Lights, camera, action! Young filmmakers' chance to learn from the best

Participants of the 2017 IYSFF Young Filmmakers Workshops working with specialist tutors from Bay of Plenty Film on their short film 'The Alien'. Photo/Brydie Photography

Young creative Kiwis can learn from the best at a three-day filmmaking workshop in Tauranga during the July school holidays.

The International Youth Silent Film Festival Young Filmmakers Workshops, delivered by Bay of Plenty Film, are returning to Baycourt Community and Arts Centre from July 17 to 19.

Open to filmmakers aged 20 and under, the workshops aim to help participants create a three-minute silent movie for entry into the 2018 International Youth Silent Film Festival New Zealand Regional Competition.

"This is the third annual Young Filmmakers Workshops that we've offered at Baycourt and each year the number of young filmmakers and their enthusiasm keeps growing and growing," Baycourt manager Megan Peacock Coyle said.

"Along with helping young people develop their filmmaking skills, another amazing aspect of the workshops are the short films the students create. When you see how proud they are of their work it's an amazing feeling."

Each of the three days will focus on a different skill involved in filmmaking – writing and preparation, shooting a film, and editing. Each will be tutored by an expert with extensive professional experience in the film and screen industry.

The experts involved in this year's workshops are BOP Film chief Anton Steel, TMH Management founder Tanya Horo, plus specialist tutors Andrew Taylor, Jannine Bishop, Tessa Blackett and Annie Lawler.

WHAT IS THE INTERNATIONAL YOUTH SILENT FILM FESTIVAL?

- A global competition challenging filmmakers, aged 20 years or younger, to create a three-minute silent film set one of 10 musical scores composed especially for the festival by award-winning organ composer Nathan Avakian.
- All submissions must be received by midnight on September 1.
- A jury panel selects the top 10 films for the red-carpet IYSFF NZ Regional Awards Final at Baycourt on October 22.
- The top three winning films will go forward to the international final held in Portland, Oregon in June 2019.
- To submit entries, download soundtracks, or for the competition rules visit www.makesilentfilm.com/rules.
- Submissions close midnight on September 1.