Community TV Trust – BEYOND THE MAINSTREAM

Featured

Stop & Search and Knife Crime

“What If?”

This short film, a co-production with Elevated Minds CIC, explores Stop & Search and the perennial request for respect.

Can relationships with the Met Police improve? Beautifully written and narrated by Alessandro Quao, it premiered in Brixton at the Family Summit, an event staged by Elevated Minds in October 2023.

“Future Hear”

Coming from Charterhouse Youth Club in 2004, here is George rapping his thoughts around drugs and violence and how to live life.

“CHANGE OF THOUGHT” [cert 12A, 73 mins, 2022]

“There’s 3 paths: dead – jail – or a bounty on your head.”

This film features three Southwark boys facing permanent exclusion who then created and delivered training sessions to London’s Met Police recruits.

Here is a trailer. Alternatively watch the film:

Feedback: “It’s a very important film” …“shows what can be changed with the right intervention at the right time” …”Javell made it – there is hope in your film ! :)” … “I did wonder if black kids could do some training exercises for teachers as well as for the police” … “a well told story!” … “I was encouraged and troubled by all of this” …

This film is the final output of LET’S TALK, CTVT’s 4-year project looking for breakthrough initiatives to confront knife crime and youth violence. We ran Forums in schools and youth clubs from 2019, produced discussion videos during lockdown, and in September 2022 launched “CHANGE OF THOUGHT” at Peckham & Nunhead Free Film Festival.

Voices in the documentary:

Doreen Sinclair-McCollin, CEO of Elevated Minds which aims to create sustainable change between Black communities and the Police

Javell, Reuben, Emmanuel

Javell’s mother Erveline

Emmanuel’s mother Adama

young people from local schools

barrister Stephen Akinsanya

playground manager Stephney Bent

Sherifa Carr, Passion For Change

Sayce Holmes-Lewis, Mentivity.

See also LET’S TALK Video Report 2020.

Community TV Trust [CTVT] offers media training & filmmaking in schools and PRUs and in workshops for the disabled and marginalised. Engaging young people in open-ended creative work, links Community to Education.

Featured

Southwark.TV Report available for download

“An open-minded, fun and accessible community ‘TV’ service, run as a forum for debate, the supply of information and promotion of local initiatives, talent and needs, has a vital role to play in multi-cultural, multi-faith C21st century Britain. Digital/cable TV and new media will be playing their part in urban regeneration and social cohesion.”

Community TV Trust from its launch in 1999 sought ways to innovative in community media. How might engagement be achieved?

Southwark.TV – a ‘horizontal’ community project – ran from a pilot in early 2003 to 2014 when the site was archived. You can find it under the CTVT Projects menu or click HERE to read it. Once you have read the report you can also browse the Southwark.TV website from HERE

It foresaw the rise of social media and online activity, shifting away from mainstream media to portable/mobile devices and citizen journalism.

Plans in 2024 – Southwark.TV Festival of Film & Video

In 2o24 we are planning

[A] a 5-day event in February, the “Southwark.TV Festival of Film & Local Media” celebrating –

21 years of work across the London Borough of Southwark in local media
a large web-based project called “Southwark.TV” launched in Feb 2003

This will be built around 4 themes: YOUTH, MENTAL HEALTH & DISABILITY, COMMUNITY, FILM & LOCAL MEDIA.

Two key partners are –

Doreen Sinclair-McCollin, CEO and Founder of Elevated Minds CIC
Michelle Baharier FRSA, formerly of Cooltan Arts and a founding partner in “Southwark.TV”.

Launching the Festival will be a documentary “from Local to Social”, examining the 20-year journey of media making, from pre-YouTube and Facebook to current times dominated by social media and smart phones. It will celebrate the huge archive Community TV Trust created during its time running “Southwark.TV”. Films from young and old with the Chaplinesque “Puddle” from Southwark Pensioners Action Group, genuine young voices such as George rapping his “Future Hear” thoughts, “Alien Abductions” and “Gangs on the Green” from Primary Schools; film drama “Decisions” and “Choices” from Secondary School pupils; arthouse films from local filmmakers. There’s plenty of serious stuff too – on Healthy Eating, Islam in Southwark, Irish Travellers, Knife Crime – talent everywhere.

Council-managed Southwark Archives have recently taken delivery of 45 DV tapes of rushes and edited films from the early years of “Southwark.TV” donated by CTVT and now available down the years Southwark Archives also hold a number of our longer form films and documentaries.

[B] There are proposals to re-launch “Southwark.TV” next year in a new guise though still online. Discussions are under way examining partnership ideas with a company already active in 9 London Boroughs. Opportunities for media-savvy volunteers would be a big part of the package.

More news as we get it …

[C] We also have a commission to produce a film for the campaigning Devon-based Chardstock Eco Group next spring/summer.

BBD3 film

“Belt, Braces & Disability 3”

This film, produced by Troy, Rachel and Daniel, was two years in the making, partly due to the pandemic. It features three remarkable people each of whom has shown that disability can be an inspiring sphere of human life just as it can be difficult, bullied and disadvantaged. Lisa says,

“It’s shocking the standards that disabled people have to put up with and in this day and age, but to be honest it wasn’t that surprising to me, as someone who cares for a person with a disability. I loved the film’s life affirming message.”

One participant, Ralph, said: “it’s a shame we have to fight so hard to get our voices heard.”

It is the third in the “Belt, Braces & Disability” series dating back to 2010&2017. All three largely autobiographical films were directed by Chris Haydon.

This film features

former Paralympian Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson
campaigning Baroness Jane Campbell, a legendary fighter for disability rights … both sit in the House of Lords on the Cross Benches
former bank manager Mike Newman who was born blind, became a bank manager and now runs a charity for disabled people to try their hand at driving a racing car on a racetrack. He set world land and water speed records in excess of 200mph and 100mph respectively.

It launched on World Disability Day Saturday 3 December 2022.

BROOKWOOD: The Living and The Dead

CTVT’s documentary, produced with Ole Jensen who brought the recent Millwall FC film project, explores the world of minority burial grounds and Victorian foundations of today’s multicultural Britain.

There are powerful stories in this film of migration, sometimes over centuries, of refugees fleeing war, of economic migrants who find they have put down roots and stay, of community, of respect and love.

EMILY WILDING DAVISON

In the second half of 2021 we produced a film about a sculpture project created in Epsom, Surrey. It was to commemorate the suffragette famous for having died under the hooves of the King’s horse in the 1913 Epsom Derby. This was not the full story of a brave and committed campaigner who played a role in changing British society. The sculptor is Christine Charlesworth. Her work now sits in Epsom Town Centre and is greatly enjoyed.

LET’S TALK filmed a Musical and a Drama

LET’S TALK filmed is scenes from a musical written, composed and performed by students at Harris Academy Peckham. The script came from real life and the murder of a former pupil in south London when he tried to intervene in a fight.

This formed part of the film screening in autumn 2019 of schools and youth clubs in Southwark.

Filming also took place of “One Road, Two Paths“, a powerful drama by local company Movement Factory, a Peckham-based dance group for 11-19 year olds. Five dancers from the company attended the final LET’S TALK Forum at HAP and performed extracts from their production. Here’s the film:

Filmed & edited by CTVT

CTVT grown up!

Community TV Trust is in its twenties and is doing what it set out to do – supporting people and telling stories. Currently we are planning the celebratory Festival of Film & Local Media in February 2024. A year ago we were wrapping up our 4-year knife crime project LET’S TALK which has its own website: letstalkknifecrime.org but has examples of work on this site.

Pictured above, a media group shooting an interview at Freewheelers Theatre & Media Company in Leatherhead, Surrey.