In May 2021, Headliners Foyle started working with the Northern Ireland Rare Disease Partnership (NIRDP) on a project that would turn out to be unique: one entirely recorded by a group of young people whom we would only see during online meetings.
The young people of NIRDP explained to us that while all of us had to stay at home when the government issued the order, they went into shielding much sooner and remained so for over a year. They all have rare conditions that made them more vulnerable to Covid-19 and could not afford taking any risk.
A year later and finally out of their homes, they told us their stories throughout twelve weeks of online sessions. We sent them vlogging kits and throughout the sessions helped them create a storyboard; but the rushes were their entire responsibility.
To keep them safe, we never met them face to face. This also meant that they could come from anywhere and everywhere, which made the project even more unique. The young people of NIRDP are spread all over Northern Ireland, and the rushes we collected covered the many sceneries found in the North.
In a new Headliners Foyle production, “A Year Inside” gives us an insight of what Saul and George (both eleven-years-old) experienced during the Coronavirus pandemic.