After speaking about my film project to some people involved with Cowslip Sunday, I was forwarded some information about a thing called the 'Speak Up Film Fund' - run by The Community Film Unit (via The Arts Council).
The Community Film Unit aims to support voluntary organisations across England who have a film-based project that shows dedication towards their local communities. It will support between 20-50% of the costs of a film-based project.
There are various criteria for eligibility for the fund but for the purposes of my project the relevant one would be that the film aims to:
Preserve local history, and educates residents about their local area.
It has all been a bit last-minute (having only heard of the fund a couple of weeks ago) but I have cobbled together an application for the fund – which I emailed on Friday 2 March (the application deadline date). The process was slightly complicated by the fact that my own film project had no actual budget. To qualify for the fund I felt I needed to contact some experienced film-maker(s) to see whether they might be interested in collaborating on the project – and if so they're involvement might be an expense that the Speak Up fund could help with.
So I emailed the Head of Film Production at Broadway Media Centre in Nottingham – Owen Davies. He was kind enough to express enthusiasm for the project – and suggested another local film-maker who he felt would also be interested in the project; the memorably monikered Roger Knott-Fayle. I met with Roger and he was indeed interested – so we will wait to see what happens with our application.
If the project I'm involved with is lucky enough to receive some funding, it will mean that myself (along with anyone else the village who is interested) might get the opportunity to work with a professional film-maker - to develop film-making skills that might prove useful now and in the future. Obviously from my perspective this would be another ideal example of a 'creative collaboration'.
If the Speak Up fund comes to fruition my idea would be to still press on with my own 'experimental' film – but also to hopefully be involved with an additional (and possibly overlapping) film produced in collaboration with an experienced film-maker.
