Queen’s Film Theatre’s Over 60’s Outreach Programme
Date Posted: May 16, 2018
To celebrate its 50th anniversary milestone in October, QFT has been working with three over 60’s community groups whose enthusiastic participants have shared their memories of the films they have seen and experiences of cinema going they have had, over the last 50 years.
Marion Campbell, who is the lead on QFT’s Age Friendly projects commented, “QFT is delighted to have been working with this inspirational group of people, and to be able to host this celebration event which would not have been possible without the support from the Arts Council’s Arts and Older People’s Programme. The benefits of how engaging with the Arts improves well-being for people of all ages should not be underestimated, and for some can be a life-line”.
Lorraine Calderwood, Arts & Older People Programme Officer, Arts Council of Northern Ireland explained how the Arts and Older People’s Programme is continuing to making a huge difference to people’s lives, saying;
“The links between creative expression through participation in the arts and improved wellbeing are now well established. The Arts Council’s Arts & Older People Programme has evidenced how successful the arts are in making a positive impact on older people, tackling social issues such as isolation and social exclusion. With the help of professional artists these projects give a much needed voice to our older citizens through high quality arts interventions and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland is delighted to support QFT’s older people’s outreach project through National Lottery funding.”
Three community groups, The Link, Words Alive and Voices Women’s Group have been working with creative community artist and author Jan Carson to create short trailers and posters of their favourite films. The group participants have been working with filmmaker Joanne Barnett and artist Jonathan Brennan to create their own trailers and film posters.
Jan Carson who has been working with the participants said, “It’s been absolutely fantastic to see participants’ confidence levels increasing throughout the project. As is often the case with community arts projects, people were quite shy and restrained during the first session, and several participants said they’d be hesitant about taking part in the filmmaking. It was incredible to see two of the less confident participants really throw themselves into the film making session, discovering that they both thoroughly enjoyed the experience and had a natural aptitude for performing in front of the camera.”
There will be a celebration event at QFT on Friday 25th May at 12.15pm with a short showcase of their project, a poster exhibition in QFT’s foyer, and a public screening of Driving Miss Daisy. The participants in our Over 60s project have selected Driving Miss Daisy as one of their favourite movies of the last fifty years.
Driving Miss Daisy was originally released in 1989 and stars Jessica Tandy, Morgan Freeman and Dan Ackroyd in this Academy Award-winning comedy-drama about the twenty-five-year long relationship between a strong-willed, Southern matron and her African American chauffeur.
