Cinematic Adventure for Students as Foyle Film Festival’s Education Programme Launches
Date Posted: October 17, 2018
As Foyle Film Festival gets ready for its annual celebration of cinema and screen, the launch of this year’s dedicated education programme promises 10 days of cinematic adventures for children and young people across the North West. The Foyle Film Festival is funded by the Department for Communities through Northern Ireland Screen, Derry City and Strabane District Council and Tourism Northern Ireland.
Running from Monday 19 November to Friday 30 November, the jam packed programme contains special screenings and interactive digital workshops. Exploring a vast array of concepts and themes, from mythical quests to intergalactic adventures, this year’s programme explores the importance of friendship, bravery and social awareness.
Highlights for post-primary schools include an appearance by local Moville teenager and Hollywood star, Art Parkinson. He will introduce his latest film Zoo, the tale of a boy’s friendship with a baby elephant during the Second World War, in Brunswick Moviebowl on Monday 26 November.
Peter Jackson’s First World War documentary, They Shall Not Grow Old will screen on Wednesday 28 November. The Lord of the Rings director uses original, never-before-seen footage from the Imperial War Museums’ archival footage to commemorate the centennial of the end of the War. A representative from the Museum will attend and take part in a Q&A.
The festival will also mark 100 hundred years of women’s suffrage with screenings of the universally acclaimed The Guardians, looking at the women left behind during WW1 and RBG, detailing the life and achievements of the long-running supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Primary and post-primary students will further explore the Centenary of the First World War and the suffrage movement in Ireland with a selection of creative workshops using digital comic book storytelling and green screen technology.
Younger audiences will not be disappointed with screenings of Smallfoot, an acclaimed animated adventure featuring an all star cast and in Pixar’s Coco, the powerful and enduring bonds of family are examined in a Mexican musical extravaganza.
The dynamic world of everyone’s favourite superhero family, the Incredibles, will be brought into the classroom with a sound and vision workshop giving pupils the chance to work together to create their own soundtrack to a sequence from The Incredibles 2.
For budding young filmmakers Ivana MacKinnon, a producer whose credits include the BAFTA- and Oscar-winning film Slumdog Millionaire and award-winning thriller The Descent. will host an online masterclass in script development at the Nerve Centre on Saturday 17 November.
Bernie McLaughlin, Foyle Film Festival Programmer and Director said:
“I’m delighted to be once again presenting an extensive education programme for primary and post-primary schools. This is an opportunity for schools to extend the learning outside of the classroom and to use the medium of film to encourage and promote conversation about the world around us.”
Demand for the wide-range of screenings, workshops and special events is expected to be high and organisers are, therefore, encouraging schools and colleges to register their interest early.
For education bookings, call the festival box office at 028 7126 0562 or visit www.foylefilmfestival.org.
