Talking Shop 2025 - Lineup
In film production education, creative collaboration is a key aspect of how we progress ideas, pedagogy, research, production skills and understanding, enhancing the student experience and contributing to new knowledge.
NAHEMI Talking Shop 2025 will explore this theme through a one day symposium of presentations, discourse, discussion and sharing practice.
Date: Thursday 3rd July
Venue: University of Westminster Marylebone Hall
35 Marylebone Road London NW1 5LS.
Please note: This is a FREE event for NAHEMI Members* Only
*Check our website to see if your institution is a member
Programme for the Day
12:30 Welcome Lunch – all vegetarian and vegan
13:30 Welcome and Update (NAHEMI Chair)
13:35 Higher Education and the Screen Industries in the UK | Christa Van Raalte and Richard Wallis
13:55 Introducing The Freelancers Club | Matt Dowling
14:10 Where are the chairs and cameras, and why is there washing on the ceiling? | Freya Billington, HE Head of Bristol Film School, boomsatsuma
14:25 Peer-to-Peer Animation Skillshare | Stephen Ryley, Senior Lecturer, Westminster School of Media and Communication
14:40 Empowering and Inspiring Students Through Live Briefs: how creative courses work in collaboration with the wider community | Katie O’Driscoll, Southampton Solent University
15:00 Refreshment Break
15:20 Introducing the National Saturday Club | Lucy Kennedy
15:35 Return of the Beavers: a case study | Christopher Hall, Sheffield Hallam University
15:50 Cinema film club reality: understanding impact and engagement with industry | Jane Milton, Canterbury Christ Church University
16:05 Let's just go to 'spoons and get pissed | Annie East, Bournemouth University
16:20 Joint International BA in Film: A Case Study in Cross-Border Collaboration | Barry Dignam and Dr Deirdre O’Toole, IADT
16:35 Discussion and Close
17:00 Drinks Reception
NAHEMI Talking Shop.
Proposals for Collaboration in Practice
Freya Billington.
Head of Bristol Film School.
Where are the Chairs and Cameras and Why is There Washing on the Ceiling:
Bristol Film School, Boomsatsuma four years on.
In 2019 I was given the opportunity to design and run a new Film Degree as part of Boomsatsuma education. Mark Curtis, its founder, was primarily interested in looking at potential progression for students from their hugely successful Further Education courses. I persuaded him that I should set up two degrees, one in post-production and one in production, which would be completely intertwined but also allow more space for specialist study in each field. We decided to call this Boomsatsuma Film School, however, last year we changed the name to Bristol Film School.
Bristol Film School, Boomsatsuma is unique for many reasons, it is small, approx. 46 - 50x students a year and the cohort is made up of approx. 48% of students from quintile 1 and 2 (Indices of multiple deprivation (IMD) is a measure of relative deprivation for small, fixed geographic areas of the UK. IMD classifies these areas into five quintiles based on relative disadvantage, with quintile 1 being the most deprived) and the majority are the first person in their family to do a degree.
For these reasons, alongside the huge shifts in the HE sector over the last 10 years, it has been an amazing experience finally having the freedom to do it ‘right’; but what does that mean and what have we learnt in the process? How do you decide what a Film School should look like in 2025?
Stephen Ryley
Principal Lecturer, Westminster School of Media and Communication.
An Introduction to Westminster’s Peer-to-Peer Animation Skill Share.
This presentation introduces an innovative approach to skills development that empowers students to take charge of their own learning. By stepping into the role of the tutor, students not only take responsibility for their education but also gain a deeper, more meaningful understanding of the subject. This method fosters greater confidence, clearer communication, and a stronger sense of ownership—creating a positive cycle of learning that thrives with minimal staff input. As a result, it’s especially effective in large classes and well-suited to diverse student cohorts. And it is fun.
Kate O’Driscoll
Senior Lecturer in Television Production and Post-Production, Southampton Solent University.
Empowering and Inspiring Students Through Live Briefs: how creative courses work in collaboration with the wider community.
Overview: Live Briefs and Professional Practice is a level 5 module that works in collaboration with the NHS to create films that make a difference by tackling some of the most challenging social issues of our time – mental health, loneliness and isolation, sexual health and more. Over the last four years 150 students from across BA Hons TV Production and BA Hons Post-Production for Film and Television have been involved in producing 31 videos across a range of genres including drama, documentary, music and poetry. Subjects have included gambling, suicide, maternal mental health, peer support, young carers and cyber bullying.
Pedagogy: Drawing on my own industry experience, this module supports student learning and professional growth, bridging the gap between industry and a diverse student body. The module is underpinned by an incremental learning approach to teaching.
Summary: This presentation will break down how the module Live Briefs and Professional Practice works and look at some of the challenges around risk management, ethical considerations and the demands of collaborating with external clients. The module is an example of real-world collaboration, bringing together lecturers, students, patients, carers, clinicians, and community groups to work on film projects. The NHS gains access to fresh ideas, creativity and original concepts to explore areas with a different mindset. The students have the chance to develop professional work for their CVs and develop confidence working to a live brief. Students are required to build relationships with the contributors in order tell their stories and share their experiences in a way which offers hope and opportunity for them to lead a better life to the ones they are currently in. All the videos are used by the NHS to promote vital services, helping to get across key information about subjects that community members are most invested in. The films sensitively discuss mental and physical wellbeing and shine a light guide on mental health challenges.
Christopher Hall
Senior Lecturer in Film & TV Production, Sheffield Hallam University.
The Return of the Beavers: A Case Study
Return of the Beavers is a staff/student co-created documentary film about the opportunities and challenges presented by Sheffield City Councils, and a DEFRA funded consultation concerning reintroducing beavers to South Yorkshire. It is an extra-curricular project that involves colleagues from Sheffield Hallam University and the University of Exeter, Council employees and national experts. The production provided significant opportunities for all involved to learn about documentary production, collaboration, wildlife filming techniques and beaver related issues.
Through a series of schools and community screenings, the documentary is gaining a high profile locally. Through the knowledge and professional contacts gained, a follow-up documentary is also in production. The students involved remain committed to attending the screenings when available and remain engaged in the subject areas covered. My presentation will outline the process of the documentary production and the challenges and key learning points for the staff and students. I also present a series of clips from the finished film and behind the scenes footage, where we will hear directly from the makers about their experiences.
A viewing copy of the film is available here.
Jane Milton,
Senior Lecturer in Film & Video, Canterbury Christ Church University.
Cinema Film Club Reality: understanding impact and engagement with industry
An educational collaboration, which is the first of its kind for the Curzon cinema chain in England, was launched last year with Canterbury Christ Church University (CCCU). The ‘Screen Talks at Westgate’ is a fortnightly film club where a CCCU academic introduces a film tied to their research expertise. After the film, they get the chance to discuss it further with students and members of the public. Last summer, this partnership was formalised with a memorandum of agreement (MOU) and a survey which captured visitor data. In the last year, there have been many highlights: regular CCCU student attendance, growing public footfall, and even the launch of cross partnership events with students and academic staff. However, it has its challenges. I have to manage my expectations while working with a commercial partner. Therefore, my presentation provides an overview of the partnership so far, including issues of maintaining and managing this industry and educational relationship. In addition, data insight into how we are capturing the public impact for KEF and REF, and questions around how we measure its success and develop this in the future to benefit students, the community, the University and the cinema.
Annie East
Assistant Director, Media Production, Bournemouth University.
Let's Just go to 'Spoons and Get Pissed.
That title isn’t just about hooking in the reader. It’s a quote from ‘Jonny’ a student-participant filmmaker on a research project that I undertook for my doctorate. This presentation will outline some of the findings from my thesis titled ‘What are students doing when we aren’t looking. A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Exploration of Risk Management on a Student Film Shoot’.
Through working with a new method of VR elicitation, using 360-degree video, I worked collaboratively with one group of student-participants to explore ways they re-experienced their filmsets by re-immersing them back into their film shoots to reflectively and reflexively review themselves and others. This presentation will surface the findings that the student-participants engaged with a hierarchy of discourse that lead to the creative (the filming) being favoured over the mundane (the RA) and that, at times, as filmmakers they did not attend to their ‘morality of practice’ which led to a unique student-participant risk culture emerging, which was unknown to the students and unseen by the HE institution.
Barry Dignam and Dr Deirdre O’Toole
National Film School Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Dun Laoghaire.
Pathfinder: Joint International BA in Film – A Case Study in Cross-Border Collaboration.
This presentation explores Pathfinder: Joint International BA in Film, a flagship programme of the Filmi alliance and an emerging model of a European Degree. Designed by eight institutions and delivered by four, Pathfinder exemplifies how transnational collaboration can align pedagogy, policy, and quality assurance within a single joint degree framework. The case study focuses on three key areas: bottom-up curriculum design across national contexts; top-down alignment with European policy frameworks such as the Bologna Process and the Joint European Degree label; and the convergence of quality assurance practices, highlighted through a unique Programme Validation Event. It also reflects on the organisational structures that enabled this complex collaboration. The session offers practical insights into authorship, governance, and student-centred design in cross-border higher education.