Member Article

Lights, Camera, Action …….. Beech Hall Pupils Inspired by the International Kids Film Festival

Budding producers, directors, cameramen and actors at Beech Hall School will be immersed in a unique learning experience as the school takes part in the International Kids Film Festival (IKFF).

Beech Hall Pupils from Year 3 to Year 9 are embarking on a fascinating journey, circumnavigating the wonderful world of international cinema as they get to ‘watch’, ‘learn about’ and finally ‘create’ their own short film pieces as part of the school’s participation in IKFF.

The school is creating a true cinematic experience with large screen showings, accompanied by a generous supply of popcorn, as the children get to enjoy up to 10 international feature films and up to 60 short films.

The content, especially curated for children, is diverse and in some cases highly creative with poignant messaging, as with a short film entitled ‘Geno’ – a film about a grumpy, reclusive toad who lives in the middle of a small pond. Geno has lots of neighbours including frogs, turtles, and water bugs, and so long as they leave him alone, that’s fine with him. But disaster looms on the horizon as humans begin a construction project nearby, shrinking the lake and forcing Geno’s neighbours to move closer and closer to him.

James Allen Headmaster explains: “We are thrilled to have been invited to take part in the International Kids Film Festival. When we were young, we were encouraged to read to become better writers, the future is now very much multimedia focussed, therefore to help children become very effective at creating their own multimedia, the idea is to immerse them in high-quality film.”

Juniors and Seniors have the chance to watch a film or number of short films which forms the first section ‘Watch Cinema’.

The second stage is ’Learn Cinema, a 30 session tutorial programme on creating cinema, and the third stage is ‘Make Cinema’ where Beech Hall Pupils will put their learning into practise as they use the latest software to make their own short productions.

The International Kids Film Festival, conceived by LXL Ideas, is the world’s largest children’s film festival and aims to bring inspiring, meaningful and globally diverse cinema to over 2 million school students across Asia and Africa. The first edition of IKFF was conducted in India in November 2017, where close to 1 million students across 500 schools in 75 cities participated.

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