There are the 5 basic plots in the movies we like to watch - Love overcomes obstacles; the hero overcomes oppression; personal redemption; a journey, the twist. But life isn't like that, is it?
In life stuff happens: some of it good, some of it bad and most of the time there's no neat ending...stuff goes on. Sometimes we feel like we know where we are going and sometimes we lose the plot.
What if we made a film about stuff happening and we decided to make it about stuff happening to us. Then to make it more interesting we made stuff happen for us - we decided to overcome some oppression we experience; we went on a journey; we found out what we loved to do and overcame the obstacles to doing it. We might even have some personal redemption – getting to feel better about ourselves, in the process.
STUFF HAPPENS is a film project where 25 young people who are not in employment, education or training and who live in 5 different parts of Wales (Denbighshire, Porthmadog, Blaenau Gwent, Merthyr Tydfil and Rhondda Cynon Taff) make a documentary film about their lives and what happens when they change the plot.
Each participant will -
- help make and edit a film.
- go abroad on a one week European youth exchange where they will do workshops in one of several performing arts activities – such as street dance, African drumming, drama, music making etc and put on a performance.
- put on a premier of the film in their local area and invite friends, family and local dignitaries.
The five films will then be edited into one which will be premiered in Cardiff and all 25 invited to celebrate the story of the project and its effect on their lives.
What's the twist? There isn't one. As part of the Reach the Heights project it's funded by the Arts Council of Wales and European Convergence Programme through the welsh Assembly Government. So it's all free.
If you are interested in taking part in the project and are currently between 16 – 19 years old and not in education, employment or training contact your local Rathbone office by 20th April 2012.
