Film Commission: Carrying Us

“For this as with LYC, I really appreciated that there was no consequence for failing with certain things - in many ways we were encouraged to push the boundaries and experiment.” - Adam Laurence

Carrying Us is a short film created by ​Elsa Monteith​, ​Hazel Davis​ and ​Adam Laurence​ from the Lighthouse Young Creatives 2019-2020 cohort. The trio met on the scheme, and there, developed the skills that enabled Carrying Us to become a reality.

The film was commissioned by Lighthouse with funding from Historic England as part of their High Streets Cultural Programme. As first-time filmmakers, they were guided through the process by their storytelling mentor Kitty Wallace and supported by Lighthouse to produce the film.

Adam recalls how his experience on the LYC scheme gave him the confidence and tools to develop this project alongside other members of the cohort:

“Something I really appreciated from Lighthouse both in LYC and this project is how they put programme participants in the driving seat of the projects. On the LYC programme it was what do you want to do rather than making us do anything specific. But with something like this with deadlines it was good to have a few weeks to let us figure things out ourselves but then bring us back down to earth and make us make decisions to think we struck a good balance.”

Following the success of Carrying Us, which has been shown at London Short Film Festival 2021, Videoclub 2022, and Brighton Digital Festival 2021, the artists have been inspired to pursue more collaborative creative projects:

“[Participating in the project] …has undoubtedly significantly furthered my career options in the space of one project. I will go on to use these new skills within the space of this year and I’m really excited to see what I go on to make. I’m interested in producing a short film of my own and that wouldn’t be on the agenda for me if it hadn’t been for this project and the way it was supported. ‘ — Hazel Davis

“It was a really exciting opportunity, something I’ve benefited from in the long term, and inspired new projects.” — Elsa Monteith

Since the production of Carrying Us Elsa, Hazel and Adam have gone on to further develop their careers in the creative sector:

• Elsa Monteith has been successful in applying for funding from Arts Council England’s Developing Your Creative Practice programme and will be spending 2023 experimenting with and working on an ‘anti-algorithm’ newsletter called Discontented.
• Hazel Davis has been invited to join the Southbank Centre New Poets Collective 2022/23.
• Adam Laurence has co-founded SODAA, a community developing a decentralised governance model for London music and arts venues.