The Cinemagic Film and Television Festival programme returns this month (October 9th – November 4th) with a host of creative events, screenings, masterclasses and workshops designed to inspire young people.
The festival Opening Night Preview is the magical fantasy adventure, ‘Pan’ (9th October), directed by Joe Wright, starring Hugh Jackman and shot by Northern Irish DoP Seamus McGarvey.
This year's closing film preview is the World Premiere of Cinemagic's own feature production ‘A Christmas Star’ (4th November), featuring a host of film and television professionals and young actors from Northern Ireland and Ireland.
Festival Industry hosts from the world of film and television include the Oscar-nominated music composer, Alan Silvestri, (‘Forrest Gump’, ‘Captain America’ and ‘Back to The Future’); animator and director Christian De Vita (‘The Grand Budapest Hotel’, ‘Fantastic Mr. Fox’, ‘Frankenweenie’, ‘Yellowbird’) and film critic Mark Kermode, who returns for his 11th visit to Cinemagic with his festival pick ‘The Others’ on Halloween night.
Joan Burney Keatings, Cinemagic Chief Executive said "Cinemagic's 2015 Festival is our most ambitious and action-packed Festival yet. We have over 150 events for young people aged 4-25 including new film previews from around the world, fascinating film education workshops, film and television masterclasses, young critics panels, competitions and we are thrilled to be previewing the magical fantasy movie ‘Pan’ on our opening night this Friday and presenting the world premiere of ‘A Christmas Star’, Cinemagic's very own feature film made by young people in Northern Ireland which closes the festival in Odyssey Cinemas, Titanic Quarter, Belfast.”
Richard Williams, CEO, Northern Ireland Screen said: "Northern Ireland Screen is delighted to see the eclectic programme of screenings and educational events at the Cinemagic Belfast Festival this year for the young people of Northern Ireland. Through our continued core funding, supported by DCAL, Northern Ireland Screen acknowledges the Cinemagic Belfast Festival as a key component in our efforts to achieve our goal of making a significant contribution to film culture, education and training. We send our sincerest good wishes to Joan and her team for a successful 25th anniversary festival."
Masterclasses and Workshops at the festival include Talent Labs in Directing hosted by BAFTA winning and Oscar-nominated Northern Ireland filmmaker Michael Lennox; Casting with Hubbard Casting, Acting with Bronagh Waugh and Film Production with Jessica Malik and Gareth Ellis-Unwin.
The Creativity Corner for 12-14 year olds and 15-21 year olds feature an exclusive Film Music Composition day with Alan Silvestri, Prosthetics and Creature Effects with Millennium FX's Kate Walshe, Screenwriting with BBC One and BBC Scotland drama writer, Chris Lindsay, and Production Design with Emmy award winning designer Tom Conroy.
The Junior Talent Lab will offer a spotlight on animation directing with Christian De Vita, writing for children's TV, with CBBC's So Awkward writer, Mark Oswin; TV Presenting hosted by BAFTA Kids and presenters Katie Thistleton and Ben Shires. Children will find out about the making of some of their favourite programmes with a BAFTA Kids: Behind the Scenes event showcasing a fun mix of live and filmed interviews highlighting talent behind the shows from actors to animators, designers to directors.
There will also be screenings of ‘Lily's Driftwood Bay’ at the Belfast Barge plus a Q&A with the programme creator, Sixteen South and the voice of Lily as well as screenings of new movies ‘Coconut the Little Dragon’ and ‘The Hero of Colour City’.
This year’s Film Programme includes
- Yellowbird, an animated adventure tale
- T-Pang Rescue, a South Korean animated comedy mystery
- Triple Trouble, a wacky, fast-paced cartoon
- The World of Goopi and Bagha, a Hindi version of a classic Indian children's story
- Asterix and Oblix: Mansion of the Gods, based on the Franco-Belgian Comics
- The Satellite Girl and Milk Cow, a fantastical anime
- Adama, a French-made poignant tale of love and sacrifice set against the backdrop of the First World War
A Best of Fest strand will showcase the short film selection of the festival with stories from Belgium, The Netherlands, France, Mexico and Spain.
Live action film dramas include ‘How to Steal a Dog’, ‘Imba Means Sing’, the powerful documentary about one little boy, a drummer from the African Children's Choir, as he grows up in the slums of Kampala; ‘Labyrinthus’, a smart, visually inventive movie, which is a must for games fans; ‘Ghosthunters’, a spooky tale for the autumn starring Milo Parker (Mr Holmes); ‘Mara and the Firebringer’, a time-travelling, mythological adventure; and ‘The Island of Secrets’, an intriguing mystery following international treasure smugglers.
Classic films ‘The Wizard of Oz’ and ‘The Sound of Music’, which celebrates its 50th Anniversary this year, will also be screened. Workshop screenings include Pinocchio, with puppet character design; The Little Mermaid with early years drama 'under the ocean'; and 101 Dalmations with 'make your own pup' arts and crafts.
The 'Generation Hero' and 'Teenage Kicks' film series features award-winning stories about youth resilience and overcoming adversity including ‘Above The Clouds’, ‘The Finishers’, ‘Kick-It’ and ‘Birds of Passage’. Coming of age dramas are ‘Beatles’, based on the best-selling Norwegian novel written by Lars Saabye Christensen, and ‘The Last Hammer Blow’, winner of two awards at the 2014 Venice Film Festival.
A Disillusioned Youth strand showcases the powerful urban drama ‘Five Star’, the visually stunning ‘We are Young We are Strong’, set in the post-Berlin Wall era in East Germany and ‘About A Girl’, a tale of adolescent angst from first-time director Mark Monheim.
The Documentary Forum presents ‘Landfill Harmonic’, an acclaimed documentary following the Recycled Orchestra of Cateura, a Paraguayan musical youth group that live next to one of South America's largest landfills, and ‘Brundibar Revisited’, Official Selection Berlinale 2015, that follows members of a Berlin youth theatre who examine their country's troubled past through an opera production.
Film Critics Panels
Cinemagic is also looking for a panel of enthusiastic 'CineSeekers' and 'CineFocus' young film reviewers, to view and judge the in-competition films of the festival.
Schools Programme
Teachers will introduce learning through film and television with the education programme featuring films and interactive discussions from BBFC; programme making with JAM Media; BAFTA Kids TV Presenting; an introduction to world cinema; special preview screenings of 'A Christmas Star', screenwriting with Colin Carberry (Good Vibrations); F-Rating: Representing Women in Film, Commissioning and Pitch That Brief, Crime Mystery & Film Noir Genre study, a director Q&A with Mark Noonan and his Irish made film ‘You're Ugly Too’, Youth & Identity in Contemporary French Cinema and Film Classification. Film students will have the chance to hear from the Industry Trust for IP Awareness along with a Q&A from SnackBox Films about the making of documentary ‘Older Than Ireland’.
For further information/booking visit www.cinemagic.org.uk or telephone 028 90 311 900.
