Set up in Manchester UK in 2007, our aim is to give homeless and marginalised people a voice through film and theatre. It’s drama from the streets – as real as it gets.
Anouncement
Acting on Impulse has championed the place of the performing arts in generating wellbeing, agency, resilience and skills for people who have experienced homelessness or who are marginalised for any reason. Around 500 people have attended our various programmes of acting workshops over the last 17 years. The work of our actors has been immortalised in over 70 films which can be viewed on our You Tube channel.
There are many very short films of just a few minutes in length which came out of our programme of outreach projects which took place in a whole variety of Manchester based agencies.
There are our much more ambitious main project films which have been made with high production values. These have all had a high level of story content which has come from the actors. They are typically around 20 minutes long. A number of them have been accepted into film festivals around the globe. And a few have won awards at these festivals.
There are the behind the scenes films made while filming the main project films. Again these capture some of the impact that being involved in a film project has on the participants.
And finally we have our documentary, "The Making of Us". This captures some of the process and impact of the main project programme. It demonstrates very clearly the impact that the arts can have for people who are are on the margins of society. This film is currently doing the rounds of film festivals. It has won a best social award at the Soho London Independent Film Festival (SohoLIFF). This will be available for public viewing when it is added to our You Tube channel content later in 2025.
Latest News
First Impressions from our new Development Officer, Cathy Cowie
Since joining the team here at Acting on Impulse, I've been really impressed by the professionalism of the films that are produced - much more than simply a top quality end result, these films point to the hugely important work that AOI are doing. I'm discovering this...
Latest Film
Update on our film for 2023: ‘Ope
‘Ope is a quirky take on well-known fairy tales, underpinned with a genuine message – we all need hope. Our group – from a mean Cinderella, to her prince with a penchant for fine footwear, and a sensitive Wolf with Issues – discover that hope might be found in an...
Information
'Ope Film Success
Following on from our success at the monthly Independent Short Film awards in Los Angeles, where we won ‘best film of the month, we are now one of 3 nominees for Best Fantasy Film of the year. You can watch it by following the link:
2024 Project, 'All That and a Bag of Chips'
Our workshop program has run from October 2023 to May 2024. We filmed over a weekend in May. We followed our tradition of working with a different genre each year. This year it was an archetypal episode of a soap. You can watch the film by following the link:
Outreach Projects
We regret to announce that we are no longer available for bookings of outreach projects.
