Supporting the World Film Collective

Tue 24 Nov 2009

We are very happy to announce that the World Film Collective is supporting our event. They are helping us to produce some rolling video featuring some of their films to make the most of the BFI venue facilities during the breaks. Here’s the low down on the project, something we are hugely excited to share with you…

Doing good with mobiles…

World Film Collective (WFC) teaches simple and sustainable filmmaking to disadvantaged young people around the world, giving them the freedom to represent themselves to a global audience, and the knowledge and skills to do so.

Using mobile phones, WFC teaches young people in Brazil, Palestine, South Africa and the UK how to make short films during a series of workshops. Each workshop lasts for 50 hours during which time participants learn the filmmaking process from beginning to end.

Each film they produce is shot entirely on a mobile phone and edited using free-editing software.

WFC partners with local organisations to help deliver the workshops. Local film and drama professionals are trained by WFC and employed to teach the workshop. Participants are encouraged to make films on a subject matter that is relevant to them and the results so far have been engaging and expressive films from fictional shorts to documentaries.

WFC work so far

In just 18months, WFC has delivered 13 workshops across four continents. This has included working in the favelas of Rio, refugee camps in Palestine, townships in South Africa, an orphanage in Russia and young people at risk of exclusion from school in the UK.

As a result of WFC workshops, one student has been offered an internship with a production company in Johannesburg; a student has taken up placement with a film company in Cape Town; students from East London have received an NVQ Level 1 in Media & Visual Arts; and three participants were commissioned to make a film which was screened at the MobileActive conference in Johannesburg.

Film Distribution

By giving participants the skills to make short films, WFC is helping to harness the potential of the internet and mobile phones for film education, cultural exchange and creative interaction.

WFC is building its social-networking presence and intends to create its own internet-sharing platform to continue the dissemination of the films produced by workshop participants. The WFC website currently features films produced by our participants of which the following three films are highly recommended.

South Africa: Trains

Shot on a Nokia 6010 camera phone, this is a documentary about the issues of public transport in South Africa….

http://www.worldfilmcollective.com/films.htm?film_id=55

Palestine: Leila’s Story

Shot on a Nokia 3120 camera phone, this is a fictional story about the challenges of falling in love in the Palestinian society, an issue that workshop participants wanted to share…

http://www.worldfilmcollective.com/films.htm?film_id=27

Brazil: Interviews in the favela

Shot on a Nokia 6010 camera phone, this documentary focuses on the key members of the Morros dos Prazeres favela in Rio and their thoughts on the future of youth in society…

http://www.worldfilmcollective.com/films.htm?film_id=64

How you can help

WFC would like to continue to generate sustainable work in its programme countries and to do so will need access to mobile phones. The phones WFC uses have a minimum of 2 mega-pixel cameras or above to ensure the highest quality of film.

If you would like to contact WFC to get involved, please visit www.worldfilmcollective.com or email info@worldfilmcollective.com for further information. You can also follow the latest progress of workshops on twitter, facebook, myspace, youtube and zoopy to hear about the outcomes of WFC’s current workshops in City of God (Brazil), Nablus (Palestine) and East London (UK).