LORNA MARSH Young people with eating disorders are helping others by putting their stories on film.The project, co-ordinated by Beat, formerly known as the Eating Disorders Association, will see those with the condition and in recovery record films to go on to podcasts so they can be put online.

LORNA MARSH

Young people with eating disorders are helping others by putting their stories on film.

The project, co-ordinated by Beat, formerly known as the Eating Disorders Association, will see those with the condition and in recovery record films to go on to podcasts so they can be put online.

Films will not only go on Beat's website but on online social networking sites like MySpace so they can be more accessible.

The project has been made possible thanks to a grant of nearly £20,000 from Mediabox, part of the government's Department for Children, Schools and Families, which oversees a £6m fund for disadvantaged young people to make creative media projects about issues that are important to them.

Cash also went to SeaChange Arts in Yarmouth which staged an eight-day film camp for 35 young people aged between 15 and 21.

The two organisations were among 24 across the country to be awarded Mediabox grants in the latest round of funding which totalled more than £907,000 nationally.

Libby Smith, spokesman for Beat, said the cash was essential for the project which could reach out to young people with eating disorders where other methods had failed.

"One of the natures of the condition is that those with it find it very hard to talk about it and won't admit to others or themselves they have a problem.

"We wanted to try to help in the early stages and one of the things we found out is that young people prefer to talk and listen to other young people rather than doctors or professionals, which is why we wanted to create the films to encourage them to get help."

SeaChange's eight-day Forest of Film in August saw local young people team up with talented teens from Malta to create films in Thetford Forest.

The young participants worked with industry professionals from film, dance, drama and music to learn new creative technical and social skills.

A series of workshops in all the skills needed to make a film - including scriptwriting and storyboarding, camerawork, editing, make-up, costume and set design - led to the creation of seven short films.