Newman’s Jamaal O’Driscoll creates short film for BBC

Jamaal O’Driscoll works within the NCOP team at Newman University as an Aimhigher Progression Ambassador working within local schools to provide young people with the information needed to make decisions about their future education.

As well as working at Newman, Jamaal runs his own company, O’Driscoll Collective where he is a dancer and choreographer, not only starring in a variety of performances but also running his own workshops.

Most recently Jamaal has worked on a new initiative called New Creatives, launched by BBC Arts and Arts Council England, which is a talent development scheme that offers commissioning opportunities for emerging artists to create new artistic works in film, or audio or interactive media, designed for BBC platforms.

The short film, which Jamaal has written, featured in and produced, is titled ‘Inside we Break’. The short film explores a journey of three male characters from different professions and lifestyles but have one thing in common: the Hip-Hop dance style of breakin, which shows the characters need to break out. The films narrative also looks at mental health as a main influence of inspiration and creation.

Jamaal commented, “The new creative scheme has allowed me to expand on my current dance projects and bring the style of Breakin on to another platform that O’Driscoll Collective hasn’t explored before. To have the chance to pursue a subject such as mental health and express this through breakin is something that I’m very passionate about.”

As part of the film, Jamaal shot some of the footage at Newman University in October.

View the short film on the BBC website.

To find out more about the scheme visit the BBC website.

With thanks to @BBCArts,  @ACE_Grams, @Rural_media, @jamaaldrisc and @Odriscoll_collective.

Photo Credit: Kalvin Mack @kalvinmackofficial