National Intergenerational Week

National Intergenerational Week is all about celebrating those moments and places where different age groups come together for shared benefit.

In changing times, parents are having children later in life, and living greater distances from their own parents. Given current impacts from Covid-19, we are having to segregate and isolate, with a particular focus on 70+ year olds being forced into self-isolation, there is a need now, more than ever, to focus on positive communities. How can we bring together older and younger generations safely in a way that supports friendship?

St. Monica Trust think it’s about time we change the way we do things.  They aim is to get as many people talking about existing intergenerational projects in their local area as possible. Find out how to get involved in National Intergenerational Week.

Let’s pool our collective experience into sharing ideas for tackling social isolation – whether through in-person events or via online sessions and emails, phone calls and social media. Share your ideas for supporting intergenerational connections on the hashtag #IntergenerationalWeek

Intergenerational projects and cinema

Cinema can be an inspiring and powerful tool for developing intergenerational projects. Find some inspiration on this page about previous and existing projects, or information for further research and planning ideas. Share your organisation’s projects or those local to you with the online world during #IntergenerationalWeek

Online ideas

Could you:

  • set up a watch party between younger and older individuals and have a chat on Zoom/Skype after the film?
  • run an online drawing, poetry or drama workshop, using a film as a theme?
  • watch some archive film available through BFI Player or a regional archive website, and run a reminiscence workshop online?
  • buddy up a younger person and an older person to have a chat online each week about a short or feature film they’ve seen?

Share your experiences

We would love to know about your Intergenerational film or cinema project at Inclusive Cinema. If you’d like to submit your own case study, please download this Inclusive screening case study template and submit it to toki[at]filmhubwales.org, so we can share your experiences, too.

Local 12: Generation to Generations uses film for intergenerational mentoring

Bertha DocHouse: Amazing Grace + Live Gospel Choir

Project Overview Following the success of Beyoncé’s Homecoming, we wanted to see if we could present a live gospel choir showing of Amazing Grace with We Are Parable to attract new, younger audiences to our cinema. Why the project matters As a community interest company, we want our programme to represent a broad church with … More

Iris Prize Festival – Iris in the Community

Project overview Iris in the Community was a Big Lottery funded project which ran from 2015 -2018. Its aims were to work with communities across Wales to make their own film and deliver their own mini-Iris film festival utilising films from our back catalogue. During the life of the project we engaged with 30 groups … More

Seeing the Funny Side

Project overview Part of BFI Comedy Genius, Sign for All collaborated with Women Over Fifty Film Festival (WOFFF) and The New Black Film Collective (TNBFC) in screening silent short films for the deaf community in Birmingham’s MAC and London’s Stratford East Picturehouse. The screenings also included stand up Deaf Comedian Rinkoo Barpaga. Why the project … More

Opening Our Doors was a day of workshops and talks developed by Film Hub Wales, aimed at highlighting inclusivity and equality in film exhibition. The event was aimed at exhibitors seeking to capacity build within their own cinemas. It was a tailor-made day of workshops, case studies and discussions by experts and FAN members for FAN members aimed to boost exhibitor confidence in being more inclusive.

Working closely with Film Hub Scotland, and forming part of their Amplify programme, an Opening our Doors day was delivered in January 2019 to support members of the network in understanding and engaging with diverse communities including low-income, BAME, and disabled groups. The event also referenced programming, and marketing for diverse audiences.

The BFI diversity standards task exhibitors with supporting better inclusion in cinema, such as inclusion for those with additional needs and for those who might feel culturally excluded.

Many of us know about the barriers that are in front of us when we talk about building diverse audiences. We don’t really get the time to consider and talk about our options, our fears, talk to our peers and come up with solutions to improve what we offer.

Diversity and Inclusion: an overview - Myriam Mouflih

Race and unconcious bias in film - Umulkhayr Mohamed

How to welcome lower income communities into your cinema - Helen Wright

Technology to the endangered language rescue?

Looking at what’s working to help endangered and threatened languages, we address technology: what kind of technologies are being used, which can empower people to take action, and which are having an impact on the numbers of speakers.

Take One Action: Inclusive Screenings

Project overview At Take One Action we have always made a conscious effort to make sure the stories we share and the films we champion tell and are told by a multitude of voices from around the world. While this is prominent in our feature film programme we have not explored this diversity within our … More