Rhyl teenagers to show film at festival

Oct 1 2008 by David Rutland, Denbigh Visitor

TEENAGE film-makers from Rhyl have been chosen to screen their film at a prestigious festival in Bradford.

The six youths who all attended Pixel Power at the West Rhyl Young People’s Project, will have their production, The Country Road of the Greens, shown at the Co-operative Young Film Makers’ Festival in the National Media Museum.

The movie, which lasts under six minutes, took more than three months to produce with the youngsters involved at every stage.

Chris Coyle who works at Pixel Power said it is an alternative education project for people who have not been attending school.

Young people do film-making throughout the year and last year they made an animation about environmental issues to enter into the film festival and the organisers have decided it will be screened.

“They wrote the script themselves and it’s set to music which they wrote themselves and recorded.

“The animation was made using plasticine models and animated in a Wallace and Gromit style – it takes a long time and the young people were involved in every single process.”

The animation tells the story of the Greens, a family who are not concerned about their surroundings but decide to change their lives by becoming more environmentally friendly.

More than 300 entries were received from young filmmakers, schools, youth groups, art groups, colleges and video workshops from the UK and beyond.

The festival does not offer prizes. Funds are used to provide a wide array of workshops, screenings, masterclasses and events.

Chris believes that the film-making process has given his students valuable experience. Most of them have gone on to college. One is doing an arts foundation course, while another is training to become a mechanic.

The Co-operative Young Film Makers’ Festival is being held in the National Media Museum, Bradford on October 9 and 10.