MAKERWORLD DOCUMENTARY

Makerworld is a 16 minute film I made working with families in Huddersfield in 2024. The film won The Children's International Film festival of Wales, it won best Social Impact Award for the Activists Without Borders Film festival and received an Honorable mention in the Big Syn Film Festival - the largest sustainable film festival in the world. It was also nominated in the Folkestone Film Festival and the Liverpool Indie Film Festival. The film had three screenings across Kirklees to members of Kirklees Council, the public, families, business leaders and Member of Parliamanet Harpreet Singh. <br><b><i>Makerworld </i></b>is a short documentary showing how artists are using an empty retail unit in Huddersfield to run free workshops for children, how this impacts the lives of the people who take part, and what this brings to the town.<b><i>Makerworld </i></b>offers a utopian glimpse of how town centres could thrive if they replaced consumerism with community.Told through the lens of the of the parents and children who attend the free weekly sessions; we hear about the benefits of free community art to young and old – from stress relief to confidence and from social mobility to inclusivity.The sessions are vibrant and multi-cultural, where families are united by the “foraging of sparkly bits of material or fluff”. A sharp contrast with the decline of the high street just a few metres away.Tactical urbanism is about reimagining and repurposing urban spaces to meet the evolving needs of communities. Town centres across the globe have been impacted by a massive reduction in footfall. People want to connect – they just need the space.<br>As town centres are rushing to reinvent themselves, <b><i>Makerworld</i></b> provides an alternative view of how free community art can change lives, bring families into our dying towns and help reimagine our town centres in the 21st century.