I had the remarkable opportunity and immense privilege of directing an 8-week Filmmaking course designed for students with learning disabilities. Throughout the program, students honed their presentation, drama, and technical skills to craft a short film reflecting their personal experiences. Emphasizing a participant-led approach, the course facilitated social skills, teamwork, effective communication, and self-presentation.

Mencap: An excited crowd, including the Mayor, gathered at the Cramphorn Theatre on Wednesday 5 October for the premiere of our first feature film 'Hoodwinked', produced by and starring our life-long learning students. Directed by international film-maker Eliu Espinoza, 'Hoodwinked', is a hugely entertaining tale of a daring heist. A rip-roaring, crowd-pleasing success, the film was funded by Essex County Council’s 'Culture in Essex' Small Grants scheme, as part of our campaign 'I, Too, Am Able'. The project gives people with a learning disability a rare opportunity to learn creative skills, as well as challenge negative stereotypes.

The audience was full of praise for the ambitious film. Comments included: “What a brilliant film!” And: “Truly brilliant and emotional! You must be so proud of the students. We had tears and many laughs. Just great! Thank you so much.”

The Mayor said: "City of Chelmsford Mencap’s film premiere of 'Hoodwinked' was a delightful evening, and a joy to see so many of their young people learning new skills, through acting and dancing. Talking to them after it was obvious they'd thoroughly enjoyed performing and making the film. Congratulations to everyone involved and I look forward to the next production."

Wendy, a student who acted in the film said: "I really enjoyed working on 'Hoodwinked', I'd like to do it again! We did lots of research, watched lots of films, and did loads of practising. I'd now like to play a musical star, combining my love of music and film." We'd like to thank everyone who joined us for the premiere and made the evening so special, and huge thanks to the Civic Theatre for hosting us.

We're planning further showings of 'Hoodwinked', please watch this space to find out more.

This film was widely publicised during the Nurture festival.

Reminiscence music DVD

I also took on the roles of filming, animating, and producing the Reminiscence music DVD, which the students created for Broomfield Hospital's dementia ward as part of Nurture 2015. I oversaw every aspect of this project, from pre-production to post-production.

Mencap: Exciting times as our Outreach Students met up to film a 'reminiscence' music video and DVD for Broomfield Hospital's dementia ward. Students researched and chose songs from across the decades for the project, and will help decide on the final edit of the film. Everyone agreed that the experience was 'awesome' 🙂.

'Reminiscence' is part of 'Nurture 2015', a three week festival of caring, highlighting the contribution made by people with a learning disability to the local community. The film is intended to help those suffering from dementia. When editing is complete we hope to share 'reminiscence' with you here on Facebook and on YouTube so that everyone can see the results.

Filming took place at the lovely Ideas Hub Chelmsford, and we'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone who took part, including local musician and radio presenter Andrew McClaine, and film maker Eliu Espinoza

Outreach Round Show

Mencap: In the gallery below, we showcase the behind-the-scenes work of our Outreach Academy students taking our film-making course! They're in the process of writing, filming AND starring in a short feature film based on our campaign 'I, Too, Am Able'. With the help of talented tutor Eliu Espinoza, we've covered the background and theory of film making, learned about opening shots and how they 'set' up a film, found out about lighting and how important it is to get it right. We've also learned the basics of plot, how you need a set up, a confrontation and a resolution. Sessions have also covered high shots and close-ups, how to use sound equipment and operate the camera. Funded by Essex County Council’s Culture in Essex Small Grants scheme, we plan to premiere the film during our festival Nurture 2016 later in the year. Watch this space... 🙂