Aims and objectives

Empowering young people of all backgrounds through innovative training,
to develop and contribute to local economic regeneration.

Aims and objectives

The Trust aims to empower young people of all backgrounds through its innovative training programme, enabling its learners to develop and contribute to the economic regeneration of its area.

Through skills training and job opportunities, learners can develop the skills and knowledge to lead to sustainable, financially rewarding and meaningful employment in the broadcasting, film and cultural industries - the second largest growth sector in the capital.

Each Filmworks project is produced and commissioned from a variety of sources working in collaboration with various community organisations (schools, youth clubs, job centres etc); specialist bodies (Tower Hamlets Film Office, London Film & Video Development Agency etc); Industry Film & Television training organisations (Channel Four, BBC TV etc); and local media companies (Primal Pictures, Team Pictures, Four Corners, Newham College, Hi8Us, various diary agents etc).

Initially commencing with low-budget short length digital-videos, the overall aim is to work alongside its learners to produce commercially viable short-length narrative drama for national and global television/cinema/internet exhibition.

The Filmworks projects primarily supports unemployed and low-income ethnic minorities toward gaining ICT skills and increase confidences in the acquisition of basic skills. Other eligible ESF beneficiaries will also be considered - ensuring an equality of opportunity that is embedded in the Filmworks selection process.

Working in collaboration with a variety of local community groups the aim of each project is to create imaginative and 'cuttin' edge' writing and short films - documentary, fiction, non-fiction or other - whereby learners are neither passive actors nor passive documentary subjects. Instead, individuals learn to mine their imaginations, cultivate their creativity, and develop fluency in the techniques of cinematic and broadcast representation. In turn, learners emerge, alongside their workshop facilitators, as full creative collaborators. Developing their own narratives - using community members as actors, and utilising their local world as sets and locations, graduates of the Filmworks training programmes are empowered to represent their own communities, develop personal imaginations through the moving image, and gain technical experience in the process of documentary and fiction film writing and production.

The conclusion of each project provides each learner with a quality standard video production and the opportunity to exhibit their work via local, national and global television/cinema/internet outlets. The scripts and projects produced, in turn, enables each learner to seek employment opportunities into the community and commercial media sectors via using their work as 'calling cards'.

Furthermore, each learner is eligible to gain accredited qualifications through Skill Set (the National Training Organisation for Broadcast, Film, Video and Interactive Media Industry), or Open College Network.

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Equality of opportunity

The Filmworks projects primarily supports unemployed and low-income ethnic minorities toward gaining ICT skills and increase confidences in the acquisition of basic skills. Other eligible ESF beneficiaries will also be considered - ensuring an equality of opportunity that is embedded in the Filmworks selection process.