Film Council announce £180,000 funding for young filmmakers

The Film Council have announced that 700 young filmmakers across the UK will be given help making over 40 digital short films.
Almost £180,000 of Lottery funds from First Light, the UK Film Council’s filmmaking programme for young people, has been awarded to 23 projects in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Among the films to be created are a comedy developed by young people from the wards of London’s hospitals; a docu-drama about football hooliganism with support from ITV1 football pundit Robbie Earle; a spooky spoof horror set during a Halloween party; a modern day, regional take on classic film ‘The Italian Job’; a fisherman cartoon made by children on the remote Isle of Lewis; a pastiche of the teen film ‘The Breakfast Club’; a Manga-inspired animation; the tale of a dyslexic postman who finds his true vocation; a cliffhanger drama about a girl frustrated at having to care for her grandmother and an opera based on Welsh folklore.
The First Light scheme gives the next generation of filmmakers the chance to get their first foot on the ladder by learning valuable skills such as scripting, acting, shooting, producing and editing.
This funding gives these young people the opportunity to make an impact at a future First Light Film Awards ceremony. The next of these national ceremonies (the annual event that celebrates the best short digital films made by UK’s seven to 18 year old filmmakers) takes place in February 2004.
Films Minister Estelle Morris said: “The First Light awards offer many of our talented young filmmakers an all important foot in the door of the film industry. It nurtures their creativity, develops their skills and helps to foster the next generation of filmmakers in this country.”
John Woodward, the UK Film Council’s Chief Executive Officer added: “The UK has produced some of the best filmmakers in the world but we’ve got to develop the next generation of film talent now if we are going to have an even more successful film industry in the future.
“First Light represents the biggest push in the UK today to give young people the chance to learn new skills and develop their creativity through filmmaking. This funding will enable young filmmakers to project their ideas and imagination on to the big screen and I look forward to seeing the results.”
Catherine O’Shea, First Light Director said: “As the forthcoming First Light Film Awards ceremony will demonstrate, the quality of young people’s filmmaking in the UK is at a remarkably high level. I’ve no doubt that the projects we have funded this time will match up to, and perhaps surpass, this standard.”
To date First Light has enabled almost 6,500 young people to work with organisations and filmmakers to write, act, shoot and produce over 400 films, covering a myriad of topics and genres, using digital film technology.
(GB)