‘Something We Can All Agree On’ is a collection of films has been created by Nell Hardy, the actor, director and founder of Response Ability Theatre, drawing with permission on content and themes that emerged in our project interviews with victim-survivors. The links for viewing these films are at the bottom of this page.
They can be used a resource for individual or group reflection and are designed to express the complexities and differences among victim-survivors’ insights and experiences. It can be valuable working through all of the films to see the progression of ideas and experiences in them. However, given the nature of the content you may wish to do this over more than one sitting with time to reflect in between.
As a starting point, we recommend watching the short introductory film in which Nell explains the approach and key insights from making these films. As she explains, the films draw directly on what victim-survivors said to our research team but do so in a way that weaves individual experiences and perspectives into broader characters. To preserve the anonymity of our interviewees, they do not re-tell individual stories in detail, but are more like ‘conversational poems’ that try to capture common experiences and ideas that victim-survivors have shared with us.
- all group leaders or facilitators watch any film before seeing it with the group so they are fully aware of the content and themes and issues raised in it;
- members of that group are given prior notice of the plan to watch these films and are given an indication of the films’ content before attending any showing;
- thought be given as to whether it might be better for group members to be able to watch the films individually in advance at their own pace and for the group activity to focus on reflection and discussion about issues raised in the films.
Something We Can All Agree On: Introduction
(an explanation of the process and over-arching insights from the films by Nell Hardy)
Something We Can All Agree On: Fire in the Dark
(victim-survivors’ responses to the question,
‘What has been the impact of experiencing abuse in a religious context?)
Something We Can All Agree On: Trees in the Sea
(victim-survivors’ responses to the question, ‘What was it like when you told someone about the abuse?’)
Something We Can All Agree On: Hole in the Window
(victim-survivors’ responses to the question, ‘What has the experience of abuse done to your faith and hope?’)
Something We Can All Agree On: Neurons in the Path
(victim-survivors’ responses to the question, ‘What has helped you to survive?’)
Something We Can All Agree On: Kite in the Snow
(victim-survivors’ responses to the question, ‘What do you want others to know?’)
