Emma Thomson is new PASS patron

British superstar and Oscar award winning actress Emma Thompson has become the new face of Edinburgh College’s Performing Arts Studio of Scotland (PASS). The Nanny McPhee and Sense and Sensibility star (pictured above), who is also a screenwriter and well-known human rights activist, has shown her support towards the performing arts arm of Edinburgh College by accepting the honour of being its patron.

Emma Thompson said: “Edinburgh College’sPerforming Arts Studio of Scotlandis an exciting, high octane, cutting edge centre that will attract much of the wealth of talent in Scotland and beyond. I’m very proud to be patron.”

The much-admired British actress became familiar with PASS after meeting Edinburgh College acting and theatre performance lecturer John Naples-Campbell when he was training as a theatre student at the Scottish Youth Theatre in Glasgow.

John said: “I first met Emma when I was 18 years old at the Scottish Youth Theatre (SYT). She came along to the theatre to hold a Q&A session with SYT students and, after listening to her talk about her career in the industry, I felt driven to continue with my career in performing arts – which is why I am anacting and theatre performance lecturer today.”

“We are absolutely thrilled to have Emma Thompson as patron as this means that our training at Edinburgh College is truly recognised by the very best in the industry. We look forward to welcoming her to our productions in the college’s theatre wherever possible, and we hope to work around her schedule to hold workshops with our students.”

John added: “Emma is an inspirational person, not only because of her many Academy Awards, but also because of her work as a human rights ambassador. Her tremendous work on stage and screen gives hope to any young person wishing to pursue a career in the arts and I know that having her as our patron will motivate and inspire our students to reach their full creative potential.”

As one of the world’s most respected actresses, Emma Thompson is known for her versatility in acting as well as screenwriting and she most recently appeared in The Boat That Rocked, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and as the voice of Queen Elinor in the Pixar animation Brave. As well as her work on screen, Emma Thompson also works as an educational ambassador for a UK-based human rights organisation, the Helen Bamber Foundation, to help rebuild the lives of, and inspire a new self-esteem in, survivors of human rights violations.

Edinburgh College offers a selection of dance, acting, technical theatre, costume design, and make up artistry courses.Former graduates from performing arts courses include Scottish actress Karen Gillan, who starred in the BBC’s Doctor Who. Previous students from PASS have also performed live at the O2 Arena and collaborated with Jon Lord at the Usher Hall, Edinburgh, and have also performed live on stage with Lady Gaga.

TV students set for big screen debut

Edinburgh College Granton Campus TV students will be showcasing their talents at a screening at Edinburgh Filmhouse on Wednesday at 6pm. Telford’s Film and TV course has produced some fine creative talent over the years – take the opportunity to view the next generation!

For further information contact Television Lecturer Fergus Robb at Edinburgh College by email at fergus.robb@edinburghcollege.ac.uk

Scottish BAFTA for Muirhouse filmmaker

Congratulations to Muirhouse filmmaker Garry Fraser on winning a BAFTA Scotland New Talent Factual category for his autobiographical film ‘Everybody’s Child’ last night.

The acclaimed documentary – filmed mainly in Muirhouse and Pennywell – tells the story of Gary’s childhood and his later battles with heroin addiction. Remarkably ‘Everybody’s Child’ was a first documentary for Garry, who studied film making at Telford College.

Free movies in Muirhouse

Looking for something to do with the kids on Saturdays?

Well look no further, North Edinburgh Arts and Link Up Muirhouse are to host free family film days. Starting Saturday 3 November from 12.30 you’re welcome to come along and enjoy the film of the day in North Edinburgh Arts Centre’s fantastic cinema!

Films will be shown from 1pm, but children are more than welcome to arrive early and purchase goodies for the film from the tuck-shop. When the film finishes everyone is welcome to head into the library as they staff will be holding a film relevant fun session.

Sat 3^rd November – 1pm Top Cat

Sat 10^th November – 1pm The Muppets

Sat 17^th November – 1pm Shrek 4

Sat 24^th November – 1pm Brave

These films are totally free and we hope to see many families enjoying them, Parents and carers are more than welcome to come to the Arts centre if they wish and sit in the modern café area whilst younger children watch the film.

So rather than spend time on the streets when it’s cold and miserable why not come to the centre and enjoy the film?

More information please call in to the Arts centre or telephone: 0131 315 2151 or visit www.muirhouseresidents.org.uk/

Robert Pearson

Young filmmakers SEE for themselves

Short films produced by local schoolchildren through the Cashback for Creativity initiative were premiered at North Edinburgh Arts Centre last night, and both ‘Danny’ and ‘The Clock Strikes Fate’ were real quality productions.

Participants from Broughton High School, CORE, Pilton Youth and Children’s Project and Muirhouse Youth Development Group worked with professionals from Pilton-based Screen Education Edinburgh to produce the two short films, with the young people were involved at every stage of the process – from script writing and finding locations to acting, selecting soundtracks and editing. The young filmmakers discovered that an awful lot of preparation and hard work goes into creating even a short film, but their efforts were richly rewarded with two fine short films.

Introducing the films, SEE project manager James McKenzie said: “I think you will agree that these films are remarkable, given that most of the young people involved had no experience of filmmaking. I am sure they will be very proud when they see what they have produced – these are excellent films”.

Danny dealt with the issue of schizophrenia in an unusually entertaining way, while ‘The Clock Strikes Fate’ was a silent movie, simple yet touching.

In a question and answer session with SEE engagement officer Neil Rolland after the screenings, the filmmakers were unanimous in saying that they had learned a lot from the process and all expressed a wish to go on to make more movies.

Kyle Fitzpatrick said: “I thought to begin with I would only be acting but we all got involved in lots of different aspects, things we hadn’t thought we would be doing – for me it was using film cameras, for example. It was a great experience and we learned a lot over the course of producing the films. This was the first time we’d seen the finished films and I think they look pretty good!”

The films will now be entered into film festivals and will appear on SEE’s website – www.screen-ed.org – sometime soon. The young filmmakers will also get their wish for more opportunities to male movies – Screen Education Edinburgh plan to set up a North Edinburgh Young People’s Film Group in the not too distant future. So you never know, Danny Two – the full length sequel?

Cashback for Creativity film premieres next week

Criminal profits have been put to good use with the launch of two short films created by local young people. Screen Education Edinburgh (SEE) (formerly Pilton Video) will be screening ‘Danny’ and ‘The Clock Strikes Fate’ at North Edinburgh Arts Centre on Tuesday 18 September at 6.30pm.

SEE worked with young people from the outset on the projects which were made possible through funding from the Cashback for Creativity programme, a fund which takes cash confiscated from criminals and ploughs the money back into the communities they prey upon.

Cashback for Creativity (formally Creative Identities) is Creative Scotland’s programme that provides young people across Scotland with access to high quality dance, film and music activities, funded by the Scottish Government’s CashBack for Communities programme which reinvests the proceeds of crime back into communities to benefit Scotland’s young people.

As part of the scheme, Screen Education Edinburgh are running an intensive programme of short film making for young people aged 12- 19 across the City of Edinburgh, with priority given to those living in areas of deprivation.

In North Edinburgh, a series of taster workshops took place in partnership with Broughton High School, Community Organisation for Race Equality, Muirhouse Youth Development Group and Pilton Youth and Children’s Project, leading to the most interested young people moving forward to form a core filmmaking group based at SEE. Learning the skills of screenwriting, acting, camera, sound and editing, the group have completed two short film’s ‘Danny’ and ‘When The Clock Strikes Fate’.

The two films will be premiered on Tuesday 18^th September at 6.30pm at North Edinburgh Arts Centre to an audience that will include the cast and crew, their families and friends, invited guests and members of the public. The event will also feature a ‘making of’ documentary and a question and answer session with the young people involved followed by a small reception.

Seats are free and available on a first come, first served basis; so turn up early on the night to guarantee a seat!

SEE’s Creative Manager Graham Fitzpatrick said: “The project was a fantastic opportunity for North Edinburgh youngsters to learn how to make films, with two outstanding and mature dramas being produced. We look forward to the premiere and supporting the group as they build on the experience to produce more shorts, whilst the programme also rolls out to East and West Edinburgh from now until Christmas.”

Views of North Edinburgh on the box

A couple of items you may have missed recently:

You may recall we gave a wee plug to Granton Youth Theatre’s Fringe debut. Well, STV covered the story here:

http://local.stv.tv/edinburgh/magazine/113534-the-fringe-spotlight-illuminates-the-life-and-crimes-of-north-edinburgh/

The BBC also aired a fascinating documentary, ‘My Lives and Times’, by Muirhouse filmmaker Garry Fraser (pictured below)last month. If you missed it, you’ll find it at:

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01l5fvn

wwwbbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01l5fvn/My_Lives_and_Times

Telford Graduate films hit the heights

‘Curtain up! Dim the lights! We got nothing to hit but the heights!’ That was the blurb in the Edinburgh Filmhouse programme and Wednesday’s showing certainly lived up to it’s billing. Telford’s HND Creative Industries Television course graduation show will be the last ever – Edinburgh colleges merge this autumn – but this years’ students ensured that the final programme would be just as memorable as those that have gone before.

With drama, documentaries, animations and adverts the films covered a broad spectrum and provided a perfect showcase of the students’ talents. From the atmospheric opening drama ‘Hungover’ to final action film ‘The Street Fighter’ the theme was quality throughout.

There were some amazing ideas and imagination on show. A special mention to Emma Murray’s animation ‘Big Gus’, an everyday tale of a pair of pants! and Lewis Kyle, whose ‘You’re Dead’ provided the ‘shock horror’ gross moment of the evening! Michael Dobb’s ‘The Sound of Scent’ was a beautifully constructed documentary while Eve Jarron provided some light relief with ‘At Home With Dr. Devious’.

Winner of the Crtics Award, however, was Jack Kyle’s experimental movie ‘Gone But Not Forgotten’ (pictured above). Gloomy urban landscapes in Granton and Seafield shot from a moving vehicle, superb soundtrack … dark, desolate but very effective and a worthy winner.

Congratulation to all this year’s contributors – who knows what next year will bring, but it’s clear that the class of 2012 may now be gone, but certainly won’t be forgotten. Well done, everyone.

Local pupils to produce BBC documentaries

Screen Education Edinburgh (formerly Pilton Video) has been working in partnership with BBC on a film project with local young people. The project will give the pupils a taste of film-making and their work will be shown by the BBC.

The initiative, a partnership between Screen Education Edinburgh and BBC Scotland, will see pupils from Craigroyston Primary, Craigroyston High School and Castlebrae High School learn to produce a five minute documentary film each to be broadcast on the BBC’s website next month.

Graham Fitzpatrick, Screen Education Edinburgh’s Creative Manager, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for pupils in Edinburgh to learn how to produce their own documentaries. The topics they have chosen are very current – Global Citizenship, Literacy and Olympic Values – and we can’t wait to see the final results. Our aim is to unearth untapped creativity in young people, giving them the knowledge and skills to pursue a lifelong interest in film-making.”

Kevin’s blooming delighted with film funding!

Drylaw film student Kevin Pickering will be going back to the future when he starts filming his latest project next month. Needing funding to support his latest project, the Edinburgh College of Art student turned to new ‘crowd-funding’ website Bloom to appeal for backers – and Kevin’s ‘Wake Up Call’ has become the first project to reach it’s target on Bloom. Now Kevin can revisit a story he first told on an award-winning short film film ten years ago.

Bloom Venture Catalyst is the first crowdfunding platform of its kind in the UK, enabling anyone with an idea, anywhere in the world, to reach out and receive donations from across the globe, using their social networks. The company, which launched last November, offers an alternative route to finance for startups, community projects and social enterprises. Kevin became the first in Scotland to crowdfund his new movie, reaching his target in just four days and going on to raise 46% more than his target by the end of the crowdfunding campaign.

Bloom’s Amanda Boyle said Kevin’s project was a perfect example of how to pitch and run a crowdfunding campaign. She said: “Wake Up Call was a great story told well, and Kev put the effort in to make his campaign a success. He reached out to his friends and family first to ask for their support and create a series of fab rewards. Who wouldn’t want to be credited as Executive Produce on a film? Kev made the connections, put the effort in and reaped the rewards. This project was one destined to win from the outset.”

Kevin was a young Royal High School pupil when he made ‘Wake Me Up’, and he now plans to take up the story where the original tale left off – and he’s tracked down the original cast members to make the sequel.

“I have always been passionate about film and cinema and I was fortunate enough to win an award from First Light to make ‘Wake Me Up’. We had a budget of £10,000 to make the film – that was a lot of money then; it still is! Even now it’s the biggest budget I’ve ever worked with. The film premiered at The Odeon cinema in Leicester Square and that was quite a buzz – ‘Wake Me Up’ went down really well”.

Since that 2002 breakthrough, Kevin has gone on to make a succession of critically acclaimed low-budget films, many of which focus on the darker elements of human nature and the criminal underworld. Now, with funding raised through the Bloom ‘crowd funding’ website, he will make a sequel to the film that set him on the road all those years ago.

“I had been thinking about making a sequel to ‘Wake Me Up’ for a long time, it was always something I wanted to return to at some stage”, he said. “Due to other filming and college commitments I’ve not really had the time to think about the project in detail, but late last year I wrote a draft script for ‘Wake Up Call’ and decided to seek out funding sources that would allow me to make the new film”.

Kevin pitched his idea on Bloom, a new ‘crowd funding’ website, appealing for financial support. He set a very small target, looking for only £400, but offers of support steadily rolled in. When the closing date was reached over £600 had been pledged.

“That might not seem like a lot of money – and nothing like the budget we had for ‘Wake Me Up’, but I have done my sums and, together with the money I am putting in myself, I think that will be enough to make the movie and do it justice. People, especially family, have been very generous,” Kevin explained. “So much changes in ten years – people change, life changes and I thought it would be interesting so look at how the lives of the main characters in the original film had developed – for better and worse. My idea was to track down as many of the original cast as I could to give the new film a real authenticity, and fortunately every one I contacted agreed to come on board. Rehearsals are under way and I’m very excited about how the new film is developing.”

‘Wake Up Call’ will be shot in Edinburgh next month with the release planned to coincide with the tenth anniversary of ‘Wake Me Up’ in October.