The recent Cinemagic Film Festival in Los Angeles (9–19 March 2018) was a huge success.A group of nine young Cinemagic ambassadors from Northern Ireland travelled to Los Angeles to take part in the Festival. The aspiring local filmmakers joined 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 participated in an exciting, jam-packed programme of masterclasses, studio tours, screenings, presentations and film camps interacting with representatives from the world’s biggest film and television studios.
These included; 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.
Young people from Northern Ireland and Los Angeles also collaborated in a unique project to produce a piece of musical theatre. They performed and showcased this to an audience of over 350 celebrities, film and music industry executives at the annual Cinemagic Los Angeles Showcase event in the Fairmont Miramar Hotel and Bungalows, Santa Monica, Los Angeles.