Forget Cannes and Venice, a new film festival featuring the works of schoolchildren from across the Blue Mountains will be held in Springwood on November 7.
Blue Mountains Theatre will host Film By The Eucalypts, a festival featuring a selection of the best short films from students from seven Blue Mountains primary schools – Glenbrook, Mount Riverview, Springwood, Ellison, Winmalee, Wentworth Falls and Megalong Valley.
Budding film-makers at Ellison Public School have created a three-minute film that looks at how much rubbish the school’s students produce each day.
Among the works produced by Springwood Public School students is a film looking at “expectations versus reality” and another about a boy who is dared to launch a paper plane at a teacher.
Glenbrook Public School students students Daisy Haythornthwaite and Caela Sagon learnt the importance of problem-solving when tree-loppers at their school played havoc with the filming schedule. They had to find another location for their chase film when the unexpected workmen interrupted the three-day shoot.
Learning life skills like team work was just as important as picking up technical skills about film-making, according Springwood Public School teacher Jacqui Weston-Cole.
“A lot of our kids at Springwood learnt team work. That was a big thing… They had to work through problems,” she said.
“They learnt an appreciation for film-making too,” said Glenbrook Public School teacher Sarah Johnson, “and just the amount of work that goes into it.”
Blue Mountains Theatre program co-ordinator, Yvonne Hellmers, said the venue was thrilled to be able to partner with Film by the Eucalypts and “support this wonderful initiative in its inaugural year and look forward to supporting it as it expands to more Blue Mountains schools in the future”.
Members of the public are invited to come to the special red-carpet premiere screening of Film By The Eucalypts on Wednesday, November 7 at 7pm. All tickets $14. Tickets can be purchased in person at the box office, via phone 4723 5050 or online at www.bluemountainstheatre.com.