Good luck to all in the Cinemagic Festival

Today sees the start of the second Cinemagic Festival in Dublin, or, to give it the full title : The Coca-Cola Cinemagic Film and Television Festival for Young People in association with AIB.



This is a not-for-profit festival and charity that brings the magic of film, tv and all sorts of moving images ‘to entertain, educate and inspire’ young people.

Established in 1989, Cinemagic has developed a worldwide reputation for excellence in children’s programming. Over the last 18 years the festival has grown in stature, gained international recognition and we are now the largest festival of our kind in the UK and Ireland.

Having volunteered with them last year and done a bit of promotion for them this year, I know how much work goes into the festival and how much it is enjoyed by the young people attending films, masterclasses and workshops.

I wish I'd had something like this when I was younger - at that age access to the people (Ray D'Arcy, Don Conroy, Rachel Kavanagh, David Caffrey, Aidan Power) or workshops (a news journalism workshop, one that is a pauper's guide to film making and classes in Storyboarding and Claymation for 7 to 11 year olds) would have been invaluable and inspiring.

The festival caters for all young people (aged between 4 and 25) with any range of film and television interest – whether they want to watch and enjoy, create their own work or take things a stage further and find out more about a possible career in the film or television industries.

I've posted on Culch.ie about the festival. It's also worth pointing out you can win tickets to films both on Culch.ie and over on Boards.ie.

Best of luck to all those helping, volunteering and above all participating. I hope you all have fun and enjoy it as much as I have.