Filmmaking with Refugees (FREE)
A five-week collaborative filmmaking programme delivered by Lancaster University in partnership with Global Link, empowering refugees and asylum seekers to develop filmmaking skills and create original short films.
Professor Bruce Bennet, Professor Emma Rose and Dr Maryam Ghorbankarimi
FREE is a collaborative filmmaking programme developed by Lancaster University in partnership with Global Link, Lancaster. Global Link recruits refugee and asylum-seeking participants, while the university delivers an intensive five-week programme combining film education, practical workshops, and collaborative production.
Participants work in small teams to produce an original short film inspired by their experiences of place, community, and everyday life in Lancaster and the North West. The programme concludes with a public screening at The Dukes Cinema.
Week 1 – Encounter
📷 Liverpool (Years 1 & 3) / Blackpool (Year 2)
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Team-building day trip
- Gallery and cinema visit
- Exploring the city together
- Photography exercise
Participants photograph the city from their own perspective. These photographs become the starting point for later discussions about observation, place, and visual storytelling.
Week 2/3 – Workshops
- Slideshow of participants' photographs
- Documentary lecture
- Introduction to the City Symphony
- Camera workshop
- Cinematography lecture
- Sound workshop
- Editing workshop (Adobe Creative Cloud)
- Developing film ideas Group planning
We begin by collectively viewing the photographs taken during the field trip. This encourages discussion about perspective, composition, movement, and how different people see the same place. These conversations naturally lead into documentary cinema and the City Symphony tradition before participants begin filming themselves.
Week 4 – Production/Post-Production/Screening
- Filming on location
- Group editing
- Tutor feedback
- Final cut
- Screening
FILMS
Other Film Projects