On Saturday 16th April in the Ulster Hall’s Group Space, young people from North Belfast involved in a Public Achievement cross-community youth programme launched a series of short films they have made to highlight the lived experiences of young people in interface communities. Our Future Together interviewed Deborah Erwin, Youth Work Manager of Public Achievement, about the project.

Since the autumn of 2010, Public Achievement worked with six groups of young people from three interface areas of North Belfast. These groups were paired up across their local interface to design and produce three short films in order to bring the views and experiences of young people from these areas to a wider audience. Through this project Public Achievement supported the young people to explore the divisions in their communities and build bridges with neighbouring communities and the young people who live there.

The final product is a series of short films reflecting the young people’s hopes, fears and frustrations about life in their local communities with humour, honesty and a keen insight about how things are and how things could be. They gained a fresh outlook from working collaboratively and presented their films and perspectives to an audience of friends, family and invited guests.

This project has been supported by Loughview Community Action Partnership (LCAP) through the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister (OFMDFM).