A North East film company has partnered with Sunderland University to create its latest educational movie.
TryLifeTV creates interactive films that are designed to educate young people about a decisions they may be forced to make in their everyday lives.
The award-winning company tackles issues such as mental health, sexual exploitation, knife crime, drug use, loneliness, poverty, and violence.
READ MORE: {}
Its latest project will see it work with the university and will focus on young people’s mental health and pregnancy. It has been funded by the North East and North Cumbria’s Integrated Care System’s child health and well-being network and the Perinatal Mental Health Network.
The company is headed up by Paul Irwin, who is a graduate of the university.
Mr Irwin said: “I’m so excited to be back in the region creating our next interactive film. This next episode will cover teenage pregnancy and mental health as the main themes. Austerity has meant severe cuts to services for young people but we still need to engage with them about serious health and social issues.
“When we created TryLife we didn’t anticipate how quickly it would spread on social media. We now have 7,100,000 on Facebook and are reaching 188,000,000 people on social media some weeks. TryLife’s global success has taken us around the world, even to Hollywood where we are creating an interactive project in South Central with the producer of Bladerunner.”
The latest firm will be produced at Sunderland’s campus and will cover a range of issues, including the importance of breast feeding and available support services, to the realities for young women in care dealing with pregnancy.
Most Read
Academics at the university have also been granted funding to produce and impact study on the film once it is finished in spring next year.
Dr Rick Bowler and Dr Amina Razak, from the Faculty of Education and Society and Dr Caroline Mitchell, from the Faculty of Arts and Creative Industries, have been leading the project on behalf of the university.
Dr Bowler said: “We are delighted to be enabling Paul’s latest film production. This is an interdisciplinary youth work, community media and public health approach to tackle the realities of perinatal mental health and young people.
“It has led to a university-wide involvement alongside a wider regional partnership. All those involved recognise the importance of getting out public health messages.
“This documentary will be an important educational resource for young people, who can identify with the various storylines.”
He added: “Paul Irwin has a participative approach in making these films. For our own students, studying youth work, social work, creative writing, performance art, education, digital media and health, this presents engagement with industry alongside learning opportunities within an interdisciplinary approach to young people led solutions to public health concerns.”