Shyla is setting up school film clubs

11:20am Monday 6th October 2008

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A professional film-maker from Keighley wants to help schools and community groups make their own documentaries.

Shyla Lee has made several short films in India and England, including the award-winning Honour.

She has also worked as an assistant editor on ITV series Emmerdale and Heartbeat, and BBC film White Girl.

Shyla now wants to pass on her skills by setting up film clubs in schools.

She also wants to work with “socially excluded groups” using camera equipment bought with a charity grant.

She has already worked on films with the Third Age Group, Keighley Domestic Violence Services and Holycroft School.

After helping Holycroft students make a promotional film for the school she is returning to set up a film club.

Shyla said: “The making of a short film stimulates enthusiasm and creative impulses beyond the reach of traditional learning.

“Film in the curriculum can provide creative, relevant and memorable learning experiences.”

Shyla recently received funding from the charity Unlimited to become a “social entrepreneur” by buying camera equipment.

She plans to use the equipment for film-making projects with groups of people across Keighley. Shyla wants to help people, especially those who would not normally have a voice, use film as a medium to learn about each other.

She said: “People don’t know about what goes on in their communities. I want to bring those stories out.

“Small groups can make films as a vehicle for dealing with social exclusion and isolation.”

Shyla has started her own company, Clayhouse, making documentaries with husband Luke.

The pair’s first film, Vitya the Recycling Man, focused on a man Shyla knew while growing up in India.

Vitya supports his family by travelling around villages on a bicycle collecting items for recycling. Shyla’s next film, Honour, used a mock “video diary” to portray a young girl forced to marry in her family culture after they find out about her boyfriend.

Honour was shown at several film festivals around the UK — including Bradford’s Bite The Mango — and won an award at London’s Tongues in Fire festival.

Shyla and Luke have also made a film about bullying, The Park, and Fresh, which compared food markets in India and England.

Shyla can be contacted at contact@clayhouse.co.uk.