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We've had fabulous feedback on Drawn from Life, a touring programme of short animated docs presented by MediaActive Projects in partnership with Animate Projects and Film Hub Midlands.

Made in the UK, these short films celebrate the intimate and the epic. Thought provoking and inspiring, using a variety of animation styles, the works shine a light on the creativity of filmmaking in the UK today.

Next screenings - Warwick Arts Centre 25th/26th April

Find out more about Drawn from Life at mediaactive.org/drawn-from-life

@animateprojectsuk @filmhubmidlands
@warwickarts

Very excited to have our huskies heading off to join the celebration of independent filmmaking in Newfoundland & Labrador!

Find out more, and watch the ‘Follow The Dogs’ trailer here:

followthedogsfilm.com

@nickelfestival
@isabelamelia.garrett
@ffilmcymruwales
@bbccymruwales
@joegainsboroughportfolio
@_inesadriana_
@willturnercomposer
@davidjmcshane
@danielrm_dop
@samgainsborough

Wow! Huge congrats to our young filmmakers - Severn Wild won the Made in the Middle Award at the 2025 Flatpack Film Festival!!! A great event showcasing new talent from across the Midlands.

@flatpackfestival
@bfifilmacademy
#Flatpack2025
#FlatpackFestival

We’re really pleased that our short film ‘Severn Wild’ will be screened tomorrow, on World Water Day, at the Up Sewage Creek (USC) People's Assembly event at Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury.

USC’s 'Severn Spirit Procession' starts Saturday morning at 10.30am ‘flowing from Wakeman Gardens to Severn Theatre’.

'Severn Wild’ was made collaboratively by young people aged 16 to 19 years, during our 2024 BFI Film Academy: through animation, live action, spoken word and music composition, the young filmmakers invite the audience to consider the human relationship, past and present to the life force of River Severn.

@joegainsboroughportfolio
@24feugenia
@danielleleoniephelps
@andylowemusic

#WorldWaterDay2025
#BFIFilmAcademy

We have been delighted by how well our short doc Follow the Dogs has been received. To date the film has been selected by film festivals in England, Scotland, Wales, France, Ireland, Estonia, Malaysia, USA, Columbia and Italy. Winning Best Film at 2025 Borderlines Film Festival's Open Screen, and Runner Up Best Documentary at WOFFF24.

Find out more, and watch the trailer here:

mediaactive.org/follow-the-dogs

@isabelamelia.garrett
@ffilmcymruwales
@bbccymruwales
@joegainsboroughportfolio
@_inesadriana_
@willturnercomposer
@davidjmcshane
@danielrm_dop
@samgainsborough

Follow the Dogs, our part animated documentary, was created through creative collaboration between local man Warren, animation director Isabel Garrett and creative producer Sue Gainsborough. Initially developed through our celebrating age Creative Conversations programme the full production was then commissioned by Ffilm Cymru, BFI Network and BBC Wales.

Find out more, and watch the trailer here:

mediaactive.org/follow-the-dogs

@isabelamelia.garrett
@ffilmcymruwales
@bbccymruwales
@joegainsboroughportfolio
@_inesadriana_
@willturnercomposer
@davidjmcshane
@danielrm_dop
@samgainsborough

back in 2019 we commissioned Sam Moore to undertake action research as part of our Creative Conversations programme - exploring and celebrating creativity in older age.

If you want to learn more about how that initial research with the local Merrymakers crafting group led Sam, and her animated documentary Visible Mending, to the red carpet at the 2024 BAFTAs you can watch her Making Of film here

vimeo.com/889172775

@sammooreanimate
@mikeinscotstounhill
@lhamiltonbrown
@animateprojectsuk
@secondhomestudios_uk

what a busy 18 months animated doc Visible Mending by Samantha Moore has had. Selected by international film festivals across the UK, USA, Portugal, Greece, Germany, Finland, Spain, Norway, and Australia. Featured by the New York Times, premiered online by NYT Op-Docs, profiled on BBC News and Radio 4, nominated for an EE 2024 BAFTA, and 2024 British Animation Award, winning Best Film at the Midlands Movie Awards and more....

Find out more at

mediaactive.org/visible-mending

@sammooreanimate
@mikeinscotstounhill
@lhamiltonbrown
@animateprojectsuk
@secondhomestudios_uk

a year on from going to the 2024 EE BAFTAs with Visible Mending, we are delighted to see this fabulous short animated documentary by Samantha Moore is still travelling the globe, thanks to the British Council's BAFTA Tour! So far the tour has taken this beautiful film across Spain, Portugal, Poland, and into Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iraq, China and India.

Find out more at:

mediaactive.org/visible-mending

@sammooreanimate
@mikeinscotstounhill
@lhamiltonbrown
@animateprojectsuk
@secondhomestudios_uk

a brief look behind the scenes at our 2022.23 BFI Film Academy - watch the final film ‘Notes on Change’ via our BFI Film Academy webpage (link below). The film was inspired by the diaries of a cinema musician from the silent film era, the creative documentary explores the harsh realities presented by the advent of the ‘talkies'.


mediaactive.org/bfi-film-academy

Inspired by archive footage of pioneering English aviator Amy Johnson gliding over the Shropshire Hills - and as part of our Adventures with Archives project - the Shropshire-based poet jean.atkin wrote the poem Aviatrix. Watch the short film via the link below - this film is also part of our #WomensHistoryMonth short film programme - you can watch the film in full here:

www.mediaactive.org/adventures-with-archives

Using archive film to create a new narrative, here's a very short clip from our Adventures with Archives project short film 'Spore' - this film, made during lockdown, along with it's sequel 'The Stars are Watching', will be coming to our website very soon! And after that, a cinema screen somewhere in Shropshire in 2021. With thanks to the BFI, Film Hub Midlands and Arts Council England. To find out more please visit:

www.mediaactive.org/adventures-with-archives