Young People Call Shots in Leeds Young People's Festival

The 8th Leeds Young People's Film Festival, which is presented by Leeds City Council and is in partnership with the Northern Film School, will show that the future of cinema is in safe hands.
With three days of special events it will see young people from across the country visit the city to screen their latest work and find out more about working in the film industry.

The festivities with begin on Friday 30th March, 5.30pm, at Vue Kirkstall with FILM ACADEMY CLASS OF 2006 - A CELEBRATION. This will be the culmination of the Leeds Film Academy, a year-long, Arts Award accredited moving image programme in the area for 12-15 year olds from local High Schools, all funded by the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund which aims to improve services and narrow the gap in priority areas of Leeds.

The Leeds Film Academy has consisted of film screenings and workshops led by professionals currently working in the industry and the participants have spent the past few weeks shooting a film utilising the knowledge they have gained. The final work will be shown for the first during this event, which will also be an exciting award ceremony.

There will be more chances for the movie geniuses of the future to shine in the spotlight with the NATIONAL YOUNG FILMMAKERS AWARD DAY to be held on Saturday 31st March, 11am, at Vue Kirkstall. Filmmakers aged between 5 and 19 will visit the city and show their work at this free event as they vie for a £250 prize towards the winner's next project, thanks to Louis le Prince Centenary Prize, University of Leeds.

There'll also be an industry panel who will chat to the audience and give pointers to the filmmakers about breaking into the movie world. This year's panel will include Al Clarke and Rachel Robey, two of the producers of the critically acclaimed British film London To Brighton whilst representatives from Media Box will also be on hand to talk about the best ways in which to get funding for movies. The regionally based Interplay Theatre will also be having the world premiere screenings of the films that they have produced over the past year.

On Sunday 1st April, at 2pm at Vue Kirkstall the Film Festival will welcome the cast and crew to a screening of SUB ZERO.  Devised by and starring young people from Middlesbrough, this is a young people's story made by young people about a Mayoral candidate who intends to get everyone between 11 and 17 years old electronically tagged 24 hours a day. What he doesn't realise and doesn't care about is that the young people of Grangetown are trying to build a good reputation in a bad area. An independent low budget feature film, a must-see film for all budding filmmakers and film fans.

Film Festival Director Debbie Maturi said:

"This weekend of screenings and events proves that there are a wealth of young filmmakers from Leeds and around the country poised to take over the film industry. The Leeds Young People's Film Festival is passionate about nurturing filmmaking talent and giving audiences spectacular films to enjoy"

All the events will take place at the Vue Cinema, Kirkstall, Leeds.

The FILM ACADEMY CLASS OF 2006 - A CELEBRATION and the NATIONAL YOUNG FILMMAKERS AWARD DAY are free events, though tickets must be booked, whilst tickets for SUB ZERO are £3 / £2 concs.

Tickets can be purchased online by visiting www.leedsfilm.com, in person at the City Centre Box Office in The Carriageworks Theatre or by calling 0113 2243801. Full Festival information can be obtained by ringing the Film Festival office on 0113 247 8398, visiting www.leedsfilm.com or emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.