Sometimes, absence truly does make the heart grow fonder (of community).
Several months ago, it was my privilege to find myself included as one of the volunteers for the E.D.E.N Film Productions lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer, questioning and ace (LGBTQ+) community filmmaking workshop: E.D.E.N Action! Initially, it was intended that should I avail myself of the project’s mission, which was to make facilities available to any unemployed members of the LGBTQ+ community from Sheffield and its surrounding areas to develop their filmmaking and employability skills, but after a couple of sessions, I was further invited to guest-write a blog.
Unfortunately, this is where I came a smidge unstuck. Due to an unexpected and exceptionally inconvenient health issue, I had only accomplished one blog post before I sensationally flaked out and had to abandon my peers.
This caused more than a small irritation because, even though I am a filmmaking novice, the opportunity to work on a truly creative LGBTQ+ venture was a terribly exciting prospect for me, and my enthusiasm had definitely overcome any initial inklings of vacillation.
However, before I was rather unceremoniously carted off for months of undignified prodding, I did manage to draw on a couple of bananas, provide a semi-mobile wardrobe service and later almost overdosed one of the other volunteers on biscuits. This may yet be a personal best.
So, you may wonder what I could possibly have gained then from this assignment that I began but did not finish, with potential new skill sets largely unrealised and premieres missed?
E.D.E.N Film Productions and the E.D.E.N Action! volunteers have kept me updated on their progress and involved me whenever they could. They have taken the time to acknowledge my brief input, to both check in to see how I was doing and inform me how their endeavours were faring; I have even had personal visits and overall a more unique insight into the delivery of their enterprise than I could ever have had as a ‘hands-on’ volunteer.
The community spirit conveyed to me from the outset and then later on through selfless and inclusive actions confirmed what I already knew: E.D.E.N Film Productions is no ordinary organisation, and you should all keep an extremely close eye on them (literally and figuratively) because they are moving mountains, and they have the footage to prove it.
May 2025 Update: This post was originally published on my previous blog and has been republished here.
Melanie Lampro 
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