by JULIE-ANN SPENCE
TWO
young film buffs are living every movie lovers dream as they
take on the role of Young Consultant for the Cinemagic
International Film and Television Festival for Young People.
Jack Hogan (14) from Hillsborough and Suki McFarland (15) from
Lambeg are two of the 25 young film enthusiasts aged 10 -18,
from all over Northern Ireland who are helping select the films
for this year's festival, which runs from November 13 - 30.
Jack,
a pupil at Friends School, got involved with Cinemagic when his
mum spotted the Young Consultant role in the Cinemagic
programme. Meanwhile Suki, who attends Wallace High, thought it
would be "a cool experience. I love films and thought that
winning a chance to see them for free was pretty much a win, win
situation."
Both Jack and Suki had to write a review of
their favourite film and say why they wanted to be a Young
Consultant. Once chosen, the local film buffs joined other young
people at Queens Film Theatre to watch the films which will be
screened during the festival.
"We were told we would watch two or three
films a day for three days, which in theory sounds really easy,
but I can assure you it was one of the most tiring things I've
ever done," explained Jack.
"Sitting in a darkened room for three days,
staring at the same screen for hour after hour was enough to
drive you mad, especially if the film wasn't that great.
"After we'd finished we were asked to write a
few lines on what we thought and mark it out of 10. Then I guess
they take an average score to see whether it gets into the
festival or not. Luckily most of them did make it in so there's
a great variety of films on. There are animations, live action,
documentaries, foreign language and one I would recommend called
'In the Shadow of the Moon'."
Suki also enjoyed paying a visit to the
Moviehouse on the Dublin Road. "We got to have a tour around the
projection rooms," she said, and we got to attend the opening
night to see an animation called Dragon Hunters.
"I'm really looking forward to seeing the
films, especially The Fall, and hopefully getting in to some of
the workshops. It's a really good film festival and it's nice to
get an opportunity to see some less commercial films," added
Suki.
For further information on Cinemagic, log onto
www.cinemagic.org.uk.
Ulster Star
17/10/2008
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