Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
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Homeless Film Festival Comes to Leeds
Graduate Louie Scott and senior lecturer Elisa Oliver have both got a part to play in this year’s Festival, which aims to address the core issues of homeless people by touring the UK screening films from around the world.
Louie – who studied BSc (Hons) Broadcast Media Technology – has directed a documentary film called ‘On The Kerb Again’. Shot as his and his fellow course mates’ final year production in 2013, Louie explains that his intention was to “help students realise that homelessness is a very real issue, and that some need our help be it small change, food or even just a chat.
“I hope anyone viewing this will know it is an unbiased view on the topic without pandering to the homeless or being out to shun them. We let both positive and negative opinions be shown in this film. My personal hope is that people watch this and rather than passing by a man or woman sat on a cold wet floor pretending not to hear them ask for help, they instead stop for a chat or at least buy them some food.”
School of Art, Architecture & Design academic Elisa has been a trustee of the Festival since 2014. She explains: “I became involved after becoming increasingly concerned about the plight of the homeless in Britain and feeling powerless to do anything about it. The Festival provided me with the opportunity to use my established skills in raising awareness of the issues facing the homeless and to provide a platform to begin to change legislation around those issues.”
Leeds Beckett will also be showing a selection of short films on the Leeds Big Screen in Millennium Square between Friday 18 November and Sunday 27 November. ‘On The Kerb Again’ will debut at 5pm on Friday 18 November to coincide with the launch of the Festival.
Louie says he’s “shocked that three years on the film is still making waves. I feel incredibly humbled to have my vision shown on a large scale.”
Founded in 2011, the Festival works with homeless affected people from around the UK. It offers free short and long-term creative filmmaking projects that allow them to get involved in script writing, camera operating, editing and festival programming. This provides a positive, creative outlet and helps homeless people build skills such as teamwork and time management, not to mention confidence. The Festival also aims to increase awareness of the issues that homeless people face.