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Director's Statement
By exploring the universal experience of ‘growing up’ we hope to reach an audience that doesn’t necessarily have an insight into south’s situation in deprived areas of Europe, but can relate to their stories.
It all started three years ago when we first met Gemma in a so-called ‘scheme’, a social housing estate outside Glasgow, Scotland. She was a cocky girl telling us stories and unlikely anecdotes. It was her who told us “You should make a film about me!”. Gemma then introduced us to her world, where young teams fight each other and ex-prisoners care for pigeons. We became fascinated with her unique perspective of her surroundings and with the fact that violence had plagued the area and her family through her whole life. The same that year Gemma was born, the steelworks next to the scheme were shut down. The area that once had been “supplying the whole world with steel” was now gone and the people were left disappointed with increasing unemployment. Today very few in the scheme believe they will ever get a job or a better life. “Here you either get knocked up or locked up,” Gemma explains. And it's hard to fight your way out when there's nowhere to go. With SCHEME BIRDS we wish to capture this state of mind from the youth’s perspective. Through Gemma’s eyes we see the aftermath of a societal collapse – a story traditionally told about and by hardened men. But in Gemma's story there is also hope for a better future. She gets determined to find a safe path. Instead of a grim portrait of Scotland – we hope to reveal the unspoken hope, bravery and colour that can be found anywhere, if you take the opportunity to look hard enough.
Although we don’t live in a Scottish scheme, we know the feeling of being stuck between childhood and adulthood.