Nine young Cinemagic ambassadors from Northern Ireland are jetting off to take part in the Cinemagic Film and Television Festival for Young People in Los Angeles (9-19 March 2018).
The group of aspiring local young filmmakers will join forces with young people from Hamilton High School (Castle Heights), New Roads High School (Santa Monica) and Jordan High School (Watts) in Los Angeles.
They will participate in an exciting, jam-packed programme of masterclasses, studio tours, screenings, presentations and film camps with representatives from the world’s biggest film and television studios.
These include FOX, HBO, Sony, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, CBS, Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood, New York Film Academy, Jim Henson Company, Remote Control Studios, Ross King MBE (a Cinemagic LA board member), director James Foley, award-winning producer Francis O’Toole, American actor Robert Picardio (STAR TREK), Lance O’Connor, Cinemagic LA board member, and executive producer and CEO of Minted Content.
Cinemagic, which is an award winning Northern Ireland-based charity, is the largest film and television festival designed for and by young people in the UK and Ireland. Each year over 40,000 young people (aged 4-25) in Belfast, Dublin, London, France (Castres), New York and Los Angeles participate in Cinemagic events.
Amy Hinds (23) from Glengormley, Co. Antrim, one of the Cinemagic’s ambassadors*, discusses the opportunity:
“I’m really looking forward to touring some of the major studios in Los Angeles and having the opportunity to see what the film industry is like on a much larger scale. I’m also keen to learn the ‘tricks of the trade’ from top American industry professionals and hope the experience will inspire me to continue to pursue my dreams of becoming a top filmmaker.
“Cinemagic plays a really important role in that it provides young people with the opportunity to work alongside industry experts both in Northern Ireland and in the USA, equipping them with the best possible knowledge and advice required to get a head start in the film industry.”
The young people from Northern Ireland and Los Angeles will also collaborate in a unique project to produce a piece of musical theatre. They will perform and showcase this to an audience of celebrities, film and music industry executives at the annual Cinemagic Los Angeles Showcase event on Thursday 15 March 2018 in the Fairmont Miramar Hotel and Bungalows, Santa Monica, Los Angeles.
The gala event to celebrate young filmmaking talent will be hosted by Ross King MBE, a Cinemagic LA board member, and Victoria Smurfit. It will include a special preview screening of Cinemagic’s new short film SASHA OF THE SEA, an inspiring story of teenage bravery, love, growing up and friendship.
Joan Burney Keatings MBE, Chief Executive, Cinemagic International Film and Television Festival for Young People, discusses:
“Filmmaking requires a collaborative approach. The partnership that we have managed to establish between Los Angeles and Belfast is really paying dividends for the young people from both locations. They are being provided with fantastic work experience and opportunities that they never imagined they could access.”.
To see an overview of what the local and international young people achieved during last year’s Cinemagic Festival in Los Angeles please check out the following link
https://vimeo.com/205447644
