Four pupils from Ashfield Girls’ High School, along with pupils from 6 other Belfast schools, have produced two short films under the guidance of Cinemagic, as the culmination of an innovative project about mental health and wellbeing sponsored by George Best Belfast City Airport and supported by Arts & Business Northern Ireland.
The pupils were set the challenge to create the films from script to screen in three days after a series of pre-production workshops hosted by professionals from NIAMH (The Northern Ireland Association for Mental Health) and Cinemagic filmmakers.
The young people took ownership of the film productions from idea generation and scriptwriting, to casting and directing. The films examine the stigma of mental health versus physical health and the effects of bully and peer pressure with the overall theme of ‘Don’t be afraid to talk about mental health’.
Cinemagic Chief Executive, Joan Burney Keatings MBE said “We are very proud of all of the talented young people that participated in this important project. The aim of initiative was to work with a group of teenagers from different schools across Belfast using the medium of film to focus on raising awareness of mental health and wellbeing. With support from George Best Belfast City Airport and Arts & Business Northern Ireland’s Investment programme, we were able to offer this creative opportunity, developing communication skills, teamwork skills and filmmaking skills”.
The films will be screened for the schools and all those involved later this year and during the 2016 Cinemagic Belfast International Film and Television Festival for Young People in October.
