A FILM director who partnered with the mum of a teenager who was stabbed to death for a project focusing on tackling knife crime has seen the film have its premiere.
Dentons Green-raised Owen Seabrook linked up with Sarah Lloyd, a knife crime campaigner whose 17-year-old son Kieran Butterworth was murdered in Harehills, Leeds, in 2013.
Owen also teamed up with ex-gang member Vilson Duarte-Dong, for the film, entitled ‘Cut Short: Fighting Against Knives in the North’.
The film aims to educate young people on the dangers and consequences of carrying a knife by sharing Sarah’s story of grief and loss.
Sarah recalls seeing her son's body
It explores multiple heart-breaking stories of knife violence, and has been produced independently to give to schools and youth education organisations as a learning resource.
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The film includes current statistics on knife crime sourced from regional police forces, to prove knife crime’s presence in the North of England. For example, in 2022, 232 knives were confiscated from under 18-year-olds in Merseyside and there were 29 knife attacks by under 17-year-olds in Newcastle and Sunderland.
Vilson visits the place where a gang altercation got out of hand
Representatives from Leeds City Council, West Yorkshire Combined Authority, the Deputy Mayor’s Office, Channel 4, West Yorkshire Violence Reduction Partnership and West Yorkshire Police attended the screening in Leeds last Thursday (October 26) as well as a number of teachers, headteachers and leaders of youth and anti-gang organisations.
Cut Short is Owen’s first independent documentary with his production company Tell Studio, which uses film to tell important stories about people.
Maizie Brown (producer), Lewis Mitchell (producer), documentary leads Sarah Lloyd and Vilson Duarte-Dong and Owen Seabrook (director).
Following the launch, the film will be shared with interested organisations as a standalone resource or as part of a larger teaching package that provides educators with activities, safeguarding advice and guidance on delivering sessions on knife crime.
Former Rainford High pupil Owen, 26, said: “We want to show this film to one million young people by 2026. We’re doing this by offering the film at a grassroots level, but we’re also in conversations to include the film in PSHE learning and as a tool to push youth violence awareness across the wider national curriculum.”
Sarah's son's grave
Owen, whose family moved to Billinge while he was in primary school, says that 60 organisations have already expressed an interest in the film.
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