A still from New Members Welcome

Two University of Sussex student documentaries looking at two different Brighton communities are to feature in Brighton's 2010 film festival, Cine-City.

New Members Welcome was the final-year project for four Sussex graduates who completed the Media Practice and Theory degree in 2010.

The film tells the story of Brighton Trades and Labour Club on Lewes Road, its struggle to survive - challenged by the advent of cheap supermarket booze, the smoking ban and the ever-changing tastes and attitudes of younger people - and its importance to its dwindling membership.

Director Jackson Ducasse says: "Places like the Brighton Trades and Labour Club offer so much to communities across Britain but remain chronically ignored."

Paul Weston, of the club's committee, says: "I really enjoyed the film and felt that it got straight to the point and showed just how much the club means to its members."

Beyond a Song explores another 'sociable phenomenon' - the Brighton Gay Men's Chorus. In the first year of his Media Practice and Theory degree, director Will Steer was asked by family friends to film some of the chorus's gigs.

Having accumulated masses of live performance footage, Will decided to make a documentary on the history of the chorus and the beginnings of the gay choral movement in San Francisco, following the murder of gay champion Harvey Milk in 1978.

Will says: "I managed to weave a story from their performances, linking in archive footage and interviews with members of the chorus. People seem to like it."

Will's film is also being screened at the Exposures film festival in Manchester on 17 November.

Will, now a finalist, says: "At the moment I'm working with a wonderful team of fellow students to produce a screen drama which is where I want to move into as a profession, but my degree course has also introduced me to animation and documentary. It's all been hugely valuable."

Both student films feature in the Cine-City Screening Day Shorts event, which starts at 11am on 4 December at the Sallis Benney theatre, Grand Parade, Brighton. Tickets, available on the door only, are £3.

You can view the two films online along with other examples of work by Sussex students in the Media and Film department.

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