2018-19 Food for Thought

Between 2018 and early 2019, young people at Lancashire Youth Challenge produced a short documentary film about food banks here in the north west.

At the time, two of our participants were living in temporary supported accommodation and were regularly using food banks. They commented as to how they felt negatively stigmatised and embarrassed by the fact they had to rely on food donations.

Our young people were eager to raise awareness about this issue and felt that film would be a perfect medium.

We secured funding from the iWill Youth Social Action Fund and commissioned a professional writer and film maker to assist us with the project

We were taught how to write script, produce story-boards, operate cameras and sound equipment, interview people and how to edit film.

Equipped with these new skills we embarked on interviewing users, volunteers and managers at food banks in Lancaster, Morecambe and Liverpool.

In February 2020 we premiered the film along with a ‘behind the scenes’ documentary at More Music as part of the ‘Food for Thought’ creative conversations event

Local young artists, poets, singers and rappers presented creative responses to the documentary film and Dr Cassie Earl gave a presentation about the sociopolitical and economic reasons for the rise in food banks across the UK