East End Stories

Do you live in Tower Hamlets, and are interested in history, film or photography? We are looking for volunteers to explore local histories, learn new skills, and make short films inspired by archive collections

'One House on Brick Lane': recruiting now!

We are looking for participants to research east London family histories, from the 18th century to the present day in Brick Lane. This will help create a play, 'One House on Brick Lane', to be written and performed by students at Mulberry Secondary School.

The project runs July-September 2024, and includes visits to archives at Bishopsgate Institute, Tower Hamlets, Oxford House and Four Corners. You will attend sessions run by archivists, who will show you how to research using archival material. 

Interested? Complete the application form or contact helena@fourcornersfilm.co.uk for further details. Deadline for applications: 6pm Friday 19 July

This autumn we begin two projects:

Four Corners Film Workshop

As we celebrate Four Corners' 50th anniversary, this project looks at its early history of radical, social filmmaking practice in the 1970s and 80s. This will include a focus on films Nighthawks, Bred and Born, A Kind of English, and young people's workshop films such as Don't Think So and Is That It?

The project will offer participants skills training and recording oral histories, archival research, Premiere Pro edit training and the opportunity to create several short films.

Workers Newsreel Project 

The Workers Film & Photo League (WFPL) was a group of radical amateur filmmakers and photographers, active in East London during the 1930s. Their films offer a unique picture of working class lives, resonating strongly with today's concerns of food poverty, work precarity and the cost of living crisis.

Participants will explore the history of the WFPL, and create their own Super 8mm films edited on Premiere Pro, to be exhibited at Four Corners in 2025. The project will be co-led by Sam Stevens of the Film & Photo League Archive.

Interested in these projects? Please complete the application form here Deadline for applications: Friday 6 September. 

PARTNERS 

East End Stories is part of our three-year project The People’s Gallery, which is opening up our archives to share histories of engaged film and photography in East London. The project is supported by Oxford House, Mulberry Secondary School, the University of Westminster and the Centre for Research and Education in Arts and Media, and Hollie Price, Lecturer in Film and Television Studies, University of Keele through the Arts and Humanities Research Council.

Photograph: Volunteers visit Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives, 2023