Bradford exhibition features young filmmakers’ stories of peace

Young people from across Europe have created a series of short films about peace as part of an exhibition for Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture.

Here We Stand, which runs until 31 August at Loading Bay, features work by people aged between18 and 28 from Bradford, Londonderry and Sarajevo.

Developed alongside BAFTA-nominated film producer Elhum Shakerifar, the young filmmakers worked with museums in their cities to tell their own stories about peace.

Ms Shakerifar said she was “delighted” to be a part of what she said was a “moving, interesting and inspiring” project.

“All of the young people had different ideas of what peace meant to them,” she said.

“Was it like a personal feeling or was it a state of being? Or was it something they felt was more related to the wider world, the political statement.”

In Bradford, the group worked in partnership with The Peace Museum – the only accredited museum of its kind in the UK.

The team also collaborated with Toothless Films, a Bradford-based collective of “working-class filmmakers” finding inspiration from the museum’s collection.

In Derry, the young people worked with the Museum of Free Derry, which is dedicated to preserving and presenting the history of Derry between 1968 and 1972.

Meanwhile, in Sarajevo, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the project was supported by the War Childhood Museum – the world’s largest archive of stories about growing up during war.

Ms Shakerifar said she encouraged those taking part to use the opportunity to tell their own stories.

“I love working with young people because there’s wealth in perspective and in sharing perspectives, and working with young people is an opportunity to think into what I want to pass on,” she said.

“The exhibition is not only about what’s on the walls and what’s visible to visitors. It was also about the space to speak and talk to each other – to develop ideas, to learn.

“It was the opportunity for them to meet each other and the conversations that have come about through that are really so moving and interesting and inspiring.”