FfilmSchool is a practice-based research project which forms the core of my, James R Price’s, PhD. I’m being supervised between Aberystwyth and Bristol Universities.
Practice-based research means looking to answer my questions through action – in this case running an experimental film school. I want to find out what happens when I try to put into practice all the things I’ve been thinking about since 2021 – when I first started researching what an anti-extractivist documentary filmmaking education might mean.
In the rain and fog of October 2021 I was introduced to Bwlch Corog and imagined it as the place for this school. Now it is becoming a reality. I’ll find out if it feels worthwhile for the people who take part, what we manage to make together, and what unintended consequences emerge, hopefully some good ones. Soon it’ll be over, a ruin if you like, but I hope it will create soil for new things to grow from.
I would like to use what happens during FfilmSchool as data for my research. That means you, if you take part in the course and agree to be part of the research, will be a research participant. You’ll be both a subject of the research and a community researcher – you’re doing research as well, through work you make, by the reflections you offer.
This project has been approved by Aberystwyth University Research Ethics Panel. The official Participant Information Sheet is below. It contains important details about your participation. Please read it carefully. If you are unsure about anything, please ask.
FfilmSchool.org
Participant Information Sheet
Please read this information sheet carefully and get in touch with any questions you may have before deciding to participate. We’ll be asking for your consent to take part having shortlisted applicants and we want you to do so fully informed. We’ll check in regularly to renew that consent: before and after each residential week, and after our final community screening.
You are invited to take part in FfilmSchool, a paid documentary film course centred on two residential weeks in the Cambrian mountains just south of Machynlleth. It is being delivered in partnership with Ffilm Cymru Wales, the Welsh film agency, and CO₂RE, a large government UKRI-funded research project on practices to remove greenhouse gasses from the atmosphere. However, it is important to note that, although greenhouse gas removal will provide the focus for the stories we use to train anti-extractivist filmmaking, neither CO₂RE nor Ffilm Cymru have any editorial control over the course or the film it generates.
When will FfilmSchool take place?
Applications are open until 30th November 2025. We will conduct online interviews (45 minutes) with shortlisted applicants in early December. The questions will be available in advance for those shortlisted.
Week one is Saturday 10th PM – Sunday 18th January AM 2026. Week two runs from Friday 24th April PM to the night of Friday 1st of May where we’ll be rounding off with a free, “community peer review” live-cinema performance of the material we’ve made.
There will also be at least 16 hours of editing tasks (also paid) to complete during the months between the two residentials and following the second residential. The project culminates with a community peer review screening of our (nearly) completed film on 6th June. Community peer review is our effort to respect the opinion of communities who share this place we’re filmmaking with. The audience will have the chance to respond to what we’ve made, and we’ll seek to change our film so the community are happy it can be released for general public viewing beyond the Dyfi, Rheidol and Ystwyth. Our guide for resolving differences of opinion will be the wellbeing of future generations.
Where is FfilmSchool?
The course will take place based at Bwlch Corog between Coetir Anian (a peatland/Celtic rainforest generation project) and the neighbouring Cefn Coch (a regenerative farm) in the Dyfi watershed, West Wales. Both Coetir Anian and Cefn Coch are involved in the kind of woodland management and peatland restoration projects that draw down such greenhouse gasses from the atmosphere.
These sites are remote and rural, and present challenges for people with restricted mobility. However, step-free accommodation and learning spaces are available, and we are able to provide electric vehicle transport to and from site. Please contact us and we will do our utmost to enable participation. James has up to date level 3 qualifications in First Aid and Mental Health First Aid at Work, Outdoor First Aid, and Forestry+ and there are emergency protocols in place on site.
Who can take part?
This course is aimed at those people who commonly face barriers to participation in documentary filmmaking and its education, in alignment with our funder Ffilm Cymru Wales’s Film for Everyone Action Plan. Prior filmmaking experience is a bonus but not necessary – beginner filmmakers with aspirations to careers in film are also welcome. We commit to interview all who identify as people of the global majority or as d/Deaf, Disabled or Neurodiverse.
FfS is place-based, meaning we want the participants to have a meaningful connection to the lands we’re looking at – the Dyfi, Rheidol, and Yswyth watersheds. You are the land filming itself.
To take part:
- You must be over 18, and not in full-time education.
- You must commit to attend in-person the two residential weeks.
- You must have right to work and leave to remain in the UK.
- You must be legally able to give informed consent.
Ffilm School is not currently equipped to provide care for adults who would be considered vulnerable under UK law. If you have a care plan or receive community-based support, we can discuss whether participation could be enabled and what adjustments may be possible. Every effort will be made to ensure the programme is accessible to people with physical or neurological traits understood as impairments under the Equality Act 2010, within the limitations of the remote, rural site.
What is this research about?
The Ffilm School is part of a PhD project exploring alternative, “anti-extractivist” approaches to documentary film education at Aberystwyth University, led by the filmmaker and educationalist, James R Price, with the support of a supervisory team from Aberystwyth University and the University of Bristol. Your participation in the project is entirely voluntary.
In this project, ‘extractivism’ refers to ways of documentary filmmaking (and filmmaking education) that take stories, labour, energy and ideas from people, societies and environments without a balance of accountability, respect and obligation in return. These kinds of extractivist practices are prevalent not only in the film and media industries but also in film and media education and research. This project seeks to explore how we can avoid extractivist and exploitative modes of filmmaking and filmmaking education and develop new ones based on the wellbeing of future generations’ mental, social, and environmental health.
What will taking part involve?
The course will be led by experienced filmmakers, James R Price and Laura Harrington (‘the guides’), and will include six co-creator participants, you (‘the conspirators’). Participants and guides will be paid at a rate of £550 per week and are expected to attend during both weeks of the course. We’re using the 4-day week campaign’s 32-hour week. Those participation hours will be distributed over the week, depending on the activities. Some optional extras events may be scheduled, and what constitutes ‘participation’ and what remains optional will be decided collectively by the participants and the guides during the course.
Activities will include workshops, screenings and practical exercises recording on site and in the local area, using the theory and practice that underpin FfS’s conception of anti-extractivist filmmaking. These include accountable and trust-based collaboration with contributors; navigating the reuse of existing material and encouraging responsible open access practices on both the land and in the creative commons; recording image and sound with low-energy and low-data practices in mind, celebrating the use and aesthetics of ‘second-hand cinema’, modified/hacked equipment, and open-source non-proprietorial platforms; and developing collective editing practices, which FfS likes to think of as ‘braiding’. In the course we collectively will make a non-profit film, taking as our subject how widescale adoption of greenhouse gas removal practices might affect the environment, society, and mentalities in this place, and how different approaches might land differently.
Before, during and after the course, participants will be invited to take part in three interviews lasting up to an hour each.
Equipment, accommodation and food
No specialist equipment will be required from you beyond standard outdoor clothing. A detailed suggested kit list will be provided to participants nearer the time. Please let us know if you are missing items – we may be able to help.
Accommodation options include staying in Cefn Coch’s Llechwedd cottage or step-free Einion Barn, camping at Coetir Anian, or commuting.
FfS has secured the use of electric vehicles from Aberystwyth University and local EV CIC car club TrydaNi as well as electric bikes / cargo bikes from EcoHubAber. At the start and end of each residential week FfS will pay for public transport travel expenses to Machynlleth Station and will shuttle participants to and from the site from there, although participants are welcome to make their own way to site (we prefer you not to use fossil fuel transport aside from public transport). If logistics allow, we may be able to provide electric vehicle transport for any who choose to commute.
All food will be included during the residentials, prepared by ethics-led caterer Altaea Fradley (with vegan and/or vegetarian options always available, and nutritional / dietary needs can be accommodated if you inform us up to two weeks in advance).
Can I withdraw from the project if I change my mind?
Yes. Participants can choose to take part in some or all of the course activities and can choose to withdraw at any time, without giving a reason. If you choose to withdraw during the residential weeks, you will be paid for the days you have participated, including the full day on which you choose to withdraw. A day’s fee is £110. If you withdraw after the 3rd participation day of either residential week, you’ll be entitled to the full £550 for that week. You’ll be entitled to the full fee if you need to withdraw at any point in the week for health, bereavement or essential caregiving reasons. We reserve the right to offer your place to another applicant if you choose to withdraw before the weeks have started. Please note that you are responsible for any tax or benefit implications for accepting these payments.
You can withdraw your data until June 7th, 2026, the day after our second ‘community peer review screening’. We’ll be showing what we’ve made to the local community to get their feedback and seeking their (and your) greenlight to make the film public. For clarity the date for withdrawal of data for use in James’s thesis (rather than the FfS film products) is set for the same date, but James is committed to sharing my draft thesis for review with project participants before submitting to Aberystwyth University, with the intention of addressing any concerns participants have.
Due to the film-based nature of the project and the small number of participants, it may not be possible to withdraw every aspect of a participant’s data, but every effort will be taken to do so. Participants may also request to be identified by a pseudonym or not quoted at all.
What will happen to my data on this project?
Your participation in this project will generate a range of data, from your initial Expression of Interest, your participation in activities on the course, and any contributions on- or off-camera or via the interviews. Your data will be used as research data and may be quoted (anonymously if you prefer) in the final thesis and any associated outputs, such as presentations and publications.
All data will be stored securely on encrypted drives and handled in accordance with Aberystwyth University’s Data Protection Policy.
Are there any risks?
There are no anticipated risks to participating in this research beyond those associated with normal group collaboration, discussion, and reflection, at times in rural, remote environments. However, collaborative creative processes can sometimes lead to emotional stress or interpersonal conflicts. To mitigate these, all participants will collectively generate and commit to a Code of Practice at the outset of the course, with regular check-ins conducted to review that code and monitor wellbeing.
What happens next?
If you’re happy to take part, please sign and return the Consent Form. You are welcome to keep this sheet for your records. If you’d like to talk further before deciding, just ask.
Contact information
This project is being conducted by James R Price, a PhD researcher in the Department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies at Aberystwyth University. It has been reviewed and approved by the University’s Research Ethics Panel.
If you have questions, concerns, or complaints, please contact:
| Researcher: | James R Price, +44 7876 352 106 |
| Supervisor: | Dr. Kim Knowles, |
| Supervisor: | Dr. Steve Presence, |
| Ethics Contact: |