Stories of Transformation with the Barbican
Last week Eelyn Lee ran a 5-day project with young people [aged 11-19] at Spotlight, a youth centre in Poplar, East London. Commissioned by the Barbican with funds from Into Film, Eelyn conceived of an exciting new collaborative film project to explore the theme of transformation.
Taking the following premise as a starting point...
What if one morning you awoke from troubled dreams to find yourself transformed right there in your bed in to your worst nightmare?
... Eelyn and a core team of 10 young people made three short stories of transformation, inspired by the opening lines of Kafka’s Metamorphosis.
Long-term collaborator Winstan Whitter worked alongside Eelyn to facilitate the filmmaking, whereby young people took roles of actor, director, camera operator, gaffer and art director. The final film will screen at a special event at the Barbican Cinema in October.
The project marks Eelyn's ongoing interest in exploring notions of monsters, transformation and fear through processes of improvisation and collaboration.