MYVP's 'Spring Trinity' of films defy conventional 'youth film' wisdom by actually being worth watching

Think “youth film project” and what probably springs to mind is images of kids from the poor part of town being coerced into making ‘gritty’, poorly acted dramas about knife crime. It doesn’t have to be that way though. That was demonstrated today at the premiere of three short films produced by young people involved in Manchester Youth Volunteering Project (MYVP).

In a project that has lasted several months, MYVP volunteers have worked with local production company Littlestar to research, plan and create three issue-led films that don’t just resort to the usual cliches of bad drama and apalling raps. Instead the issues of domestic violence, mental illness and antisocial behaviour have been explored in creative and original ways.

I was at the premiere of the three films at The Cornerhouse in Manchester this morning where a surprisingly high number of people for a Sunday morning turned up to witness the first screening of the films. I managed to grab interviews with some of the people involved in the project. If you’re reading this in a feed reader the embedded audio might not appear, so follow the links to the individual Audioboo pages.

First, Lance Bell of MYVP explained the background the project (link)

Phil, a 22 year-old MYVP volunteer talked about his starring role in one of the films (link)

Alice is another of the young filmmakers, and a bit of a film buff too (link)

Maria from Littlestar talks about the production process behind the films (link)

Steve Balshaw, organiser of Salford Film Festival was in attendance and had strong views on youth film projects (link)

Finally, Sasha from MYVP who was closely involved in the project and is very pleased with the film (link)

And now the films themselves.
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