A student filmmaker from Lancashire is crowdfunding to finance a graduation film about growing up on a northern council estate.

Rebecca Gill is also hoping to offer work experience to media and film students from Lancashire colleges and universities.

Advertisements

Rebecca is a previous winner of Rock FM and the Lancashire Police Authority’s Typecast Awards. The awards were set up to give young people in Preston and Lancashire a voice to dispel media myths about drugs, alcohol, bullying, suicide and violence.

Read more: Typecast Awards give young people a voice

Rebecca is now in her final year at University of the Arts London, where she is studying film. She is part of a team working on Day Street, which tells the story of a precocious 11-year-old girl living within a broken family on a council estate in 1982.

Rebecca said: “The main character, Sammy, dreams of a regular childhood and is struggling to accept her life. The film is inspired by our director’s Mum’s childhood, so it’s something I feel a lot of people in the north would relate to.

“We’re aiming to enter the film to BAFTA Qualifying festivals both in the UK and internationally, however to make this possible we need funds to make Day Street as good as we know it can be.”

Read more: Book set in Preston’s haunted tunnels up for global literature award

Crediting the Typecast Awards with pushing her towards a career in film, Rebecca also wants to give back to the county where she was born and raised.

She said: “Winning the award for being creative and proving that not every young person is anti-social pushed me towards my career in producing films. It also helped me keep going when my disability got in the way.

“Eight years on I’m finally in a position where I can help people in Lancashire. I aim to give work experience and take some media and film students from local colleges and universities with me, to assist and learn on the set of Day Street.

“I’m really keen to show young people that no matter where you come from, no matter what type of diversity you may face, dreams can still become a reality.”

Read more: This Preston woman has launched a new charity to help addicts

Anyone interested in contributing funds can find more information on the Day Street Indiegogo page. To find out more about the film and work experience opportunities, email daystreetfilm@gmail.com.