In July and August 2005, twenty-five young people from Peterborough and Coventry came together in their respective cities to become film-makers. Between them, they made six short films exploring who they were, where they lived and the things that were important to them.

With the help of professional film-makers, the young people took responsibility for every aspect of the film-making, from script-writing and story-boarding, to filming, floor-managing and shouting ‘CUT!’. The ideas contained in the films are entirely their own.

It is not only the young people’s films that are remarkable, but also the powerful story of their film-making summer. focUS – connecting futures was designed to bring young people together with those they may have felt different from or unfamiliar with, and to build understanding.

At the beginning of the summer, there were two groups of young people in each city, one made up of young people from the local community and the other of young asylum seekers and/or refugees. Initially, each of these groups made a first film. Halfway through the project, via a team-building day, they came together to make another.

Having a common creative enterprise gave the young people a reason to get to know each other. They were not only involved in film-making but in activities, games, discussions, and interviews, in exploring themes of community, stereotyping and belonging, in chatting over lunch and in hanging out together. Supported by a researcher, the young people reflected on the process of building understanding. The detailed story of this process, along with other project info, can be found here.

focUS – connecting futures was a partnership project between ICAR, the Information Centre about Asylum and Refugees, Frontline AV and Living Lens. The team is very grateful to the project funders, the Camelot Foundation, Comic Relief and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
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