Have you got some spare time? Do you possess a talent for writing? Then why not consider entering The Junior Galway Film Fleadh Storytelling Competition in association with Galway Film Centre and SpunOut.ie.
This is the ninth annual Story Pitching Competition and it is open to young people between the ages of 10 – 18 years old at primary or secondary school.
If you are interested in competing, you are invited to write a short (max 500 words) idea for a story. Your idea can be for a feature film, short film, TV series, documentary, web series, video game, animation or even a combined media project.
Begin by drafting your idea then practice it in front of family and friends. Become comfortable relaying the story outline. Because, should your idea be one of the 3 shortlisted, you will be invited to present it in the Town Hall Theatre to an assembled audience and jury during the festival on Friday 10th November 2016. Stories and scripts featuring spooky themes are especially welcome but really just use your imagination.
Tara O’Neill (2015 winner) – Rhian O’Callaghan – Minnie Gask – Luka Koppe – Galway Educate TogetherThis year’s prize – a drama or animation summer camp sponsored by Galway Film Centre which will include 1 year’s membership to the Centre (allowing entry to the RTE short script award ) + weekly newsletter.
Cait Ni Niallain was the winner of the first script competition, and according to the budding film-maker the Junior Film Fleadh Script Competition had a bearing on her future:
I went on to the BA Connect with Film Studies at NUIG where I studied film as well as English and history. As part of our semester abroad programme I went to Drexel University in Philadelphia where I studied Film & Video. This school of film provided me with two more screenwriting modules which helped me produce other creative work. Based on all of this, you could definitely say that the Junior Film Fleadh pointed me in the right direction.
Offering some advice to this year’s competition entrants, Junior Film Fleadh programmer Gar O’Brien said, “With its spiralling budgets, massive CGI landscapes, digitally realised superheroes and multimedia tie-ins it’s easy to forget that Cinema, above all else, still relies on a good story to be successful . If this summer’s terrible blockbuster season taught us anything it’s that a film is only as good (or as bad) as its story. The art of good storytelling is a powerful skill and one that needs to be cherished, developed and shared, if for no other reason than to bring us better films, with novel stories, and from new voices”.
The closing date for all entries is Wednesday 26th October 2016. You can post or email entries to: Junior Galway Film Fleadh Storytelling Competition , 36D Merchants Dock, Merchants Road, Galway or email: junior@galwayfilmfleadh.com (subject box Storytelling Competition). Entry forms are available from www.galwayfilmfleadh.com