If you are in Grade 10 or 11 and see yourself pursuing a career in the film industry, this may be the break you have dreamed of.
Or, if you are a school principal or life orientation teacher this is an opportunity for you too.
The inaugural South Peninsula Inter-school Film Festival aims to facilitate the discovery and development of story-telling and film-making talent among senior high school pupils, while offering SACE-accredited Continuing Professional Teacher Development (CPTD) training for teachers in film and media literacy.
Known as the SP Inter-School Film Festival, the festival is modelled on the Nab’Ubomi Film Project that was behind the creation of over 100 short films in high schools across the Eastern Cape with the support of SABC, the National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) and the Eastern Cape Department of Education. (ECDoE).
Now SAY Media Education is launching a similar project for
the Southern Peninsula in partnership with the new Forward Fund Academy which offers film and television training to post matrics in the Southern Peninsula.
“This competition offers high school learners the chance to make films, explore the creative process and get insights into how the media entertainment industry operates, telling their own stories through this amazing medium while also getting exposure to careers options in the creative industries,” said project director Bryony Roughton.
“What’s different and special about it is that the youngsters just need an idea. We give them the training material to help them to write the screenplay, and if their script is chosen to be produced through the competition, they receive all the training they and their team of learners need to make a film.
“They don’t need gear, or any understanding. We take them through the entire process.
“Our approach means we lower the barriers to entry. And all schools compete at the same level. No school is advantaged
or disadvantaged in this competition. Every school (within the region) has equal chance of success.
“Of course we also need the teacher and principal to embrace the opportunity for their schools and learners – to give them the information and support to enter, get a team together, attend the crew training and prepare for film-
ing.”
Thisisalsoopento home-schooling groups larger than 10.
The festival starts with a call for screenplays from senior high school pupils in the area who should write scripts inspired by the themes “One in a hundred” and/or “I am enough”.
While the deadline for script entries is Friday July 27, the deadline for screenplays and pitching is Friday July 20.
Entrants must submit a seven-page screenplay along with a completed entry form and they must present a 60-second pitch of their film idea to a selection panel of industry professionals from the community.
The panel will select five to eight screenplays to be made into films, with a maximum of one per school.
The selected writers become directors of their films and at each school a team of pupils will be chosen and trained in various crew roles.
Filming will take place in a single day at each school during the last week of August and film screenings will be run at each participating school with audiences voting for their favourite films.For more information contact Ms Roughton on 084 6279 669 or 021 785 6981.
You can also visit the website www.sayme.tv for entry forms and other information or email bryony@sayme.tv