Screen Education Edinburgh showcase new work today

Screen Education Edinburgh, the capital’s hub for film-making education, has had a very busy few months working on various projects and are now delighted to showcase some of the exciting work made by young people on their BFI Film Academy and CashBack for Creativity schemes.

A very special screening event will take place today Sunday 9 March 2014 at the Filmhouse cinema on Lothian Road starting at 11am. Arrival from 10.45, the screening begins at 11 and there will be a reception afterwards at 12.30 in the Filmhouse café. All the young participants will be in attendance along with tutors, filmmakers and special guests.

Graham Fitzpatrick, Creative Manager had this to say about the projects:- “We have been delighted to educate and nurture young people through our CashBack for Creativity Programme and BFI Film Academy. Over the months the young people from across Edinburgh for CashBack and across the East of Scotland for BFI have been learning about all aspects of short film-making and this screening is a showcase of their development. We have also developed six new film tutors, and in a unique approach, four youth trainee tutors drawn from previous CashBack groups who have gained paid employment, training and mentoring. We are delighted with how these projects have gone with the participants not only gaining knowledge and skills but also seeing their confidence and aspirations for the future grow throughout.”

The BFI Film Academy is a nation-wide initiative that aims to help train and inspire the next generation of British filmmakers, supporting talented and committed young people aged 16-19 to develop the commercial and cultural knowledge and skills to help make a career in film a reality.

The Screen Education Edinburgh academy took place over October 2013 to January this year with twenty-four participants going through an advanced filmmaking learning process specialising in screenwriting, directing, acting, camera, sound, make up and editing. There were Masterclasses from acclaimed screenwriter Sergio Casci and BAFTA Award winning director Paul Wright as well as excellent teaching from our industry film tutors. The young filmmakers came from all across the Lothians, Fife and Stirlingshire to the Academy and produced two short films that will screen at this event.

Two film were produced: Broken Memories and Love Byte, both of which will screen at this event.

Cashback for Creativity is Creative Scotland’s programme that provides young people across Scotland with access to high quality dance, film & digital media and music activities, funded by the Scottish Government’s CashBack for Communities programme which reinvests the proceeds of crime back into communities to benefit Scotland’s young people.

The Screen Education Edinburgh CashBack projects took place across the city at various bases. There were groups in Liberton, Forrester High School, North Edinburgh, Craigroyston High School, Woodlands Special School and with the Rock Trust. All the participants were taken through a six week process learning all aspects of filmmaking from screenwriting to directing, camera, sound and editing. The goal of which was to produce their own short films. Eight films were produced by these groups and will be showcased at this event.

If you wish to attend please contact Neil Rolland at Screen Education Edinburgh neil@screen-ed.org or call 0131 343 1151.

Submitted by Neil Rolland