Film project focuses on unemployment

Aug 11 2010 by David Whetstone, The Journal

Unemployment is a problem but sometimes it pays to talk. Katie Lin reports on a film project which comes to fruition this week.

SHE'S young, articulate and motivated. But Beverly Brebner is also unemployed and ready to talk about it and the problems it brings.

Her frustration at her inability to find work has led her to the second floor of Baltic Centre for Contemporary Arts in Gateshead where she is navigating her way around unfamiliar video editing software.

The 21-year-old from Newcastle is one of 16 young people who have come together at Baltic to take part in a creative project called Loud & Clear.

Funded by Mediabox, an organisation which backs media projects for disadvantaged young people, Loud & Clear offers a chance to express their views on unemployment through film-making.

The group is split into two and each person has been instructed to make a video clip that reflects his or her thoughts on the theme of unemployment.

The “shorts” will be collated to produce a single film for screening at the Baltic on Friday.

Baltic invited Fairbridge, an organisation working with disadvantaged people aged 13-25, to participate in the project and enlisted the help of Canadian freelance artist Kelly Richardson to facilitate it.

Kelly says: “If you’ve got a job, unemployment is that ‘thing over there’ that you hear about.

“You know what it means, but when you listen to people’s personal experience, it becomes much more touching and affecting.

“How do you go to look for a job when you can’t afford to pay for childcare? There are real issues standing in the way of these people that, when you’re employed, you’re not in a position to fully appreciate.”

Ilaria Longhi, community programmer at Baltic and project manager of Loud & Clear, says one of the biggest problems facing today’s unemployed is the period between finishing school and getting a job.

She says: “There are obstacles between the two and they want to talk about it.”

She explains that many young people who struggle to find work become “course junkies”, enrolling on courses to pass the time.

While Loud & Clear does not aim to solve the problem of unemployment, it does serve as a platform for unrestricted discussion on the topic.

Ilaria explains: “By talking about unemployment, they at least start to talk about issues they feel close to and which are important to them.”

The video project provides the opportunity for the participants to explore and express their views on these issues – and in a candid way.

For Beverly, who has two young children, the focus of her video has been anxiety and depression, which she has says the project has helped her to deal with.

Just six weeks ago, Beverly, who lives at Tyneside Foyer in central Newcastle, felt unable to leave her room.

“It just seems as though once you’ve got yourself up and steady, you just seem to fall back again,” she says.

“People just assume that I’m lazy or I don’t have the qualifications, but it’s actually quite the opposite.

“I have all of the qualifications – I just don’t have the confidence to go out and look for a job, or approach someone and ask for a job because my anxiety gets in the way.

“There are different reasons why people are on benefits. It’s not always a choice of life and it’s not the way we choose to be.”