Collaborative Student Documentary Production with Migrant Communities in Bari, Italy

Working with a range of students, staff and members of migrant communities in Bari, Southern Italy we set out to tell the stories of those individuals that have little coverage in mainstream Northern European media. We also aimed to research the potential for collaboration and co-creation with migrants and to empower our students, using experiential learning strategies, to produce powerful documentary stories. With students from Film and TV Production, Sports Journalism and the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice, the project sought to give students greater insight into the needs of migrants in Europe. The completed documentaries aim to stimulate debate about the need for safe and legal routes for migrants, challenge current narratives and developing the students opinions. The students believed strongly that it was important humanize the people behind the statistics and political rhetoric and to tell some of the stories of the individuals, migrants and those facilitating integration. The experiences of the students and the staff show the value of engaging in these important societal issues and the vital role that documentary has in contributing to and deepening understanding. Concurrently, the role that close student/staff collaboration played in production and learning in the field was significant, producing new ideas for students and staff about how documentary production could be taught. Using clips from the completed documentaries and filmed contributions from the students and staff involved, this will be combination of screening and presentation.