Mifits Duo To Host Masterclass For Young Filmmakers

The creators behind two of the most talked about television dramas in recent years are to deliver a filmmaking masterclass at the University of Ulster.
Writer/directors Alex Garcia and Wayne Yip, the team behind the BAFTA award winning E4 series, Misfits and ITV’s Secret Diary of a Call Girl, will share their skills and take part in a Q&A with up to 200 young people during a Film Nation: Shorts Filmmaker Masterclass at the University's coleraine campus on December 12.
The event, chaired by Michelle Eastwood (Producer at 104 Films and Escape Films) is FREE, open to anyone between the ages of 19 – 25 and takes place between 11.15am and 1.05pm in the campus’s Barmouth (Room E102).
The visit by Alex and Wayne is a major coup for the University’s School of Media, Film and Journalism and shows the high regard in which the School is held by masterclass organisers, Film Nation: Shorts – a project funded by the London Organisation Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG).
Run in partnership with Panasonic, Film Nation: Shorts includes a filmmaking competition offering everyone who enters the chance to have their work shown around the UK. Winning films will be screened in front of the crowds in venues during the Olympic and Paralympic Games in London in 2012.
The Shorts project is one of the major Cultural Olympiad initiatives and will introduce young people to film making and support them in developing filmmaking skills.
University of Ulster lecturer, Jim Curran said: "The School of Media, Film & Journalism at Coleraine is absolutely thrilled that the Film Nation competition organisers have selected the University of Ulster's Skillset-approved Media Studies and Production undergraduate course as a venue for one of their UK-wide masterclasses.
"These masterclasses are aimed at encouraging students and young people to enter the Film Nation: Shorts competition 2012, which is a fantastic platform for our students to show off their media skills.
"The guest speakers do not come any bigger than the writer/director team of Alex Garcia and Wayne Yip and we are delighted to welcome both of them and all young aspiring filmmakers to the University of Ulster at Coleraine."
Wayne Yip is also looking forward to his visit to the University of Ulster.
He says: "Both Alex and I are very honoured and excited to have been asked to come and speak to young people at the Film Nation Masterclass.
"The world of film and television is tough and exciting and can be incredibly rewarding. We hope that what we have to say is entertaining and helpful… well, at least entertaining."
(LB)