Fourth On the Pulse short film festival returns to venues this March
Date Posted: March 8, 2022
The 4th Cinemagic On the Pulse short film festival returns to venues throughout Belfast this March. After a fully digital edition last year the festival is delighted to return to live events and cinema-based screenings in 2022 in The Ulster Museum, Black Box, Queen’s Film Theatre, Odeon Cinemas and Belfast Barge.
On the Pulse celebrates the short film genre, and the festival programme is funded by the Department for Communities through Northern Ireland Screen. It presents a programme of unmissable films for children, families, schools, young adults and young filmmakers, as well as jury panels and a masterclass and Q&A series for aspiring film, television and media creators. The film programme offers a cinematic window to the world presenting a diverse range of storytelling, celebrating universal stories of youth and youth perspectives. The Cinemagic On the Pulse selection of short films is multi-genre including documentary, drama, comedy, horror and animation.
Over the next four weekends, young people across Northern Ireland will enjoy a host of film exhibition opportunities designed to motivate and inspire, and there is importantly a focus on celebrating local young filmmaking talent at a special competition showcase in Queen’s Film Theatre.
Visiting film industry professionals who will share their knowledge and insights with festival-goers at The Ulster Museum include Jason Haigh-Ellery (Big Finish Productions) who will host a masterclass on Producing Content for Film; TV & Radio, BAFTA Winning Musician and Composer, Mick Cooke (Belle & Sebastian) who will host a masterclass on Music Composing for Animation, and the Festival Formula team Katie McCullough and Ian Bignall, who will work with filmmakers in a special masterclass to guide participants through promoting films on the festival circuit. This weekend Aardman Animations Director, Steve Cox and Producer, Richard Beek will host a Q&A for young audiences about their jobs and work on TV movie Shaun The Sheep: The Flight Before Christmas.
Film screening highlights on 12th and 13th March include The Birdhouse Stories, Pixar Shorts, Do Not Feed The Pigeons, Aardman Shorts, and Heaven Reaches Down to Earth. On 19th March, audiences at Queen’s Film Theatre are in for a magical treat with a performance from young magician Aidan McCann, before a special screening of family animation Houdini. Aidan first performed magic on stage when he took part in Ireland’s Got Talent at the age of 9 that led to an invitation to perform on the Ellen DeGeneres Show in the US and he featured on Britain’s Got Talent, securing a place in ‘The Final’ in October 2020.
Queen’s Film Theatre also plays host to world cinema shorts including a package of three inspiring short animations ‘Animations Triple Bill’ illustrating the resilience and fortitude of young people facing challenging situations, and an exploration of the unique and wonderful bonds shared between children and their grandparents.
The youngest of film fans can enjoy Shorts for Shorties on board the Belfast Barge and Peppa Pig at Odeon Cinemas. On The Pulse at The Ulster Museum will present Toy Story That Time Forgot, Superworm, Charlie Chaplin’s The Kid, The Adventures of Prince Achmed, The Abominable Snow Baby & Pigtail and Mr Sleeplessness, and The Grasshoppers Sleep Here – Environmental Shorts.
Rising Talent will be celebrated at Cinemagic Celebrates Creativity night – a cinema celebration of the work of over 150 young people who gained insight to the filmmaking industry and who developed employability skills through a range of training programmes under the guidance of professional crews, producing a host of award-winning films. The On the Pulse Competition Shorts in Queen’s Film Theatre on 27th March and a BFI Film Academy Short Film Showcase will present the work of talented young filmmakers from Northern Ireland who participated in film productions at Cinemagic over the last two years.
A schools’ programme for nursery, primary and post-primary students features cinema screenings and classroom-based movies and film analysis workshops.
Joan Burney Keatings MBE, Cinemagic CEO said: “Cinemagic ‘On the Pulse’ is designed to motivate, educate and inspire young people from all backgrounds through the medium of the shorts genre. With funding support from the Department for Communities through Northern Ireland Screen, the programme offers a contemporary season of the very best international short films for young audiences as well as showcasing shorts made by local filmmakers. ‘On The Pulse’ also illustrates the importance of short filmmaking in the development of practical skills and in the development of sustainable careers in the creative industries and I encourage young creators to get involved in the vast array of opportunities on offer this March”.
