Finding our Space for Community at the Edge
In the last year it’s been interesting times in Birmingham and the spotlight has been on spaces for community. We’ve got five short films for you each focusing on very different spaces and communities, all of which have touched the lives of People in Birmingham.
Light into Night
New Hope Park, October 2024 ‘Home in Highgate’ with Friction Arts led a beautiful evening with local residents. The event featured a found sound and spoken word piece created by young people at Chandos Primary School, collaborative music-making, shadow puppetry and Fireside fun Soheila Javaheri, film maker documents the light fading into night in Highgate.
City of Cars
Last summer a city-wide road safety emergency was announced by Birmingham’s authorities, in response to the number of deaths and injuries caused by dangerous driving on our roads. Sarah Chaundler’s new documentary offers an insight into some of the personal stories behind the headlines and statistics working with Better streets for Birmingham.
- Best Documentary at this year’s Forward Film and Television Festival
- Dangerous driving documentary made due to ‘fear’
- Birmingham ‘City of Cars’ film dedicated to young lives cut short by motorists
Stormy Weather
Winston came to the UK as part of the Windrush Generation. Friction Arts look at his story through the eyes of his daughter, Diane, and an event and exhibition at the Library of Birmingham. Film maker Soheila Javaheri.
Rolling at the Tower
A community documentary by Bertz Associates about the history of roller skating in Birmingham which started in 1871 with the building of the Tower Ballroom at the Edgbaston Reservoir in Ladywood. The Tower Ballroom was recently demolished to make space for luxury flats. Ladywood is an area which is under threat of gentrification due to its closeness to the city centre, and is currently earmarked for demolition, threatening the erasure of its strong working class history.
- Rolling at the Tower Ballroom
- Drag and Chinatown explored in working class heritage projects, BBC News
- ‘Hidden stories’: Historic England funds 56 projects on working-class heritage, The Guardian
Book Marks
Book Marks explores the vital role that books and libraries play in people’s lives. Peoples’s Heritage Co-operative captured the precious memories of readers at Druids Heath, Stirchley and Selly Oak Libraries with film maker Soheila Javaheri, talented local poets Bradley Taylor, Hayley Frances and Ruben Whitter as well as a talk by former librarian Richard Albutt.
Here’s how to find the Edge:
