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'It's Our Big Society Not Yours'

Lynne Harwood, one of the Directors of First Take tells how they have survived since we featured them in Nerve 2 (Summer 2003), and also about their creative response to the cuts:

First Take, a not for profit filmmaking organisation established in 1983, is still going strong. In February next year I will have been working at First Take for 20 years - it's hard to believe I was first interviewed for Nerve Magazine just under 10 years ago. It's been an amazing journey with wonderful highlights and of course many obstacles, primarily keeping going through thick and thin. Throughout its history First Take has never received any major annual funding although the invaluable £15,000 from Liverpool City Council helps us to bring in lots of other match funding and allows us to do ground breaking work within Liverpool communities such as 'Pink: Past and Present', working with the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community to produce the first feature documentary of Liverpool's LGBT history from the 1950s to the present day.

I am very proud of being a part of First Take and of all our achievements. We care about the films we make and the people we work with. We make films to impact on people's lives, their understanding and perceptions, and to push the boundaries of filmmaking.

A brilliant example of this is our feature film "Big Society The Musical", a gritty and surreal personal drama that provides a penetrating perspective on the austere times in which we live. With the community of Liverpool at its heart, the film depicts over 300 local voices with amazing musical numbers to convey its story.

We have completed the filming and the trailer is released but we have hit the usual obstacle: money (or lack of) so in order to get the film finished we are trying crowd funding for the first time ever.

It's been a brilliant process; but now we want people to see it, be part of it and maybe go out of the cinema singing one of the most defiant musical numbers in the film: 'It's Our Big Society Not Yours'. That would be something.

For more information and to view the trailer and behind the scenes footage visit
www.first-take.org/bigsocietythemusical

If you want to help by making a donation please visit http://www.sponsume.com/project/big-society-musical

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