Join us for FREE film-making and photography workshops at the SwanComm Film Festival taking this Saturday, July 15th from 1:30 – 5 pm!
Back for the second year running the festival is kindly being hosted by the National Waterfront Museum and will feature premier films made during community film-making workshops, Q+A’s with film-makers and free film-making and photography workshops (register for a place here).
The culmination of Locws International’s Creative Participation Programme, the festival is organised and run entirely by participants from the programme which was a collaborative project between Locws International and Communities First. The project saw children, young people and adults throughout Swansea gain creative film-making skills and enabled community members to come together to learn the theory and technical skills of making films as diverse as documentary, comic-horror, and silent movies. Under the engaging instruction of local filmmaker and editor Jamie Panton the groups gained skills in interview techniques, camerawork, directing, animation, filming on location, lighting and audio, and how to create the mise-en-scène. All in all, nine film-making courses were held and were attended by participants from Communities First areas, EYST, the African Community Centre and Blaenymaes Primary School and participants over the age of 16 were also given the opportunity to gain accreditations courtesy of Adult Learning Wales.
Siân Parker-Martin, Arts Outreach Co-ordinator for Locws International said, “The classes brought together people with a variety of backgrounds, abilities and ages, forging deeply needed connections within Swansea’s increasingly diverse and disparate communities.
Participants from the courses thoroughly enjoyed the whole process and the films produced by the groups really are fantastic and they should be really proud of their achievements. The project gives communities throughout Swansea a vital opportunity to come together to learn film-making skills, discuss and create films on subjects and issues of their choosing. We ensure that our film-making courses are always driven by what the group wants so this year we have a huge range of films which will be premiered at our free SwanComm Film Festival taking place at the National Waterfront Museum on July 15th.”
SwanComm Festival aims to bring the City together to hear the voices of the community as they talk about their experiences of living in Swansea, explore this year’s theme of the Year of Legends, and make people laugh. Some of the films were made by children for children, and some are more suitable for over 12’s like B-movie horror romp ‘Zombie Sharks’, but the festival has been designed to be a family event, complete with a Q&A after the screenings to discuss the films with those who made them. There will also be filmmaking workshops where people can have a go at making a short film, which will be available to view on YouTube post event.
Siân went on to say:
“We want SwanComm to continue to grow and our objective is that this event inspires more people to get involved with their local community and get creative. It’s a measure of success that a large percentage of this year’s participants are returning learners from last year, and we aim to get enough interest from budding filmmakers to make this an ongoing entity.
Come and join us at the National Waterfront Museum on 15th July 1.30-5pm for films, workshops, fun and great prizes to see what all the talk is about!”
This project was supported by funding received from Arts Council Wales, Welsh Government and the Big Lottery and was run in collaboration with Swansea Communities First, Adult Learning Wales and the National Waterfront Museum.