A Q&A with Hamsa director Caroline Spearpoint

During Refugee Week, we arranged for Caroline Spearpoint, director of short film Hamsa, to visit Quarry Brae Primary in Glasgow, to speak to the young people there about the background to her film and the wider contexts of the refugee crisis.

As well as visiting Quarry Brae Primary (as seen in the video above), Caroline also visited several other schools across the UK to discuss her film, including an extremely popular event at Rhyddings Business and Enterprise School, in Accrington.

Students at Rhyddings were hugely affected by the event: "It was a beautiful film, inspiring, moving and heart wrenching to hear their story for a better life" said Morgan, aged 12. "It made me think more about helping people poorer and worse off then myself. The film was an absolute masterpiece."

Anna Booth, teacher at Rhyddings, also enthused about the impact the event had on her pupils: "I believe it will get them to think and hopefully empathise with people from a different culture. It should go some way to combat any fears or myths they believe about people who are different to themselves. The young people here live in a very sheltered area of the country, so it is very important that they look beyond the gatepost at life outside of their local community and what is happening to others around the world."

Hamsa is one of two films in our Refugee Week Shorts resource, along with Boya Boya (Shine Shine), which will help you and your club/class delve deeper into the issues surrounding the refugee crisis and further explore the incredible stories of those affected.

Watch the video above to see Caroline responding to the Quarry Brae pupils' excellent questions about Hamsa, and find more of our related content and resources below.