Local schools reel in film awards

TWO Northside primary schools proved they were the ‘reel’ deal when they won awards for excellence in filmmaking in a children’s festival.

‘The Fish who Cried Shark’ by St Cronan’s Junior National School in Swords, and ‘The Killer Toilet’ by Scoil an Cheathrair Alainn, Mulhuddart, picked up the Best Junior Film and Best Horror Film awards respectively at the 10th annual FIS Children’s Film Festival. A total of 24 primary schools across Ireland were awarded for filmmaking excellence in a wide variety of categories including Comedy, Acting, Storytelling, Adaptation, Animation, Special Effects, Direction, Costume, Editing, Production, Cinematography, Sound, Public Safety, Best Newcomer, Best Junior Class Production and Historical Adaptation.

Due to the high calibre of entries this year, 13 schools also received a Highly Commended award.

Presented by RTE stars Sinead Kennedy and Eoghan McDermott, the awards were attended by over 800 people including 700 primary school children from all over the country, their teachers and parents. This year’s special guest was Jan O’Sullivan, Minister for Education and Skills.

To enter the festival, primary schools were asked to devise a five-minute long film on a subject of their choice.

The film had to be produced by the children and their teachers. Entries were judged on imagination and creativity, the originality of the story, excellence in set design, costume design, film direction and production as well as the use of sound, acting and cinematography.

Those that used special techniques such as animation or special effects were awarded extra points.