Young Creators UK’s Post

My favorite film of this festival is Village Keeper. From my review: "Village Keeper is a film that goes beyond trauma into the story of recovery and connection to joy, setting a new standard in storytelling." Please click the link below to read the entire review. #TIFF #filmreview #blackfilms

So many people I've spoken to in the last few days have been feeling angry, sad, overwhelmed by the race riots in the UK. People like me who don't experience this violence against themselves, and are deeply distressed that this is being acted out in our communities. People like me who feel guilty for not doing more and are complicit in this being possible. When big societal problems like this arise it can be totally overwhelming. And often we don't know what to do. I even found myself googling 'race riots, what can I do?' yesterday. And yesterday was better. A movement of people coming together to stand against hate. But there is still so much to do. So my advice to you (and to myself) is to start where you are, do what you can, because as soon as you start you are moving. Some ideas: - join the roots programme to talk with someone different to you - volunteer locally to meet people outside your network and build new relationships - give money if you can to people doing the work to combat racism (Hope not hate & Women for Refugee Women are two that spring to mind) - sign petitions every day - write to your MP - join a march What else? What will you do?

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸? When it’s recognized by both those who benefit from it and by professionals who understand its impact, you know you’re truly making a difference!👏🏻🫂 #faceworkgroup #faceworkukraine #faceworkfutures

I was encouraged to hear the Scottish Government budget announcement yesterday outlining plans to increase culture funding by 34million in 2025/26, after so many years of stagnating or reduced funding. This week we also announced the programme for Manipulate Festival in 2025 and I could not be prouder of all the artists, companies and partners we're collaborating with to bring you this brilliant festival edition. There's a feast of delights to get your teeth into and so please do check out the programme. I do think though, that it's really important to acknowledge that our festival programme for 2025 is about a quarter of the size of the 2024 programme (although interestingly for just over half the usual cost, because festival overheads are significant). This is because, after 12 years of standstill core funding, a real-terms 40% cut, we just can't afford to put on an international festival every year. Great arts and culture doesn't happen without effective resourcing. This is even more true if we want to do things properly, ensuring that wellbeing, fair pay, sustainable thinking and great access provision are at the heart of our work. In response to the ongoing Scottish arts funding crisis this year, which has hit the freelance creative workforce the hardest, we have responded by taking money allocated for international flights and freight at our festival and re-investing it into the Scottish creative community. We'll be paying for research and development into new creative projects for artists at a critical juncture in their practice, and then bringing them together with audiences in open studio sessions, to make transparent what it really takes to develop a creative work for the stage. It's a tough decision as a festival director to say no to some of the incredible and boundary-pushing international work I've seen on stages around the world, which undoubtedly would thrill and delight audiences. But I believe that we're in danger of losing so many brilliant freelance creatives from the Scottish sector and the truth is that our work makes absolutely no sense without them. Our festivals are often spoken about solely in terms of their economic, tourism and international exchange benefits, but to truly thrive they must also be fuelled by grassroots creativity which is created, trained and developed in Scotland, and offer a vital platform for Scottish work on the international stage. We will be grappling with these ideas through discussions at the festival in February, exploring what truly sustainable Scottish festivals which properly serve their artistic and geographic communities could look like with proper resourcing. We'll also have two world premieres of fantastic new Scottish work, over 30 animated films, three shortform performance evenings of innovative new work and a whole host of other workshops, screenings and events to explore. I really hope to see you there.

Watch this.

In a nutshell 👇

This is what GIS and data visualisation was made for!! #GIS #Data #Digital #LordOfTheRings

Strong recommendation to watch this documentary film on the loss of black cockatoos in Western Australia. Important to build awareness and understand the reasons for their decline and take action to reverse the loss. https://lnkd.in/gVX7FaZ5

#Orientalism is rooted in #racism and white supremacy culture. 🧞♀️ I was asked if I had a pet tiger like Jasmine as a child. I was flattered. Jasmine was beautiful, edgy, and unlike other Disney princesses in attitude. 🐯 Rawr. Little did I know that an "exotic" hyper-sexualized brand would follow me my whole life -- starting as young as seven years old. And that's a relatively milder form of racism that I've been somewhat lucky to experience as a fetishized woman of color swimming in a sea of #racist tropes targeting all those "othered" from the parameters of #whiteness. To take back the reigns in storytelling and control our narratives is empowering. The #Hollywood machine has served primarily as a propaganda mouthpiece to serve state-sponsored agendas - parroting ignorant tropes that platform #antisemitism, #islamophobia, #xenophobia, and always centering the narratives of #colonizers and settler colonialists. This is, of course, no accident. That's where the big money has been made - through theft, genocide, and the violent expansion of empire. 💰 This cannot be achieved without the people's manufactured consent, which the U.S. media machine proudly and shamelessly churned content out to placate. I am SO here for the gradual decline of legacy media. 👏🏽 I am SO here for the disruption of networked traditional media gatekeepers. 👏🏽 I am SO here for the continued #Internet and #technological revolution to shake up establishment industries as we know them. 👏🏽 I am SO here for democratized #storytelling. 👏🏽 #freepalestine #arabamerican #internetculture #genzforchange #humanrights #antiracism #useyourvoice #bethechange

ABELONE FILMS presents FORGIVENESS by Director Felix Julian Koch on disconnection in society, filmed in Bishop Lavis Township and awarded with Silver at the Young Director Award With his film FORGIVENESS, Director Felix Julian Koch, who skillfully captures the breadth and depth of human emotion in his stories, has brought the touching journey of a South African man from a harsh background, marked by violence and imprisonment, to the silver screen. The film explores the subject of disconnection in modern society, highlighting how crucial forgiveness is for personal and emotional growth. https://shorturl.at/TGhPY