02/03/2014
"Scwtyr Sombies Glas o (uffern) Sgubs | Scooter Zombies from (Hell) Sgubs" - Won the PICS Award tonight!
Shock n Awe Performance Company in partnership with the Choice Project (run by the truly wonderful Eirwen Hopkins) set out in January last year to create short films with young people across Wales. The inimitable Francis Hill (thank God there's only one) and I would turn up and hand over two cameras, saying, "You've got a week to make a film". We made nine. We could have made more, but sometimes the context in which we were working was overwhelming.
A lot of the young people we worked with lead, for an enormous variety of reasons, challenging lives. It just goes to show that if we take young people seriously, listen, guide, challenge, instruct and genuinely enjoy being with them, then despite obstacles, they are endlessly creative, profoundly thoughtful, desperate to contribute, hilarious and as beautiful as we could ever wish for.
They have not created the society they live in, yet they are bagged together and demonised as a drain upon the taxpayer. To "need" is not a crime, after all every parent who sends their child to Eton recognises their "need" to have the best possible education and start in life. In one of the richest countries on earth we still cannot create a system wherein the potential of every child is realised regardless of their origins. It is a crime not just upon the individual but upon our society, for who knows what that child may contain within them: the cure for cancer, the music of a new Mozart, the political imagination and personality of Mandela?
Our little films aren't going to change the world in themselves, but this tiny drop of money, spent in a tiny part of the world, with a tiny group of young people, has given them something to remember for the rest of their lives. They have evidence of themselves and that is something we all need. Art in all its forms can liberate the will of the diminished, ignored, repressed and economically vandalised. It may only take a moment for a young person to experience truly being themselves, as they secretly know they can be, for them to take the next step and rebel against the mental, physical and emotional humiliations they suffer on a daily basis. Call it self esteem, self confidence, self worth but feeling "of value", that their presence has "meaning", is what every child, wherever they are, should feel as they grow up.
It is not pretentious to claim that our little films contributed in some small way to enhancing the lives of those we worked with. That is what we set out to do! So whilst the Arts budgets are being slashed across our countries because they are considered a "luxury", "non essential expenditure" or secondary to "front line services", I wonder how the governemnt can possible consider becoming fully human and self-knowing an unfortunate, but necessary casualty of Austerity?
An alienated human being is the most dangerous beast on earth.
So...congratulations to the young people of 'Ysgubor Goch', (the council estate in Caernarfon where we shot the film), the community Centre known as Cofis Bach run by the humanely determined Sioned Huws, the wonderful Kenny Khan who joyfully played the villain and let us run all over his property, the mums who let us use their houses, the butchers who let us mince Kenny Khan, Carys "Curls" who translated and so, so, much more, Eirwen Hopkins and Geoff Profitt who raised the money, believed in me and were there every inch of the way and finally to my infuriating, delightful and passionate comrade in arms, Francis Hill, who did such a great job editing all of the films. Together, we all did a very tiny thing, we made something and it reminded us of who we are and how we can make the world a better place for one another, something we will all remember for the rest of our lives. How often do we get the chance to do that?
How is that a luxury when RBS can pay half a billion in bonuses when they lose £8billion? When George Osbourne can change the law to allow capitalists to hide seven billion pounds a year in off shore accounts? When our leading companies pay almost no tax on their profits? When the head of the Inland Revenue can do a deal with Vodaphone over lunch wiping off their tax debt? When we can afford to fight wars in other people's countries and claim it is in our national interest and then withdraw leaving them to civil war? How can they say that Austerity is necessary to save our children and grandchildren from debt whilst they do all of that and ruin the lives of our young people today by impoverishing them?
Shock n Awe Performance Company is an ironic name, turned upon those whose self interested machinations first invented the phrase. In tiny, tiny, ways we can fight a cultural war for empathy and civilisation. The reason they have so many police, armies and weapons is because they fear tiny, tiny, steps leading towards their overthrow. Their apparent strength is a sign of their inherent weakness.
You can see all the films by typing "You Tube, Putting People in their place" into Google. Our young people are beautiful, take a look.
And of course...Enjoy! Is that not what society should be geared towards, the maximum amount of pleasure at being alive?
