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.

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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.

“LET’S TALK” Knife Crime Discussion Forums

Community TV Trust won funding from The Peckham Settlement to run “LET’S TALK”, a project on knife crime, in early 2019. The programme of discussion forums for young people to speak at has now concluded. Work on production of a documentary film and two performance films to tour Southwark and south London has begun. These will certainly stimulate thought and debate and inspire other young people.

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Here is a short film introducing the Southwark world of knife crime as registered by its young people across the LET’S TALK Forums:

The 2019 series of Discussion Forums started at Surrey Square Primary School in January to listen to young people aged ten or eleven; moved to Bermondsey’s Bede Youth Adventure Project in early February to hear from 13 year olds, and in late February met 16 year old students at Harris Academy Peckham in central Southwark. LET’S TALK returned to HAP for the fifth and final Forum in early July.

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The key ingredient throughout was the Panel of professionals invited by Community TV Trust to attend the Forums and listen to how young people described their world. The Panel convened in March to deliberate over what they had heard and consider what actions to take.

Panel members at the final Forum comprised a Deputy Director of Policy and the Ministry of Justice, a QC who sits as a Judge, a youth pastor, a Stop & Search consultant,  a music teacher and an academic, with Chris Haydon, Director of Community TV Trust as chair. All spoke about their ideas and actions:

1  bereaved parents of a recent Harris pupil were enabled to meet the Prime Minister as a direct result of two panel members speaking together;

2  an academic studying the policing of Southwark suggested a controversial idea* – no longer using the Police to combat knife crime … but all other agencies instead should get involved, namely parents schools youth services and so on;

3  Stop & Search required both parties to learn to be more respectful of each other, Police officers as much as young people;

4  Educating Parents was requested by Harris students and CTVT has agreed to host a website and YouTube channel with students driving content generation. CTVT will seek funding for this expansion of LET’S TALK;

5  Young people were urged to communicate more with the Police;

6  All were urged to provide care for victims, and this included families of perpetrators as well as of the victims. One Panel member spoke of her personal loss through a knife crime and her sorrow contemplating the convicted killer’s family who effectively lost their son too, as he will spend the next twenty five years in prison.

Community TV Trust wishes to thank its partners for this successful first year of discussion forums: they are Surrey Square Primary School, Bede Youth Adventure Project, Harris Academy Peckham. Each partner played host to one of the series of Forums.

*CTVT will publish this proposal in full as soon as possible.

LET’S TALK Knife Crime Project 2019-2022

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

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

This documentary film features Southwark boys facing permanent school exclusion who now deliver training sessions to London’s 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” … “I did wonder if black kids could do some training exercises for teachers as well as for the police.” … “a  well told story, congratulations!” … “it’s really good that Javell made it, among other young people featured in your film – there is hope in your film ! :)” … … “I was both encouraged and troubled by all of this” …

Elevated Minds, run by Doreen Sinclair-McCollin, coached the boys and aims to create sustainable change between Black communities and the Police. The film itself is the final output of LET’S TALK, CTVT’s 4-year project looking for breakthrough initiatives to confront knife crime and youth violence. It ran Forums in schools and youth clubs from 2019, produced discussion videos during lockdown, and in September 2022 launched “CHANGE OF THOUGHT” at Peckhamplex cinema as part of Peckham & Nunhead Free Film Festival.

Voices in the documentary alongside Doreen Sinclair-McCollin, CEO of Elevated Minds, include many young people from local schools – Harris Academy Peckham and Surrey Square Primary School,  plus barrister Stephen Akinsanya, playground manager Stephney Bent, Sherifa Carr of Passion For Change, and Sayce Holmes-Lewis of Mentivity.

LET’S TALK videos LT#8 and LT#9 have been dedicated to this work.            Check them out on the Films page of the LET’S TALK project website.

LET’S TALK produced a range of videos across 2021 with young people and professionals. Across 2020 five out of six events involving schools and youth clubs took place as planned before the national lockdown. 

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.

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CTVT has produced a large number of videos, film dramas and documentaries, including a one-hour film, “It’s A Cavendish Thing”, with students and staff at Cavendish School in Bermondsey.

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Chris Haydon, who founded Community TV Trust in 1999, worked in broadcast TV as a director and producer, learning his trade as a documentary filmmaker on 16mm at Granada TV in Manchester.