate on a wide range of issues or sometimes, just enjoying each others company through the enjoyment of film. It has shown that with a little planning and modest investment in training and basic kit that films can be screened almost anywhere.

We also believe that by bringing part of the project back to the civic centre (City Hall) communities feel empowered and valued members of society.

The Neighbourhood Film Project will continue into a second phase due a recent successful application to the Big Lottery Fund. We will title the next phase of the project – The Neighbourhood Film Project – Unity and Community and attempt to grow the project with regular screenings and discussions on issues affecting communities but also introduce an element of film making and further training on how to use equipment. We will also try to include diverse communities in the planning and delivery of film festivals in Bradford.

Finally, we would like to thank the team at Near Neighbours for their ongoing support and encouragement throughout the project.

The Neighbourhood Film Project also has a dedicated web page on the Bradford UNESCO City of Film website here http://bradford-city-of-film.com/enjoy/neighbourhood/ Report by Bradford UNESCO City of Film David Wilson and Warris Ali