An engagement toolkit
www.digitalfilmarchive.net
Introduction
Northern Ireland Now has been a transformative project for Northern Ireland Screen, one designed to ensure that the voices shaping society today are represented and celebrated in our moving image collections. Over the course of this project, we have worked tirelessly to address long-standing gaps in our Digital Film Archive, amplifying the voices of underrepresented communities – ethnic minorities, disabled and neurodivergent individuals, LGBTQIA+ people, working-class groups and those who may otherwise have thought that moving image heritage is not relevant to them. This initiative is helping to reshape the archive, making it a more inclusive reflection of the diversity of life in Northern Ireland.
Collaboration has been at the heart of this work. By partnering with the Nerve Centre and a variety of community and advocacy organisations and individuals, we have been able to gather materials that reflect the realities of contemporary communities and embrace the challenge of curating modern formats, ensuring the archive captures the cultural pulse of today.
This project was as much about empowering people as it was about building a collection. Participants, partners, and staff gained invaluable skills in curation, cataloguing, and digital preservation, ensuring the legacy of this work extends well into the future. By engaging directly with communities, we not only contextualised new additions to the archive but also revisited older materials, giving them new meaning and relevance.
Through the public showcases, the production of this resource and, most importantly the new connections and partnerships that have been forged, NI Now has created a lasting impact, transforming Northern Ireland’s Digital Film Archive into a space where everyone can see themselves, their communities, and their stories.
Francis Jones (Head of Heritage & Archive, Northern Ireland Screen)
Project Overview
Northern Ireland Now: Contemporary Collecting is an innovative outreach and digitisation project from Northern Ireland Screen and Nerve Centre aimed at increasing representation in the Digital Film Archive.
The project is delivered with the support of the BFI, awarding funds from the National Lottery, and prioritises content that showcases diversity and inclusion, helping bridge gaps and address imbalances in the archive.
Since 2000, the Digital Film Archive team at Northern Ireland Screen has carefully curated thousands of hours of moving image footage from 1987 to the present day.
However, the archive is lacking in contemporary material related to key themes and communities – including ethnic minorities, diversity of religious belief, disabled people, neurodivergent people, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and working-class communities.
Leveraging the experience and delivery methodologies of Nerve Centre, the project has engaged 12 underrepresented groups across the region through innovative programmes.
These programmes involved facilitated workshops on film history and heritage, an exploration of the Digital Film Archive, archiving skills and opportunities for groups to bring forward video content they felt best represented their community.
Key questions posed to these groups were: ‘What is an archive?’ and ‘Why is it important to preserve digital video materials?’.
Over 120 items have now been catalogued and added to the archive, contributing to the rich film tapestry of Northern Ireland’s evolving story.
HilltownCommunity
Association
January – February 2024
A group of heritage enthusiasts from the Hilltown Community Association were eager to preserve their rural identity, particularly around storytelling, musical traditions and agriculture. Over an extended programme the group explored the purpose of the archive and examined how other rural communities have been represented.
Hilltown Community Association is a group based in the village of Hilltown, County Down, dedicated to developing and delivering projects to enhance both the village and the wider Clonduff parish.
In August, the association plays a key role in organising the ‘Back from the Booley’ Festival, a celebration of the deep connection between the community and the surrounding mountains. The festival features traditional storytelling, poitín distillation demonstrations, rope pulling, and crafts such as linen weaving.
Hilltown Community Association was the first community partner recruited for the project and excelled at coordinating participants, assigning roles based on their individual areas of interest, and collecting video materials.
For example, one participant focused on recording the region’s storytellers, another explored content related to musical heritage, and a third documented aspects of the Booley Festival and agricultural events.
Workshops began with an introduction to the Digital Film Archive and a review of relevant materials. Participants then explored their place in history, reflecting on contemporary videos they had created and sharing their own materials in a show and tell session. They were introduced to the principles of ‘5-shot storytelling’ and techniques for capturing stories using mobile phones.
As the workshops progressed, participants examined themes of identity and language in the archives, considering how videos are described and why this matters. They viewed and discussed vox pop interviews from the archive, deepening their understanding of the medium.
The final workshop provided an opportunity for participants to share their work, gather additional video materials, and develop ideas about cataloguing, focusing on how videos are presented in an archive and what information is essential. It also encouraged them to think critically about interview styles and how they might conduct interviews within their own communities.
In addition to the workshops delivered as part of Northern Ireland Now, Hilltown collaborated with Ulster University, Northern Ireland Screen, and the project team to create a 25-minute documentary about the 2024 Back from the Booley Festival. This documentary will be preserved as part of the Digital Film Archive collection.
Learning from the Project Team
One of the key lessons learned with this group was the importance of ensuring access to workshops in rural areas. Flexibility was essential, as some participants were travelling distances to get to Hilltown, and attendance was occasionally affected by winter weather conditions.
Some participants were keen to have albums of photography archived in the project. Instead, we encouraged participants to incorporate their photographs into collaborative moving-image videos, highlighting key areas of interest.
“I really enjoyed seeing some of the old video footage and getting new ideas about the things that we should be archiving for future generations.”
Martina Byrne
Hilltown
ImageNation NI
January – March 2024
ImageNation NI are a Belfast-based group dedicated to promoting multiculturalism. Their mission focuses on celebrating Indian heritage while fostering connections with diverse communities through cross-cultural events held throughout the year. They were particularly eager to archive video materials that document these efforts.
Established in 2008, ImageNation NI aims to bring the Indian community in Belfast together, fostering a sense of unity, belonging, and support.
As a community partner, the group actively supports, integrates, innovates, and celebrates Indian cultural heritage through organising significant events, including the annual Diwali (Hindu Festival of Light) celebrations at Belfast City Hall in November.
The group also included Palestinian filmmaker Rabie Mustapha, who participated in the Northern Ireland Now project to explore the experiences of other ethnic minorities and how video storytelling can highlight these important narratives.
Many participants collected videos reflecting their journeys and experiences in Belfast, including moving from India and participating in both Irish and Indian festivals.
The videos capture vibrant moments of dancing, music, and joy from events such as the St. Patrick’s Parade in Belfast 2023 and the Diwali Festival of Light celebrations at City Hall in November 2023. The content helps demonstrate the changing identity of the city and highlights the positive cultural contributions being made by new communities.
Learning from the Project Team
Working with this group highlighted the challenges of facilitating workshops with a mix of online and in-person participants. After trialling this approach for one session, we determined that in-person workshops would be more effective moving forward.
Some participants initially identified materials from YouTube without understanding the necessary rights, which underscored the importance of learning about copyright and ownership. As part of the project, we provided valuable training on these topics, equipping participants with the skills needed to work within the framework of the Digital Film Archive.
“I learned much about the need for diversity in the archive and how to think of an archive as a living thing that can be nurtured.”
Rabie Mustapha
North Belfast
Selkies
February – April 2024
Selkies are Northern Ireland’s (and possibly Ireland’s) only all women’s sea shanty group. Formed in 2021 following lockdown, they play a vital role in preserving the maritime heritage of the Portaferry area. Their journey is also a powerful example of recent history, with videos of their early performances capturing how they came together in the aftermath of isolation.
Selkies is a female sea shanty group based in Portaferry, performing at festivals, events, and concerts. They rehearse weekly at the Portaferry Recreation Hub, which has become a central space for their musical and social activities.
The group have become an integral part of the maritime culture of their local area while also creating a welcoming space for connection and socialising after the isolation of lockdown. Their performances highlight the importance of community and connection, both for the group and the wider Portaferry community.
Project workshops frequently featured lively singing along to videos, reflecting the unity and camaraderie that has defined the group’s journey. Singing went hand-in-hand with skills building, and storytelling. Participants explored the archives, developed techniques for gathering digital materials, and worked to preserve the story of this relatively newly formed group.
Many members emphasised the importance of preserving their legacy, describing how videos showcased their visible growth from one performance to the next.
Classic songs like Mingulay and Roll the Old Chariot became points of reflection during workshop show and tell sessions, where members noted the increasing polish and confidence in their performances.
The group also highlighted the traditionally male-dominated nature of Portaferry’s maritime heritage and expressed pride in occupying this cultural space. Their presence in the Digital Film Archive serves as an important statement of inclusion and representation in this historic narrative.
Learning from the Project Team
Selkies demonstrated remarkable initiative in quickly gathering a significant collection of digital videos and recognising the importance of securely preserving these materials in one centralised location.
The relevance of preservation became particularly clear when one participant shared a cautionary experience of losing a phone prior to the first workshop, resulting in the loss of valuable content that had not been backed up. This highlighted the need to share skills around digital preservation and the processes employed by the Digital Film Archive.
Many of the videos collected by Selkies consisted of short performance clips recorded on mobile phones. As a result, a key learning from the project was the need to provide support in combining and editing these clips into fewer, longer, and more cohesive films suitable for archival purposes.
“The Northern Ireland Now Project has opened up channels and opportunities to allow us to document the current and past history of Selkies, providing links for the public to explore and watch videos and photos we have created. The rewarding element of the project is knowing we have value as women, value in our community, the opportunity to upskill and regenerate back into the community knowing our historical input and story is being heard through the medium of arts and will be accessible for many years to come in the future.”
Moira Ritchie
Portaferry
OmaghHeritageGroup
April 2024
This group, based at the Strule Arts Centre in Omagh, was composed primarily of older individuals, including some who identify as blind, deaf, or hard of hearing. Supported by colleagues from Fermanagh and Omagh District Council and formed from members of local historical societies, the group shared a deep passion for the history and culture of County Tyrone — an area they feel is often underrepresented and underfunded.
This dynamic group held workshops over four consecutive days in April 2024 at the picturesque Strule Arts Centre in Omagh. The participants were highly engaged and passionate about preserving their local history through film, capturing stories that reflect the rich heritage of the area.
The group had worked on a variety of projects, including an exhibition and showcase celebrating the showbands of Omagh and historic music venues, as well as a video exploring the history of the railways and transport in the region.
Members with connections to the HerStory initiative and the history of women in politics in Northern Ireland also contributed to the group’s efforts, adding depth and diversity to the narratives they preserved.
For this group, sharing stories of the past was seen as vital to documenting ideas and heritage while it remains possible. Their video content served as a bridge between past and present, fostering intergenerational conversations about the traditions of Omagh and County Tyrone that future generations can learn from and build upon.
Local artists, poets, and notable community figures were featured in the group’s videos. One participant, Sean Harpur, shared a deeply personal film his family made about his grandfather, Paddy Harpur, and his first guide dog. Both Sean and his grandfather shared the same degenerative eye condition, and preserving this story in an archive held great personal significance for him.
In this close-knit community, the process of learning from one another’s personal and professional stories through the videos created was profoundly meaningful.
Following the workshops, a special regional event was held in November 2024 as part of an ‘Age Friendly’ series aimed at community engagement. This event showcased a selection of the group’s videos to a public audience, sparking discussions about the importance of archives, local heritage, and the skills involved in cataloguing, while celebrating the group’s achievements in preserving their history.
Learning from the Project Team
The Omagh Heritage Group contributed a diverse range of video formats, presenting some challenges in terms of archiving and digitisation. One participant provided a DVD from 1995, which, when restored, unfortunately had lowresolution quality due to the limitations of the original recording.
Other contributions included cinefilm and 35mm films dating as far back as the 1940s, which were brought to the November 2024 event. The Project Cataloguer carefully managed participants’ expectations, as some materials included thirdparty advertising, while other content, due to its nitrate composition, was deemed unsafe and could not be accepted for preservation. These challenges highlighted some of the complexities of handling and archiving historical media.
“The Northern Ireland Now Project has given me the necessary drive and encouragement to be involved in local video productions. Through meeting with other participants, and with the support of the project staff, I have been given the skills to submit videos for consideration to be included in the NI Digital Film Archive.”
Omagh
Vincent Brogan
AnakaWomen’sCollective
April – May 2024
Anaka is a women’s collective based in North Belfast, dedicated to empowering and supporting migrant women in the city. Through community-building activities and educational programmes, they create an inclusive environment where women from diverse backgrounds can share experiences, develop skills, and advocate for their rights.
The Anaka Collective is actively involved in a wide range of initiatives, including language classes, a community garden, and educational projects. Their videos showcased this extensive community engagement, with women coming together to discuss how and why specific content should be archived.
During the workshops, participants reflected on the lack of representation of Arabic women in the Digital Film Archive and the importance of addressing this gap through their contributions. The show and tell sessions created an open space for discussion, fostering awareness of the variety of outreach and projects Anaka Collective undertakes.
Working from a rich collection of video content spanning six years, participants collaborated to select key materials for archiving. These included videos highlighting activities such as the Grow Community Garden, where many members volunteer weekly.
When exploring themes of language and identity in the archives, participants emphasised the importance of including Arabic in the Digital Film Archive. They worked together to create and translate interviews, ensuring their voices and heritage were preserved.
The workshops also empowered participants with new skills and confidence in understanding how an archive is developed, how videos are created, and how they are described. Participants learned from one another, candidly sharing their experience, and building a collective sense of purpose.
The Anaka Collective’s impactful work was celebrated at an event during the Belfast Film Festival on 8 November 2024. Held at the Black Box, the event featured a work-in-progress compilation of the group’s contemporary video materials screened before a large public audience.
A panel discussion followed with project participants explored the significance of their work and the importance of its preservation in the archive.
Learning from the Project Team
This group had a diverse range of themes they wanted to capture in their videos, which made it challenging to cover everything within the four workshop sessions. Working with an interpreter and a larger group further highlighted the limitations of a short workshop format, which often felt too brief to fully address all necessary content.
The process of gathering and cataloguing the videos extended over a longer period. This included creating subtitle files and maintaining ongoing engagement with participants to determine the best way to describe and present each of the Anaka projects.
We were also provided access to a substantial digital folder containing a wealth of shorter video materials from Anaka, accumulated over the past few years. While this archive was invaluable, it required additional time to work through the content and obtain detailed, concrete information for each video as part of the collaborative process.
“I learned the importance of documenting stories and voices that are often unheard, especially women’s voices. This made me deeply appreciate the significant role that digital archives play in preserving these narratives for future generations. The most fulfilling aspect for me was seeing the impact of teamwork and our collective efforts translated into visual and documented materials that highlight the cultural and human diversity within our communities.”
Donegal Street
Limia Ahmed
SPUDS
April – May 2024 led by sisters Susie and Karen Ingram, who both teach yoga and are deeply passionate about engaging in arts-based projects.
SPUDS is a wellness group based at the Drumcree Community Centre in Portadown, Co. Armagh. The group’s activities are largely SPUDS, which stands for ‘Simple Practical Ultimate De-Stressing’, is a wellness group based at the Drumcree Community Centre in Portadown. The group focuses on promoting mental well-being, confidence, and resilience among its participants, most of whom are working-class women.
SPUDS have undertaken several creative projects, including collaborating with Nerve Centre on a time capsule project, burying hopes and messages for the future in the front garden of the Drumcree Community Centre.
During the workshops, SPUDS engaged in exploring the Digital Film Archive, reflecting on the visual history of Portadown, particularly its representation before the conflict in Northern Ireland.
These discussions evolved into a focus on gathering videos and materials from past projects carried out at the Drumcree Community Centre, emphasising the importance of preserving their stories.
The group’s existing content was scattered across various locations, requiring considerable effort to locate and consolidate. Participants expressed a strong desire to document their reflections on the earlier time capsule project, which involved creating and burying the capsule on the centre’s grounds. Interviews were conducted on the patch of grass where the capsule was buried, linking their reflections to other video materials created by the group.
Through this process, SPUDS embraced the opportunity for self-representation within the archive, recognising the agency they had to shape how their content was described and understood. Their engagement with the project allowed them to reflect on their own history, discuss Portadown’s complex past, and consider how this is represented in the archive.
By focusing on capturing local histories, particularly of influential women connected to the Drumcree Community Centre, the group developed new skills and created compelling content that showcased the history of their community and its people. Their contributions underscored the importance of well-being, hope, and self-empowerment in preserving the legacy of their shared experiences.
Learning from the Project Team
SPUDS initially approached the idea of engaging with a Digital Film Archive with some uncertainty, as it seemed technology-focused and outside their usual scope of interest. However, through in-person facilitation and ongoing support, including regular communication over the phone, the group became actively involved. With the help of friends who had assisted with their previous filmmaking projects, they contributed valuable digital video content.
The group demonstrated a strong commitment to the concept of legacy, recognising the importance of preserving their stories for future generations. Their enthusiasm extended beyond their own activities, as participants were eager to travel and attend events with other community groups involved in the Northern Ireland Now project whenever possible. This collaborative spirit highlighted their dedication to both their own heritage and the wider community.
“Being involved in the project made my own history more accessible. A remarkable community group of working class women from Drumcree Community Centre, Portadown, were able to share and record their stories and experience of life, and learn how to have them archived for future access. The whole world of archiving was opened up to us, and would now include us! It was empowering. The people we worked with were helpful, supportive, sensitive, kind, professional, flexible and fun.”
Susie Ingram
Portadown
NorthWestCreatives
May 2024
This group consisted of Creative Media and Film students from the Nerve Centre. With diverse ages and backgrounds, the group included practising visual artists as well as individuals actively involved in the Rainbow Project and LGBTQIA+ outreach initiatives in Derry~Londonderry.
This group brought extensive experience in filmmaking, ranging from horror and comedy to documentaries exploring topics such as female mechanics and local poets.
Each member had unique interests, many of which aligned closely with the ethos of diversity central to the Northern Ireland Now project. One participant had created a documentary spotlighting a female mechanic in Derry, recognised as one of the top mechanics in the area and the only woman pursuing this vocation in her course.
Another participant, a practising visual artist, explored how film could provide an alternative perspective on their past works and exhibitions when preserved in an archive.
Similarly, a member involved in a sailing group for individuals with disabilities had produced a short film titled Sailability, highlighting this inspiring initiative.
Other participants were deeply engaged in LGBTQIA+ community work and created
a compelling behind the scenes short film about the Rainbow Project’s office space.
This thought-provoking piece sparked discussions during workshops about representation in contemporary collecting, providing valuable insights into how diverse stories are preserved and portrayed.
This group’s contributions exemplified a rich and inclusive approach to storytelling, showcasing a broad range of perspectives and fostering meaningful dialogue around representation and archival practices from those with a good understanding of film.
Learning from the Project Team
This group represented perhaps the most diverse range of participants in terms of backgrounds and interests, which initially posed a challenge in deciding which aspects of the Digital Film Archive to prioritise during the early workshops. However, this diversity quickly emerged as the group’s greatest strength.
Participants demonstrated mutual respect for one another’s work, giving each project the time and attention it deserved during show and tell screenings. Despite not being part of a formal community group, the participants had previously worked together as crew members and studied alongside one another, fostering a strong sense of collective unity. This collaboration was evident in the way they supported one another in collecting and curating video content.
To accommodate their varied interests, the approach to gathering videos was adapted, with each participant maintaining their own folder of content for cataloguing. This personalised method ensured that the unique perspectives and contributions of each individual were properly preserved and represented.
“Being part of the Northern Ireland Now Project has been a truly rewarding experience. Having my short film, Granny’s Threads accepted into the Digital Film Archive was an incredible honour, as it allowed me to share a personal story that celebrates Northern Ireland’s culture and heritage. I found it particularly valuable to know that my work contributes to preserving our unique stories for future generations, ensuring that these voices remain part of our collective memory.”
Paul Smith
Derry~Londonderry
“Through the project I was introduced to the Digital Film Archive, a valuable and fascinating resource. The session on analysing film footage and the discussions that followed were particularly informative and interesting. I’m delighted that my film will now be part of the archive and available to a wider audience.”
Sue Morris
Watch Here!
ExpressYourself Social Café
May – June 2024
The Express Yourself Social Café, held weekly at the Black Box in Belfast, is an intergenerational gathering offering a diverse range of arts-based activities and workshops designed for and led by adults with learning disabilities.
Since April 2023, the Express Yourself Social Café has fostered a vibrant creative community, enabling participants to develop skills in various creative practices while collaborating with organisations such as Pride, the Being Human Festival, NI Science Festival, and Learning Disability Pride. Participants also run and attend Black Moon, a monthly club night with DJs, held at the Belfast venue.
The group’s activities have been diverse, encompassing animation, leatherworking, ceramics, jewellery-making, painting, dancing, music, and activism. The project is designed to equip participants with foundational skills that allow them to continue exploring these art forms independently at home.
During their involvement with Northern Ireland Now, participants integrated their creative skills into workshops, using them to inform decisions about the videos they wanted to archive and the stories they wanted to preserve.
One notable project documented by the group was their Russian Dolls initiative, where they designed unique characters and narrated their creative processes. They also participated in an exhibition at the Black Box, with a launch event during Late Night Art.
The videos submitted by this group reflected their dynamic engagement with the creative space where they met weekly. These ranged from stop-motion animations to a charming compilation of clips celebrating the Black Box’s 18th birthday, showcasing the breadth of their creativity and the spirit of their community.
Learning from the Project Team
Creating a sense of ownership over the videos and archives was a key priority for this group. Decisions about which would be archived and how they would be described were made collaboratively, ensuring an interactive and inclusive process that respected everyone’s preferences.
Given the diversity of activities and the large number of participants at each meetup, we aimed to foster an open environment that was sensitive to the wishes of each creative individual regarding the use and handling of their videos.
The group contributed a wide variety of shorter clips sourced from social media and WhatsApp, offering a rich and diverse collection of digital materials. This process also provided valuable insights into organising and editing these clips. For instance, while combining footage from different participants’ activities worked well to create cohesive longer videos, it was essential to preserve each individual stop-motion animation as a standalone piece, reflecting the unique creative input of its maker.
“Express Yourself Social Café and Black Box Projects are disabled-led with a focus on selfadvocacy and empowerment of the individual. During 2024 we had the pleasure of working alongside the team from Northern Ireland Now to contribute to the archive, with a specific focus on adults from the learning-disabled community and their representation. Over several sessions, the group explored the archive, learning about what an archive is, and why it matters. The team from Northern Ireland Now worked to ensure that all information and evaluation was delivered in an accessible format for all the group’s access requirements. During the project, our intergenerational group shared footage and images from their histories and personal stories relating to the experiences of people with learning disabilities living in Northern Ireland Now. The group’s engagement was important in ensuring that the participants and their community have cultural agency and are included in this significant collective history reflecting their perspective. We would like to thank our colleagues for the invitation to be part of the project and hope to share further stories in the future.”
Deirdre McKenna
Hill Street
Bluebell Lane
April – June 2024
Bluebell Lane is a group made up of artists and storytellers, based and working predominantly in the Ring of Gullion area of rural south Armagh. They work and meet in the Bluebell Lane glamping site, which is home to a Celtic roundhouse and indigenous Irish forest.
The Bluebell Lane group brought together a diverse range of participants, including practising artists, musicians, storytellers, craftspeople, and community workers.
Bluebell Lane is a hub for traditional crafts such as basket weaving and woodturning, where skilled craftspeople are dedicated to passing on these heritage skills to both visitors and locals. Through the project, they shared their expertise by creating video materials for inclusion in the Digital Film Archive.
Members of the group have also been involved in various music and arts initiatives, including the creation of two Ring of Gullion Sessions. These online episodes, produced in partnership with the Duncairn Arts Centre in Belfast during the lockdown of 2020–2021, showcased the rich musical talents of the region.
Workshops with this group took place in a traditional wooden roundhouse nestled within the Bluebell Lane Glamping site, a setting that inspired creative ideas and knowledge-sharing about preserving the history of the Ring of Gullion and the surrounding South Armagh area.
The workshops followed a four-week structure: an introduction to the Digital Film Archive, a show and tell session focusing on their place in the archive, discussions on identity and language in the archives, and practical sessions on gathering, organising, and cataloguing videos.
This unique environment fostered the development of valuable skills, including interviewing techniques, and provided participants with the opportunity to reflect on and plan future video projects within their artistic communities.
The content gathered from this group for archiving was of exceptional quality, including lockdownera music and heritage projects, two hour-long Ring of Gullion Sessions episodes in collaboration with the Duncairn Arts Centre, and videos showcasing traditional crafts such as weaving, metalwork, and storytelling rooted in the south Armagh region.
Learning from the Project Team
Language and identity emerged as key points of discussion, particularly in how their videos were described and catalogued. Participants expressed a desire to reclaim the geographical tag of south Armagh and present it in a positive light through their contemporary videos. They reflected on the term’s historical association with negative connotations, particularly in content related to the conflict in Northern Ireland, as documented in the Digital Film Archive.
The group explored ways to shift this narrative, deciding to proudly use south Armagh as a location tag and keyword across their archived videos. This provided valuable insight into the importance of specific terminology in cataloguing contemporary content and demonstrated how language can shape perceptions of identity and place.
“Attending these workshops in such a beautiful venue was an incredibly rewarding experience. The thought and care put into the programme were evident, and it was inspiring to engage with such an important project.
At Moneydarragh, we’ve been documenting our textile group as they create a piece of wall art, and the skills and insights gained from the course have been invaluable in shaping our approach.”
Holly Hughes
Ring of Gullion
BeULGBTQIA+
May – July 2024
This group brought together LGBTQIA+ activists, historians, and community workers with a shared passion for archiving and preserving queer history. Participants included members of the BeU group, organised through the Rainbow Project Belfast and the Trans Resource Centre, as well as representatives from Here NI Belfast and the LGBTQIA+ Heritage Project. Many participants in this group regularly meet as part of the BeU social group for trans, nonbinary, and intersex individuals. Others came from the LGBTQIA+ History Project in Belfast, which has previously created videos on Places of Pride and Objects of Pride and contributed to the development of an online LGBTQIA+ history archive.
The group brought a wealth of knowledge and experience in heritage and archival work. From the outset of the workshops, it was evident that participants had a deep interest in preserving contemporary queer stories and developing an expanded language bank to better represent communities that are currently underrepresented in the Digital Film Archive.
This focus led to insightful discussions about introducing new terminology to video descriptions and the importance of candid interviews with queer community members.
These conversations underscored the critical need for inclusivity in documenting contemporary LGBTQIA+ experiences.
The group’s work culminated in a special event at the Foyle Film Festival in November 2024, where a work-in-progress compilation of videos was screened to a large public audience.
Following the screening, participants took part in a Q&A session, discussing the importance of intergenerational conversations in understanding the history of LGBTQIA+ lives, both in the present and the past.
Feedback from the event highlighted its positive impact, inspiring others to engage with the Digital Film Archive and to consider documenting the lives of those around them as a way to contribute to a richer historical record.
Learning from the Project Team
There were challenges in presenting historical video materials from the Digital Film Archive, particularly those depicting homophobic behaviour and attitudes, as these had the potential to be triggering for participants. To address this sensitively, we adopted a cautious approach by previewing content for a few minutes and then checking in with participants to determine whether they wished to continue viewing.
This open discussion created a safe space for individuals to express discomfort if needed. Ultimately, the group collectively agreed that it was important to engage with these older materials, using them as a basis for discussion and learning. This approach fostered meaningful conversations about the past while respecting the well-being of all participants.
“I think as a group of different ages, with people in their earlymid 20s up to their early 50s, it acted as a great cross generational activity. With the older ones being able to open up more about their experiences as much as the younger ones with what it’s been like today. It was truly impactful to feel like our stories mattered and that the Northern Ireland Now Project were genuinely interested in trans inclusion (rather than just a simple tick box). As the facilitator of BeU I really appreciated seeing a couple of members really take the project further than I’d anticipated. It was great to see them work with purpose and dedication together.”
Leo Lardie
Watch Here!
MoneydarraghHub
October 2024
Moneydarragh hub is a community space, located in rural County Down in the Mourne Mountains close to Annalong that provides outreach and activities for locals and visitors.
Participants from the Moneydarragh Hub recommended collaborating with a group of young people who had previously been involved in creative and filmmaking projects.
Moneydarragh has hosted numerous youth programmes in recent years, engaging children aged 8–18 in arts and filmmaking workshops. These initiatives have resulted in animations and short films that reflect the participants’ interests and showcase the local landscape.
The youth group for this project consisted of participants aged 8–14 who shared an interest in archives, films, and collaborative work. Over three extended workshop days during the Halloween half-term, the group explored the archives through interactive sessions involving group work and practical exercises designed to bring each aspect of the material to life.
The young participants engaged with the work of the Spence Brothers in the archives, considering how they might create their own genre films while incorporating stories about their local area and its history.
Their contributions included short horror films and informative interview pieces exploring the mythology of the surrounding Mourne Mountains.
This dynamic approach enabled the group to blend creativity with historical exploration, resulting in a collection of engaging and meaningful content.
Learning from the Project Team
The younger age range of this group meant we had to develop new strategies for engagement and how to bring the archives to life. Through a focus on a spooky Halloween theme and viewing content from the Digital Film Archive that reflected this as well as young people’s perspectives, this group really engaged in how videos could be archived for the enjoyment and education for everyone.
“The programme gave young people new perspectives on what film is today and what it can potentially become. For some group members this project may have positively influenced future education and career decisions. It was fantastic to see young people engage with film and collaborate to explore their surroundings in our rural area.”
Claire Mooney
Mourne Mountains
Wall2WallGroup
October 2025
The Wall2Wall Group is a youth project for 16 - 20 year olds from the Shankill and Clonard, who live either side of the Peace Walls in Belfast and have come together to meet and build personal and leadership skills. This group is run by Springboard Opportunities, a youth and outreach organisation with over 30 years of experience fostering cross-community relations in Belfast and across Northern Ireland.
The Wall2Wall group participated in various trips and workshops to deepen their understanding of peace walls and divisions, both locally and internationally. In September 2024, the young people embarked on a week-long visit to the hard border in Cyprus, gaining insight into the differences between the situation there and their own experiences in Belfast.
Many of their videos reflected on this transformative exchange, and a range of content from the Wall2Wall Cyprus trip has been preserved in the Digital Film Archive.
The young participants engaged enthusiastically with the archives, particularly exploring how young people have been represented over time and examining different political perspectives, both past and present.
As part of the project, a collaboration with Belfast Exposed and Springboard Opportunities culminated in a special exhibition launch at 2 Royal Avenue in Belfast in October 2024. This event showcased participants’ photographs from the Cyprus trip alongside screens displaying video content gathered during the project.
At the launch, young participants spoke confidently to the camera about their experience of contributing to Northern Ireland’s history and how the project had encouraged them to reflect on the video content they create and the legacy it leaves behind. The exhibition highlighted the group’s meaningful contributions and their engagement with themes of division, identity, and community-building.
Learning from the Project Team
With this group we engaged through youth workers and numbers in the room fluctuated from week to week. Whilst this posed challenges in terms of making sure every participant could understand and engage with the Northern Ireland Now Project, it was evident that those in the room were very invested in their own legacy through moving image. This really came across in how eloquently participants spoke in interviews and in video materials they submitted.
“From a young person’s perspective, being part of the project has opened their eyes to see the archive footage and how easy it is to access. Working on this has had a profound impact, the most valuable thing has been the fact that young people and their work is being showcased.”
Lanark Way
Sam McCaw
