YOUNG film buffs from Bury have scooped National Lottery funding to produce their own ‘blockbuster’ while working alongside professional filmmakers.
Ten youngsters aged between 12 and 16 from Elton Youth Club have been awarded a maximum possible grant of £5,000 to make their own mini movie called Can’t Believe We Fell For It. And they will be guided through the whole process by professionals, thanks to First Light Movies.
This is a nationwide organisation which helps young people, aged between five and 19, make their own films. To fund projects First Light Movies distributes £1.1 million of National Lottery money, through UK Film Council funding each year.
The idea for Elton Youth Centre’s thriller was developed by two 13-year-olds and explores what happens to the school bully when his victims plot their revenge at an isolated campsite in the woods.
First Light Movies places the young people at the heart of the creative process and as a result, all the ideas must come directly from them. The Elton movie makers will be involved with every aspect of the production process from drawing storyboards and writing the scripts to directing and lighting the films alongside industry professionals.
Chief executive of First Light Movies, Pip Eldridge was impressed by the quality of the latest film ideas and said: “This bright and original idea from these youngsters in Bury is fully deserving of National Lottery funding. I know the young people and the organisation involved will do a fantastic job.”
The films will also have a chance to be nominated at next year’s First Light Movies Awards, known as the ‘Mini Oscars’, an annual star-studded celebration of the best in young people’s filmmaking held at a glitzy award show in London’s Leicester Square
