Cinema and Social Justice Filmmaking Project

Dr Martin Hall, Dr Lauren Stephenson and Dr Steve Rawle (York St John University)

This project addresses the findings of the Higher Education Policy Institute’s recent study, ‘The Humanities in Modern Britain: Challenges and Opportunities’ (2021). Whilst this report speaks to the Humanities more holistically, the revelation that, since the early 1960s ‘the proportion of UK students studying Humanities subjects fell from around 28 to around 8 per cent of all students’ is an alarming one. The research team proposes to investigate perceived barriers to studying the moving image and explore the ways in which the further study of cinema might enable pathways to more inclusive and diverse talent pools in the Yorkshire and Humber region.

The intention of this project is to demonstrate what the study of film and filmmaking can uncover, encourage people to take up the study of film in higher education, and inspire aspirations to work in film and broader screen industries in order to proliferate these powerful messages. Data will be collected to support understanding of the emerging talent pool and audiences in the region, and how equality can feed into inspiring further engagement with screen industries in the region.

This project is part of:

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  Research

  Investigating the challenges facing the screen industries and devising evidence-based interventions