Showcomotion

'I welcome the steps taken by Showcomotion to help promote new ways of teaching citizenship skills to our young people.'
Rt. Hon. David Blunkett MP Member of Parliament for Sheffield, Brightside

'I have long been arguing for a greater use of film in education, and here is Showcomotion setting a shining example of putting the theory into practice. Children and young people in Sheffield are very fortunate to have this Festival on their doorstep, I hope hundreds of families will take advantage of the Festival this year. Viewers of any age will find themselves immensely enriched by the films, and stories in other media, from around the world. I can't think of a better way to stimulate the imagination and the international cultural understanding of Sheffield's younger generation.'
Lord Puttnam

History of Showcomotion

The first Showcomotion was in 1999. Becky Parry (Showroom Education Manager 1998 - 2002) had the initial idea to organise a film festival for children and young people. She was inspired by a touring programme of films from Cinemagic (the film festival for young people in Belfast) which had visited the Showroom and which had demonstrated that there was a local audience for 'outside the mainstream' films for young people.

Parry developed the festival over the next few years, assisted by Lorna Partington. Following a successful application to the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation and Arts Council Yorkshire, a full time Director was appointed.

Kathy Loizou has been Director of Showcomotion since August 2002; she was previously Director of the Sheffield International Documentary Festival from 1996-2001.

The festival's audience comprises families and young children; young people at school; and teachers mainly from the South Yorkshire region in the UK. In addition delegates from the children's media industry, both national and international, attend the Showcomotion Children's Media Conference.

Showcomotion is based at the Showroom Cinema, a large (650 capacity) independent cinema, which shows the widest possible range of international films to the public in the Sheffield region.

Showcomotion has a number of key strands:

Film Previews and Premieres

Firstly, the festival is a fun celebration of film for young people and children. Special film previews in the past have included Chicken Run, Shrek, Shrek 2 and Madagascar.

International Films

The festival selects a diverse and innovative range of films produced for young people, which would not otherwise be screened in the UK. Priority is given to films representing the lives of children from around the world and addressing issues which are pertinent to groups of young people. The festival was developed in response to the lack of culturally diverse films for young audiences being distributed in the UK other than big budget American product. The festival recognises and celebrates cultural diversity but also universality within experiences of childhood. Films from Iran, Russia, Latvia, Germany, Spain, The Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and France have been shown during Showcomotion. UK production for this audience is also limited particularly when compared to other European countries such as Sweden and Denmark or indeed less wealthy countries such as Iran. The festival strives to show UK films made for a young audience.

Workshops, masterclasses and drop-in sessions

Young people are encouraged to find out about the art and craft of film making by taking part in workshops and masterclasses such as animation, scriptwriting and film reviewing.

Films made by young people

In 2005, 104 of the 198 films shown at the festival were made by young people. Showcomotion enables the young people to show their films in a professional film festival context and to have their work celebrated in a professional printed programme. For many it's a once in a lifetime experience to show their work on the big screen.

Teachers

All festival screenings are open to schools. The festival also runs separate workshops for teachers and provides a downloadable PDF teaching resources on the festival Website.

Conferences

The festival organises two conferences:

Vision Mix is a one day media careers conference for young people 14-19 from the South Yorkshire region aged. Over 300 young people attend a full day of workshops lead by industry experts on how to get into the industry.

The Showcomotion Children's Media Conference is the premier meeting place for the children's media industry in the UK. Many working in the children's media industry now consider the two-day conference to be a perfect meeting place to discuss issues and develop projects within the genre. The event has evolved into the UK meeting place for producers, commissioners, script writers, directors and emerging film makers.

Year-round activities for young people at the Showroom Cinema

Contact Gez Walker, Education Manager at the Showroom for more information on year-round activities at the Showroom Cinema.
info@showcomotion.org.uk

Useful links

www.atomfilms.com
www.bbc.co.uk/blast
www.bbc.co.uk/films/festivals
www.bbfc.co.uk
www.bfi.org.uk
www.creative-partnerships.com
www.elmii.org.uk
www.e.bell.ca/filmfest
www.filmeducation.org
www.firstlightmovies.com
www.imdb.com
www.filmyorkshire.co.uk
www.film-makers.co-op.co.uk
www.firstlightmovies.com
www.leedsfilm-cyp.com
www.sheffcol.ac.uk/links/Film/Showroom
www.showroom.org.uk
www.sidf.co.uk