Room2Dream is a 360 film installation which has been made with children all over the world to explore their idea of home. Through the eyes of young people, the 30 minute-long film takes audiences on a journey from England and Scotland to Zimbabwe, Rwanda, South Africa, India, Syria and to a pre-war Gaza. Rosetta Life have been working with children’s hospices, hospital schools and refugee centres to create the installation, involving the children with creative writing, song making and recording, shared choruses, and film making. The film has music by composer Jocelyn Pook, best known for her work on Stanley Kubrick’s final film Eyes Wide Shut, with instrumental in response to the children’s writing and some of their poems set to music; the track Golden Hour of Home from the score has been released on Spotify.

Creative Director of Rosetta Life Lucinda Jarrett answered some questions about the film

Can you share more about the genesis of the Room2Dream project and how the idea to collaborate with children around the world came about?

Room2Dream is a project that grew out of an international poetry exchange project called www.dreamadifference.art.  During the war in Syria in 2016 we conceived the idea of a poetry exchange platform that would enable children and young people to develop agency through responding to poems from young people facing loss as a result of conflict, illness and bereavement or displacement.  The project initially connected a young school in Gaza, a primary school in Oxfordshire, a secondary school in Gloucestershire and a hospice in Zimbabwe.  The project grew rapidly and in 2019 we were connecting 14 centres across the globe.  We conceived a project , Room2Dream, that would enable young people to immerse peers in their world through a shared understanding of home.  This became increasingly significant as the pandemic dawned and young people were confined to their homes.

The involvement of children in creative writing, song making, recording, shared choruses, and film making is intriguing. How did you approach these creative processes to allow for and encourage the genuine expression of the children's experiences?

We began with the poetry exchanges.  These were facilitated online by experienced writers and poets. Young people met online through zoom and shared responses to writing prompts. The poems were then curated into a single shared poem by the young people.

A 360filmmaker led an introduction to 360filmmaking to each of the seven partnerships.  The young people then storyboarded their own films and directed a one day shoot in each location.

The final work was edited by Luke Christison at the FullDome in Plymouth and the work premiered there at the FullDome Festival in November 2022.

How did the collaboration with composer Jocelyn Pook enhance the overall storytelling and emotional impact of the film?

The score was made in response to the text and composed by Jocelyn Pook. Scores were sent to each centre and young people met to rehearse and record their voices.

Jocelyn brought a coherence and sound vision to the final artwork.  Her collaboration with sound engineer Steve Parr enabled us to create an immersive sound work that was programmed for 19 speakers in the fulldome.  The young people said they wanted to immerse others in their worlds and the sound immersion completed the picture.  Jocelyn’s extreme artistry enabled a collaboration with a wide range of international musicians so that each work had a local musical integrity and authenticity.

Can you share some memorable moments or stories that particularly stood out during the collaborative process with children in different parts of the world?

Memorable moments – oh! So many... a few outlined here...

When we received the footage from Gaza we were all amazed at the beauty of the land of Palestine, the families picnicking on the beach, the markets and the harbours.  This footage has grown in impact since the war broke out and much of this beauty is now destroyed.

When the young people in Syria read a line in the final poem from pupils attending Bartholomew School, England, “How can we be proud of our country, a colonial power, a history of shame?” they were were genuinely shocked. The fierce pride in their homeland is an intrinsic part of Syrian identity just as decolonising our identity is an intrinsic part of our identity.

At The Cotswold School, Gloucestershire, a young pupil who found it difficult to attend school regularly, found that a group of Rwandan refugees were able to identify and articulate his sorrow at being in foster care and losing his home, his “rights forgotten and lost” and he wrote the last verse of the song. 

The film will be presented as a 360 installation inside a dome at Stanley Arts Centre. How does the immersive and 360 nature of the installation contribute to the audience's understanding of the children's perspectives on home?

We are immersed in their local landscapes and the spaces they have chosen to share with us - from a bicycle journey or trip to a park, a bedroom as a safe space or a beach picnic in Gaza. The dome offers a shared immersive experience, unlike the VR headset, the audience go on the journey together, collectively immersed in the stories, spaces and poems of the young people, we visit their garden, their city centre, the landmarks that they wish to share. 

What do you hope the children gained from being a part of this project?

The links between literature and empathy are well evidenced and I hope that this poetry exchange reinforced this for the young people. I hope that young people gained a rich sense of the cultural identity of other young people, a contact and connection with communities that are “othered” and often made different – refugee communities, communities in conflict, communities of privilege. I hope that they enjoyed engaging with a creative process which is still relatively new, 360filmmaking, and understood how they can immerse others in their worlds.  Most importantly, I hope young people gained a sense of agency and an awareness of their ability to take action and make a difference.

Room2Dream will be shown at Stanley Arts Centre on Sunday 17 March at noon and 3pm, free tickets can be booked here stanleyarts.org/event/rosetta-life-presents-room2dream and the track Golden Hour of Home can be listened to on Spotify here https://open.spotify.com/track/2f4tjvMN8lPDIucK3JT9XE?si=c18e4140a5314564