The Beacon Hill Film Project
The Beacon Hill Film Project is a group of young people with learning disabilities who make their own films from script to screen. They script, film and edit their work with mentoring and support, and also make the props, design the costumes and compose the music. Find out more about us below!
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About the Beacon Hill Film Project
The multi award-winning Beacon Hill Film Project enables young people with learning difficulties and autism to create their own films from script to screen. Their work has received critical acclaim, has been showcased at international film festivals and aired on national television.
The project is a partnership between Arpeggio Films and the Post 16 department of Beacon Hill Business and Enterprise College in North Tyneside. We are proud to have worked with Beacon Hill since 2005 thanks to support from Creative Partnerships, North Tyneside Council and the UK Film Council's First Light Intitiative.
We have now embarked on our latest project: the creation of three short films for a national website. They will cover three issues from the perspective of having a learning difficulty: independent travel, love and relationships and Makaton, the sign language used by people with learning difficulties. Our latest project is funded by Media Box, Beacon Hill Business and Enterprise College, North Tyneside Council and the RW Mann Trust.
2009 and 2010 have brought exciting achievements for the Beacon Hill Film Project. It began in late 2009, when then group's film "The Middle of Nowhere" was nominated "Best Emerging Talent" at Fresh Flix, part of Encounters: the largest professional short film festival in the UK.
Then, in the space of a month, another of the group's films: "The Pirate and the Mermaid" won both the National Young Filmmakers Award, and a First Light Award for Best Original Music.
Then in July this year, we discovered that the same film had been selected for the UK Future Filmmakers Festival. Curated by the BFI, this involved "The Pirate and the Mermaid" being screened simultaneously at 10 venues across the UK, including the BFI Southbank, Tyneside Cinema and Glasgow Film Theatre.
Examples of the group's latest work
The Middle of Nowhere is all about three intrepid explorers, who just so happen to have their birthdays on the same day. One year, they receive a strange telephone call telling them to take the bus to the 'Middle of Nowhere'. They arrive at their barren and windswept destination to be met by a rather unusual birthday surprise.
> NOMINATED Best Emerging Talent at FreshFlix: Encounters 2009.
The Pirate and the Mermaid is about Danny the Pirate who, whilst surveying the seven seas through his telescope, spots Annabelle the Mermaid and immediately falls in love. However trouble looms when they decide to get married and return to dry land.
> WINNER Best Original Music at the UK Film Council First Light Awards. Students and project staff attended the ceremony at the Odeon Leicester Square in March 2010.
> WINNER National Young Filmmakers Award, part of the Leeds Young People's Film Festival. April 2010.
Copies of the DVD are now available. In addition to the two main films, there are plenty of special features including a documentary about the project, and the group's previous work. To obtain a copy of the DVD please contact Justina Duggan for more information by clicking here.
'I liked working with the camera and finding out about the different
shots and being able to use the mic and boom.'
- Stephen Thompson - Age 17
'I liked acting in the films and would like to get more exposure and become a film star.'
- Stephanie Nicholas - Age 17
'Making the films was fun, but also a lot of very hard work.'
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Connor Rathbone - Age 18
Will Sadler, Project Manager, 'These two films profile the young people's remarkable ability to create enchanting characters and unique stories, limited only by their vivid imaginations. It has been a pleasure working with the group on this project and we are looking forward to our next!'
Leigh Thomas, CEO, First Light 'The Pirate and the Mermaid and The Middle of Nowhere are perfect examples of the creativity and originality that First Light strives to generate in young people. The young filmmakers should feel very proud of themselves.'
Helen Jones, Head teacher at Beacon Hill School - 'I'm aware of all the hard work, students staff and colleagues from Arpeggio films have put into this project and it's also been such great fun for our young people.'
BHFP's previous project, Beautiful Life was shortlisted Best Drama at the UK Film Council First Light Awards (attended by Davina McCall, Kevin Spacey and Sir Ian McKellan), selected for screening at the Co-operative Film Festival (National Media Museum, Bradford) and Xhibit 2008. It received a national TV broadcast and was screened at the Tyneside Cinema as a short before main features during March 2008.
To find out more about the Beacon Hill Film Project or find out how you can support our work, please contact Will Sadler via our contact page.
Find our more about Arpeggio Films by visiting our main site.
