The Games (Completed )

About the Film

In 2012 the Olympic Games will come to London. With it, come promises of regeneration, opportunities for young people and lives changed. The Games looks at what happens when the circus comes to town, through the eyes of young people living in Newham, one of the poorest boroughs in the UK.

The Games explores how one choice ripples through an interconnected world. The decision to award the 2012 Olympics to London will fundamentally affect the lives of the people of East London. But how?

Promises have been made – such as new social housing to replace the run down living conditions in some of London’s poorest areas. But what of those who are being relocated to make way for the Olympics developments? And what about the young people of East London and the diversity they represent on which the bid was won? Will they be winners or losers in the political game of regeneration and development?

The Games witnesses the consequences of the Olympics coming to London and is an overarching metaphor for urban struggle, as everyone must play or get played.

Made by the community - We are making this film over a 4-year period, starting in 2009 and ending in 2013, a year after the Olympics has happened. The issues that the Olympics brings won’t end after the closing ceremony, and we want to assess people’s perceptions of the Olympics in retrospect.

We have unprecedented access to the communities of Newham, including some of the ‘guns and knives gangs’ that the young people we will be working with belong to. We’ll gain a deep insight into the opportunities these young people need and their hopes and expectations. Many of them hope for jobs – real jobs, not flipping burgers – and want to participate in all that the Olympics can bring. Our film will look at what happens to them, what they can and can’t access and what choices they make – and the consequences – engagement and participation or more crime, violence?