Free smartphone / tablet filmmaking tutorials online for young people in Derry & Donegal

The online event is organised by Póca Productions and will be hosted by the Nerve Centre.

The programme is split across two weekends. Session One begins this Saturday, January 30 from 11am-3pm. Session Two is the following week on Saturday, February 6 from 11am-2pm.

It comes as part of the ‘Making the Future’ project which has been running for two years and is funded by Peace IV. The project is in partnership with the Nerve Centre, the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) and the National Museums NI.

Laura Aguiar is one of the founders and co-directors of the Rathmullan Film Festival. She also works for Making the Future project as a Community Engagement Officer. Laura believes this event will “help people engage with themselves”.

“For the past three years I’ve combined my full time job (Making the Future) with the film festival,” she said. “So for this year we’re doing this filmmaking programme for young people. We’re doing that in partnership with another festival called ‘Make Film History Project’, which is between University College of Cork and Kingston University in England.”

“They’ve been working with several film archives across Ireland and the UK. That project is about making archives accessible to film students. Of course, film archives are very expensive and hard to reach.”

Aspiring filmmakers will be shown the skills needed to create their own documentary-style film.

The programme will involve accessing moving image portals like IFI Player, BFI Player and BBC iPlayer to view archive footage in order to create an original piece of work.

The programme also includes a Q+A with critically acclaimed filmmaker Tadhg O’Sullivan. He is a film-maker, editor and sound designer based in Carlow. Mr. O’Sullivan’s work has been regularly supported by the Irish Film Board and the Arts Council of Ireland. In 2015 he was recipient of the Art Council’s film bursary.

With the lockdown measures currently in place, Laura has had to shift things online, whereas before people would’ve been invited to come into a facility like the Nerve Centre to take part in these workshop events.

Laura believes there is “something to be said for virtual programs.”

“It allows you to bring people together more easily,” she said.

“This programme is about giving people from Derry and Donegal a chance to engage with archival material from the two areas.

“We have six clips that were selected by the IFI, the BFI and the BBC for the participants to watch, to either be inspired by this material, or to reuse this material in their films. There are going to be given two weeks to make a film!”

As numbers are limited, people have been asked to sign up early to avoid disappointment. For more details, or to discuss any disability access requirements, please contact Laura Aguiar: [email protected]