Vibe film club
Iain McKinnon, Creative Writing Tutor at Vibe, talks about supporting young people to express themselves by setting up a film club.
Author Iain McKinnon (pictured) joined our Vibe service as a Creative Writing Tutor three years ago. During this time, he has supported young people to express themselves through many different forms of creative writing, from fiction and poetry to song lyrics.
“I’m neurodivergent myself – I’m dyslexic and it was never picked up on at school,” says Iain. “I didn’t have a good time at school, but I’ve got the opportunity here to make a difference to people who are in the same situation I was in. That’s been the biggest motivator for me.”
Iain’s approach involves finding out what the young people enjoy and structuring sessions around this. If they are doing something related to their own interests, they are more likely to engage. This led to the creation of a film club.
“One of the young people really loves film, and we discovered that he had a Letterboxd account, where you can post reviews about movies. This spurred me on to think about how we could review films. We looked at what a good review looks like, and how we could elevate what the young person was writing so more people would read it.”
Building friendships
For many neurodivergent young people, building friendships can be difficult. The young people who come to Vibe have often been out of mainstream education for some time, and social connections and friendships have fallen away. They may feel that being alone is a safe place to be, so it’s vital that we offer opportunities to connect with other people, to build new friendships.
By getting to know the young people, Iain learned that many of them shared a love of film and TV shows, and the idea for film club was born.
At each session, the club will talk about a film they have all seen or that they are looking forward to seeing, and while the group numbers can fluctuate, there is always lots to talk about.
“Dune is my absolute favourite book of all time, and one of the young people loved the book too, while some of the other young people loved the movie. We were able to compare the novel and the movie and say ‘What’s been left out, why has it been left out, how does that affect the characters, how does that affect your thoughts about the things that have happened in the film?’”
Sharing ideas
The discussions give young people the chance to open up in an environment where they feel comfortable, on a subject they feel comfortable about.
“It’s about getting the young people to articulate their feelings and thoughts, and explain what they think in a way that the rest of the group can understand. It’s a way of building that friendship, and it’s also building their confidence to express themselves, and being emotionally aware within a conversation.”
Focusing on subjects that the young people are interested in has to led to some very engaged discussions in the group.
“At the most recent film club session, we watched the trailer for the upcoming Dune movie. We spent time breaking that down in the group because of the different perspectives people have on it: whether it’s directorial, whether it’s the camera work on it, the special effects or the acting, the soundscape or the comparison to the novel. We watched a five-minute trailer and then had an hour’s worth of discussion – it was fabulous!”
For Iain, the real highlight of film club has been giving the young people an opportunity to connect.
“The absolute joy of seeing these people voicing their opinion – voicing it strongly, passionately but intelligently – and taking on board criticism and new information, and having a conversation about something they love, it just lit me up.”
