Here’s a chance to view what over a hundred Bristol school pupils experienced when they came to Watershed in May for the Media Literacy Workshops. With teachers in mind we recorded one of the morning sessions led by David Goldblatt so schools who haven’t attended before but are interested in coming to future workshops, can get an insight into the process.

If you’re interested in finding out more about the Media Literacy Workshops please contact liz.milner@watershed.co.uk

A mini festival of armchair sports – seats (or saddles?!) still available for a great range of screenings, talks and events! But there’s real physical action too at the Rollapaluza on Saturday night, a pedal powered cinema and a cycle treasure hunt – see the full programme here.

Cally Callomon: Race

Cyclescreen, Bristol’s first dedicated bike film festival, is a season of inspiring cycling films, documentaries, lectures and interactive events celebrating cycling culture in its varied forms. The bike holds a special place in the hearts of Bristol’s ever-growing cycling community and to celebrate the many pleasures to be found on two wheels Watershed is hosting a season of fun, inspiring cycling films, talks and events for riders and non-riders alike.

All this and a pedal powered cinema!

Go to the Cyclescreen site for more details.

The Short Cuts programme is working with up to 45 young people (aged 14-18) across Bristol to help them to develop, plan, produce, edit and showcase a short film.  Partnering with Watershed to deliver the programme are Knowle West Media Centre, Young Bristol, Connexions West and Encounters International Short Film Festival.

As funding from First Light has come through “Film Nation”  – a project run by the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games – the project will produce three short films (< 5mins) that explore the Olympic themes of “friendship”, “respect”, and “excellence”.

Additional to filmmaking activities, the project provides for twenty weekly sessions designed to build skills and to broaden horizons.  Skills-building workshops, visits to professional film/post-production studios and professional environments, and opportunities to work with creative professionals are all part of the programme.

Project activities began in May and will wrap-up at the Encounters International Short Film Festival in November.

The pre-production phase from May to July is introducing the young filmmakers to various elements of film production while creating a space for the young participants to explore their own creativity and to work with and learn from one another. Production will take place over the summer break in August.  The post-production phase beginning in September will also address film marketing and exhibition, and the young people will be supported to plan and present a premiere event at one of the UK’s leading short film festivals in November 2010.

This programme is targeted at young people who have never made a film before or for young people that do not otherwise have access to filmmaking opportunities.  For further information, please go to http://www.watershed.co.uk/news/310/ or email short.cuts@watershed.co.uk.

Building on the established and successful format of previous Media Literacy Workshops, writer, broadcaster and teacher David Goldblatt, led the workshops with a World Cup theme to explore the use of language, cliche and meaning in sports’ media

Five Bristol schools each came to Watershed for a day bringing 134 year 9 and 10 students from Bridge Learning Campus, Brislington Enterprise College, Bedminster Down, Fairfield and St Mary Redcliffe schools.

Excerpt from Media Literacy Workshops 2010 – David Goldblatt on Story making

After a morning of watching and discussing clips from sports films, and hearing some of David’s vivid stories from the world of sport, the students took the second half of the day to either work in groups devising and performing a short drama using commentary style framework, or work individually on a short piece of creative writing.

At each workshop BBC volunteers helped the drama groups to develop their scripts and decide on filming options. The completed dramas and creative writing pieces were performed for the whole school group and filmed by the BBC crew who create a DVD of the students’ work which is given to the school for further use in classroom discussion and student assessment.

To see more photographs and storyboards go to the Gallery

More about David Goldblatt

Read David’s blog from the World Cup in South Africa for Prospect magazine
http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/worldcup2010/

“David Goldblatt … a witty World Cup walking encyclopedia”
Jane Anderson, from BBC Radio 4’s Pick of the Week writing in the Radio TImes.

“David Goldblatt’s ‘The Ball is Round’ remains the one
indispensable guide to global football. David Runciman, The Guardian

Read a review of ‘The Ball is Round – a Global History of Football’ here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2006/dec/16/featuresreviews.guardianreview9

A BBC World Service Assignment programme by David Goldblatt ‘The Rise of Mathare United FC’ was awarded Sports Story of the Year at the Foreign Press Association media awards in 2009.
“The judges were unanimous in selecting this wonderful and hugely charming piece of radio that showed one reason why sport is so important: it can change peoples’ lives.”

Listen to the story at http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/1658_assignment_2008/page5.shtml

On 1st April 2001 a group of students from two sports colleges came to Watershed for a special RELAYS screening of Invictus.

19 boys and 6 girls – in ‘troisieme’, equivalent to Year 10, came from Collège Victor Louis in Talence just outside Bordeaux with 3 of their teachers.

The French students were accompanied by a mixed group of Year 10s from their partner  school in Bristol, Ashton Park.

The visit was arranged by Debbie Richards, Director of the Académie Aquitaine www.academieaquitaine.co.uk as part of an exchange programme to reinforce links between the two colleges.

If you’re new to the site click on the links below to see what we did last year, and go to the photo gallery to see how many people got involved with RELAYS at Watershed last year. See you in the spring!

Media Literacy Workshops 2009

Let the Games Begin!

Igfest 09

Igfest is over for another year – it was great! You can see some photos of the games that RELAYS  helped to provide here

The city is ours – igfest 09 runs from Thursday 10th September until Sunday 13th September. At igfest we play across the city with Moose, zombies and airborne paint. At igfest we can play in car parks and abandoned buildings, in the streets and shopping centers. This is a festival like no other. We will show you the city as you’ve never seen it.

We will take you to old places with new eyes as you and your friends are set loose in a city liberated by play.
We have new games from across the world. Take a look at this years programme and sign up now to play the games you like the most and with more than 30 to choose from how many can you fit in? Our promise to you is that all the games will be friendly fun and FREE.

RELAYS at Watershed have sponsored a set of family friendly games at igfest 09 suitable for all ages on Sunday morning, 13th September (but please note children must be accompanied by a responsible adult), go to the Igfest site to learn more, see the great programme of games on offer and sign up for the ones you want to play.

Excerpts from David Goldblatt’s talk introduce the themes for the workshop and are followed by edited interviews with teachers, BBC film-crew volunteers and the pupils participating in the workshop.

Select the play button below to continue.

The voices heard in the sound track do not necessarily belong to the people depicted at the same time in the photographs.

Dir: Lindsay Anderson UK 1963 2hrs 14mins Cert 12A
Presented here in a newly restored print from the BFI, Anderson’s feature film centres on down-and-out coal miner Frank Machin (masterfully portrayed by a young Richard Harris) and his rise to rugby league glory. These attentions are no substitute, however, for the love he futilely seeks from his landlady, a recent widow who at times can barely muster the respect to look him in the eye. The duality of Machin’s fame on the field and failure in love frames this dramatic and poignant expression of the personal conflicts that so often accompany sporting success.