00:00North Shields is celebrating 800 years of history with a special pop-up cinema
00:05bringing the different stories to life at the Beacon Shopping Centre here.
00:08The event showcases a series of locally made short films that capture the creativity,
00:13pride and community spirit at the heart of North Shields.
00:16The pop-up cinema happened organically, so we were working with quite a few projects
00:21that had film outputs, that were making animations or they were documenting interviews with people
00:27or making films about North Shields itself and they were going to go online for people to see
00:34but as more projects started having film-based outcomes it just made sense to celebrate it a
00:40bit better and put on an event where people could come and have a shared experience so that everybody
00:46who's watching it in this space is having the same experience at the same time. Featured works include
00:52North Shields Voices, a moving soundscape blending local voices and imagery, youth-led projects from
00:58Helix Arts and the Phoenix Detached Youth Project and the textile map of North Shields, a collaborative
01:04artwork stitched by more than 50 residents at the Old Lowlights Heritage Centre.
01:10So we could have hired a cinema and put it on in a cinema you know in Whitley Bay or Newcastle or
01:16somewhere like that but this project's about North Shields. We had a great conversation with Andy who
01:22runs the Beacon Centre. Andy's really on board with everything that's happening, he's a big champion
01:27of North Shields 800 and we could put it on for a few days here so people can fit it into the day,
01:33they can do the shopping, they can be in North Shields Town Centre and then come and watch the films
01:38about North Shields. It just made perfect sense to do it like this. It's been a real eye-opener to see how much
01:44talent and excellence there is in North Shields. It's like a really vibrant town, it's alive you know,
01:55so to be able to bring in funding, to bring in resources. All of these projects have been local
02:03people, we've been really careful to make sure that there was a connection with every project. There
02:09might be one or two projects where somebody lives in Newcastle etc but they're from North Shields.
02:15There have been, you know, all the schools have got involved as well, the primary schools and you
02:20know, there have been songs written by school children as part of the project. There's been
02:25community groups, the Linskill's been heavily involved, lots of people there, you know, the Meadows
02:29and the Meadowwell have been heavily involved in projects. But yeah, it's all about North Shields,
02:34it's all about the people in North Shields. It's just been fascinating to kind of see all the
02:39different perspectives as well, you know, the kind of fishermen in North Shields are so important to
02:44the project. But so the people who are interested in heritage, the artists, you would believe how
02:49many artists are tucked away in shops and buildings and working really hard, making brilliant work every
02:56day in North Shields. It's just fantastic. Yeah.
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