Talking pictures

What's the best way to show your concern about social injustice? For Amnesty International it's to team up with a film-maker and tackle a topic that could be surprisingly close to home, writes Gráinne Faller

Imagine deciding to shoot a 15-minute film. You find the story, research the details and decide how you are going to present it. You hold auditions, cast the parts, write the scripts and, finally, after many months, are ready to start filming. Then you realise you don't have a camera. Not a suitable one, anyway. What on earth do you do? Where some may panic, throw tantrums worthy of the best in the industry and resign on the spot, the students of Holy Child Community School, in Sallynoggin, Co Dublin, decided to call the film director Paddy Breathnach.

Breathnach, whose credits include I Went Down and Man About Dog, is currently shooting a film in Northern Ireland, but he managed to find a suitable digital camera and send it down. "I picked it up in Bray," says Pat Howe, a teacher who has been co-ordinating the project in Sallynoggin. "We have it now!"

The film, which tells two stories about two separate teenagers, is part of an Amnesty International project called Voice Our Concern, which pairs transition-year students and their teachers with leading Irish artists to express human-rights concerns creatively.

Last December the transition-year students at Holy Child met Breathnach and brainstormed about the issues they would like to cover. Social injustice in their own communities, such as abuse behind closed doors and poverty, came to the fore, but it was a wide-ranging discussion.

Now, a couple of months on, they have come a long way. "I really enjoyed planning the story," says Jessica Fitzpatrick, one of the students involved. "It was interesting hearing everyone's point of view, but it took a lot of time."

Finding the story was a long process of trawling through the internet and newspapers. Hannah Bücher, a student from Frankfurt, is spending transition year in Sallynoggin. It's doing her English the world of good - and it's clear, as she explains how the students wrote the scripts, that she's picking up a Dublin accent.

"It was a bit slow," she says. "We found some stories that were based on real people on the internet. They were a big help. One script is based on Sinéad, who is 15 years old. She drinks and hangs out with a bad crowd. Her parents work all the time. Her family isn't poor, but she's at a big risk from teenage pregnancy and other problems."

The students also explore neglect and abuse in the story of a teenage boy. They are being creative in the telling of the tale. "One of our ideas is to have the camera looking from a child's point of view," says Hannah.

Howe says: "They had an idea of one opening scene in a classroom where everyone is more or less the same but one or two of the students are filmed in black and white - sort of the opposite of Schindler's List and the girl in the red coat."

It is in this sort of area that Howe goes to Breathnach for advice. "The teachers and students do most of the work," says Breathnach. "I just went out to tease out ideas. I'd be mindful of how to approach the storylines." "Paddy has been telling us not to put too much detail in," says Leah O'Connor, another Holy Child student. "He has been helping a lot with the storylines."

The amount of work involved has been unexpected. "It takes such a long time to make something so short," says Jessica Fitzpatrick. "I was really surprised at all the work that has to go into it. It's not just a five-minute job," agrees Leah. Howe, however, is delighted. "That has been wonderful," he says. "Because they get to see some of the nuts and bolts of film-making they see the graft and not just the glamour that's involved."

Filming is due to start two days after we talk, and the students are rearing to go. The parts were cast after auditions were held for first and second years, and Jessica is looking forward to getting stuck in. "I really like costume design, but I'm looking forward to seeing how the camera works and what goes on behind the camera," she says. "We'll all do a bit," says Hannah. "I wanted to act, but I think I'm probably too old now!"

Two of the biggest factors that the group has had to bear in mind are cost and time. In order to combat this they have decided to use what they have. "We have tried to use the biggest facility we have available to us, which is the school," says Howe. "If you get involved in outside locations, things like release forms and insurance become an issue."

As a result, the school will play itself in the school scenes but will also double up as other locations, such as a social- welfare office.

When they finish shooting, this week, they will send the tapes off to be edited. This means that the shoot itself has to be carefully logged. "It has been interesting," says Howe. "It's wonderful in a classroom situation when you hit on an idea that the students like. There's a real spark in the room."

The students are looking forward to seeing the finished product. "I can't wait to see what it looks like," says Leah O'Connor. "I've always been interested in film-making, and I'm even more interested in it now."

With the collection of films made in the Voice Our Concern project this year set to be screened at the Irish Film Institute on May 17th, the students, having left the process behind, will have just one more problem to solve: what on earth will they wear to the premiere?

How Voice Our Concern has worked

Voice Our Concern began in 2004, with a series of plays, followed by poetry in 2005 and, this year, films.

Like its predecessors, this year's work - six short films and a collection of photography, which will be completed in May - explores human rights.

The plays from the first year, which were performed all over Ireland, have been incorporated into a transition-year module that has been bought by more than 200 secondary schools and 50 youth groups and theatres. The poetry, which has featured in readings at schools across the country, is available from www.voiceourconcern.org; the films and photography will be exhibited throughout Ireland, and the photographs will also be published as a book and calendar.

Voice Our Concern also hosts workshops for teachers and youth leaders. The next, on using drama to explore human-rights education in the classroom, will be held in Blackrock, Co Dublin, this Friday and Saturday.

For more information on the workshops and all of Amnesty International's programmes and events, e-mail voc@amnesty.ie or call 01-6776361, extension 230.