Skip to content

Highland refugee film project secures key funding

Andrew ThomsonBBC Scotland News
News imageCompass Collective Two men are looking intently into the view finder of a camera. The man on the left, who has a beard, is wearing a blue jacket and a woolen hat. The other man is one of the students. He has dark hair, a black jacket and white T shirt.Compass Collective
Young refugees and asylum seekers are taught the skills needed to make a film through a Compass Collective initiative

A film project supporting young refugees and asylum seekers living in the Highlands has secured crucial funding to continue for the next three years.

Compass Collective's Film Futures initiative has already produced two short films which have been viewed by more than 600 people at screenings in Inverness, Fort William and Evanton.

The charity, which has been awarded £87,717, said it hoped to help encourage "understanding and tolerance" towards the young people's situations.

It said the group had faced a challenging year due to protests at asylum seeker accommodation, including in Inverness where the UK government plans to house up to 300 single men at the city's Cameron Barracks.

Compass Collective, which runs programmes across the UK, began supporting young refugees and asylum seekers in the Highlands about a year ago.

They include people aged between 14 and 26 who have fled war and turmoil in places like Sudan, Afghanistan and Somalia.

The charity's first initiative in the Highlands was a befriending theatre project to help tackle feelings of isolation among under-18s who had arrived in the UK without an adult to support them.

Last autumn, a pilot film project was run involving 32 young people in Inverness and Alness. It provided training in how to write, act, direct, film and edit short films.

Film Futures offers the chance to make short films while learning employment skills and improving knowledge of English.

The newly-secured funding has come from the National Lottery Community Fund.

It will allow Film Futures to continue for the next three years, and to expand into new areas including Stornoway in Lewis.

News imageCompass Collective This black and white image shows a group of young people preparing equipment ready for filming. There is a camera on a tripod with people gathered round making adjustments.Compass Collective
Hundreds of people have watched the two short films that have been made so far

One of the two films already made is called Don't Jump to Conclusions.

Elyas, who was one of those involved in its making, said: "The message of the film is that we should not judge people too quickly and should keep an open mind.

"It teaches an important lesson about understanding and tolerance."

Elyas said working on the film had been of huge benefit to him.

"It was fun and creative. It also helped me feel more confident," he said.

Mike Webster – lead film facilitator for Compass Collective's Highland project - said an aim of the project was to bring young people together.

He said: "It kind of blows my mind that unaccompanied asylum-seeking children are being put into the rural Highlands so far away from population centres."

"The great thing about this project is that we are trying to place ourselves further out into these rural communities."

News imageCompass Collective Two men are talking next to the riverside in Inverness. In the foreground we can see a man in a blue jack although we can't see his face because he is facing away from the camera. He is talking to a young black man who is smiling. He is wearing a black hat and a white football tracksuit.Compass Collective
News imageCompass Collective A man with a beard and wearing headphones is checking the viewfinder of a camera. He is with a young woman wearing a hijab. We can only see the back of her head.Compass Collective
One of the films - Don't Jump to Conclusions - includes scene shot on Inverness' Riverside.
Mike Webster said working on the project was rewarding.

Project coordinator Mhairi Gayer said it was hard to imagine the experiences the young film-makers had been through.

"They have faced forced displacement, they have experienced war, persecution, trafficking, long, difficult and dangerous journeys," she said.

"Their childhood has been completely interrupted. Their education has been interrupted.

"They are now having to build a new life in a new country and build a new identity."

She added: "People are quite isolated in the Highlands. They are placed in many different areas.

"Our project brings them out of the house – it brings people together. It improves people's mental health because they are connected."

Gayer said the past year had been "very hard" with anti-asylum seeker protests and counter-protests held across the UK.

A number of demonstrations have taken place in Inverness, including opposing rallies outside Cameron Barracks in December.

One was organised by Highlands Against Hate, which supports refugees coming to Scotland, and another involved supporters of anti-illegal immigration group Peterhead United.

Gayer said: "Young people themselves are telling us that they don't feel safe to go outside anymore."

She added: "Within those challenging circumstances we still keep going.

"We still create those spaces of joy and support. We have a responsibility to tell the human story and not stereotype what a refugee and asylum seeker is."

"The amazing thing about the film project is that we hand that responsibility over to them and they decide the stories they want to tell."