VENT Documentaries, Series 1 – podcast from VICE UK x LBOC2020

One of the projects I am working on this year is a collaboration between VICE UK and the London Borough of Culture programme, Brent 2020. As well as doing a weekly podcast called VENT Weekly (hosted by a rotating crew of young people from Brent), we’ve just started releasing the first series of our new podcast, VENT Documentaries.

Series 1 is all about identity. Each episode is hosted by a different young person from Brent (all between 15-20 years old). They came to us with their ideas, and then me and my co-producer Jessie Lawson have worked with them to turn those ideas into documentaries.

We’re honestly so proud of these docs. I think they’re really refreshing and quite unique. I’m feeling very lucky to get to work with such cool young people on a project that’s helping them learn new things, tell stories they care about, and impress everyone with their mad skills.

This series the docs are covering so much ground: drill music, race, class, friendship, the NHS, austerity, the hostile environment, the school curriculum… and of course, how COVID-19 has unexpectedly been messing with these young people’s lives.

If you’re not sure where to start, I’d just jump into the first episode “When Live Gives You Pain, Make Champagne”. It’s a surprisingly wholesome documentary about drill, hosted by a 15 year old who’s obsessed with the genre.