29th November 2012

It's raining. I'm sitting in the car outside the Scala in Prestatyn waiting for Euan to come out of Film Club. It's been dark since 4pm and only one pub has their Christmas lights on - It's been a sorrowful time for this little town recently and the world does not feel merry and bright. Not yet.

I wait and wait, start thinking what I'm going to write for my definition of Team - it seems like a huge task and I don't know where to begin.  Then I see Brad and Will and Dom walk through the bright foyer, taller than I remember - they stride through the sliding doors and wait outside, laughing. They jump around -  onto the bench, off the bench, onto the bench, off, then leap-frog over bollards into the quiet road.   Boys, just having fun, being together, making films, telling stories.  They've been going to the Film Club for 2 years now; four of them have set-up production companies with other friends - Brad has the T-shirts to prove it.  He raised sponsorship from an entrepreneurial auntie and he always, always answers his emails (which is a major triumph when I'm trying to muster our spin-off  'Film Team' for the next project).  He takes it so seriously that I had to dissuade him from going to the bank to borrow a heap of money when he wanted to set-up his own studio building. Instead, I pointed him in the right direction to keep going with his ideas. The other two don't participate in Film Team directly but they are regulars at the Thursday Film Club and, through Film Team, they've  taken part in so many projects - the Prestatyn Youth Film Festival & Summer School last year; the London 2012 Film Nation Shorts workshops in February; they met Mark Kermode on the Olympiad Hansel of Film relay and their films have been seen all over the UK and were part of the Shetland Screenplay Festival alongside screenings by Bill Forsyth & Alexander O Phillipe.  Some of them also had the opportunity to see one of the main (logistical) events of my Film Team year - The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning at Connah's Quay (how many tall teenagers can you get into two small cars?  8, at a squash). 

Then,  just as I was reminiscing about how much of an impact that performance had on all of us, I see Euan, Patrick and Osh walk through the Scala foyer - 12, 13, 14 - they are changing too, the same age now as Brad was when he first started. Patrick plays the fool and is a great mimic - they are all laughing.  He quite likes the idea of Film Team but prefers the drama sessions we did with Team's Anna & Nat in February and is always happy to act in their films.  The other boy is new but seems relaxed and happy, as does Euan.  He seemed too young at 10 when I first set-up the club and it hadn't occurred to me to invite him to come along - it took a lot of my time away from him until the group was more established -  then one night he asked to come with me. After a few weeks, it was clear that, like the others who've found their way there, he'd found a positive space to be, despite the rest of the group being High School age. And he's never looked back - animates all the time, does special effects for the others (thanks to editing and After Effects tuition by Gavin Porter when they made 'The Lighthouse" & 'unreel').  Films that Steven, Osh and Euan made under their own volition won 2 main prizes at the PICS Festival too - no budget, no restraints, no compromise - just their own creativity run amok.   And here they all are, leaving the Scala after another successful filmmaking night - I can't see any of the girls or the mavericks there tonight (I learn later there's exam-pressure building by the day) - just half-a-dozen boys, having fun, being together, making films, telling their stories.

As Euan gets into the car, I hear on the radio that Bradley Manning gave evidence in the States for the first time today and it suddenly felt that, even in this little Welsh seaside town all of Film Team, and the young filmmakers who meet every Thursday night, had a direct connection to him - he wasn't just a headline name in a news bulletin - 'other' to us and disconnected. But by being part of Film Team and witnessing his story at Connah's Quay, our connection to him became direct and potent - part of our story.  And, despite being so geographically far from Cardiff, I know for certain that through Team they feel more directly connected to the wider aspects of NTW. I know logically that, alongside our creative support and encouragement, that has lot to do with Team's direct mentoring and a belief that our small group could achieve something together - and so they've been allowed free reign to tell their own stories in their own way. But it feels bigger to me than that, something intangible. Something I can't quite find the words for.  Maybe it's as simple as the connection made and strengthened and the forming of a creatively positive space where they can thrive. And that's what Team means to me.