Youth-led films in the Favelas of Rio, Brazil.

Hello friends,  

I really need your help, if you can offer any. 

I am volunteering on a project in Rio, Brazil this coming February, as part of a working trip to Brazil to film Carnival in Recife.  

As many of you will know, I am a freelance artist and filmmaker as well as a teacher, and I have been offered an amazing opportunity to work with a group of favela youth organisers, in collaboration with not-for-profit organisation CatComm. You can find out more about CatComm here: https://catcomm.org/about/ 

What is a Favela? 

Favela is an umbrella name for several types of working-class neighbourhoods in Brazil. Historically, Brazil's favelas are the result of the unequal distribution of wealth in the country and are often mistakenly referred to as 'slums' but are community-orientated and culturally-rich spaces. 

Who am I working with? 

I will be working with a group of 15+ young people, who alongside CatComm have developed something called the Sustainable Favela Network (SFN). The youth team have been undergoing training in climate justice, water, and energy issues over the past 1-2 years and will be gearing up for a significant Sustainable Favela Network (SFN) event in February. I will be providing the group with training on how to make films for this particular event, and providing training and experience of filmmaking in general, offering them the support that they need in order to make ongoing films about their community. 

What do I need? 

I need financial help to deliver this training to the young people working on this project, which relies on charity and donations. I am giving my time free of charge to the project, but I need help to raise money to provide the group with equipment to be able to make films for both this project and future projects. This would include basic recording equipment, such as cameras, microphones and lights. I will be responsible for deciding where the money goes and how it is spent. 

Why is this important? 

It is important to me that anyone should be able to tell their story in their own way. In a digital age, more young people are becoming connected to their communities and finding ways to tell stories through digital film. The great thing about film is that it can be distributed locally or globally through social media, websites or online archives. 

In participating in this project, I want to support this youth favela community by providing the equipment and training that they require, and support them in telling their stories. Digital film is not only a more sustainable platform, but a platform with substantial reach. 

How will you be supporting me and my art practice as well as these young people in Brazil?

It has long been the focus of my art practice to connect with and support underrecognised communities in telling their stories. 

I have worked in collaboration with organisations here in the UK; working with children in care, young people struggling with food insecurity, neurodivergent youth, LGBTQIA+ youth, older adults and their struggles during the pandemic and various women’s groups. I have worked with many cultural organisations in this line of work, such as Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Tyneside Cinema, The National Trust, Crisis homeless charity, Durham University and many more. I want to continue this work with even more communities inside and outside of the UK, using my privilege as a platform to provide communities such as this youth favela group with ample opportunity to access the training and equipment that they need to go on telling their stories, long after I have worked with them in the first instance. 

Blue-sky thinking: 

Long term, it is my creative dream to be able to establish an online storytelling ‘archive’ that hosts the films made by the people of a variety of different communities globally. These communities would be able to connect with each other through this platform; network, learn about, and potentially support each other. I want to engage more deeply in this line of work; using successful projects to secure further funding, which in turn would help support a range of different communities engage in creative filmmaking and storytelling around the world. 

If you can give anything at all to this project, I would be so grateful. 

Thank you, so much, and all the best for 2024. 

Warmest wishes, 

Bex