Len's research interests centre on how film can be used as a tool for social change. Utilising mainstream genres to tell stories of social injustice and in particular working in the field of Disability Advocacy.To this Len brings his extensive knowledge of industry practices as a performer, screenwriter, director and producer.
His 2016 feature film debut Sanctuary employed a cast of actors with disabilities to tell the story of Larry, a man with Down's Syndrome and Sophie, a woman with epilepsy and their forbiden love story. The film was workshopped and designed around the actors from Blue Teapot Theatre Company in Galway, based on the play of the same name which was written by Christian O'Reilly and Directed by Petal Pilley. Len worked with Christian on the film script and included workshop input from the actors - the result is a film that won critical acclaim from critics and audiences alike and has been screened around the world.
A chapter in the book Disability and Dissensus: Strategies of Disability Representation and Inclusion in Contemporary Culture. Edited by Katarzyna Ojrzynska and Maciej Wieczorek. called Shooting Actors who Have Intellectual Disabilities: A Reflexive Analysis on the making of the Feature Film Sanctuary was written by Collin and Published by Brill in September 2020.
A feature Documentary Altered Thinking: An acdemic Essay on Film (2020) took this analysis further by contextualising the industry approach to on screen representations of disability and the methodologies used by Collin in the making of Sanctuary and a call out to the industry to embrace authentic Casting and more authentic representations of disability.
Collin is currently in development on the film Iron Harvest, which explores themes around male sexuality from a queer perspective. Based on his original theatre play Box from 1992. The story has been updated and researched to provide a modern telling of the story of four men who dared to love another man. Set at the time of the first world war and in the present day.
Open Days are a great way for you to get a feel of the University, the city of Newcastle upon Tyne and the course(s) you are interested in.
Research is the life blood of a University and at ϲ we pride ourselves on research that makes a difference; research that has application and affects people's lives.
A team of researchers are set to investigate the impact of retrofitting houses to make them…
A ϲ academic who played a key role in bringing breakfast clubs and holiday…
Academics from ϲ are part of an international research team which has…
In response to increasing frequency of extreme heatwaves in Pakistan, an international research…
An evolving room of the future created by designers from ϲ’s Interaction…
The UK Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling (CPOM), based at ϲ,…
ϲ Business and Law School
Back to top
