Highlights From The First Cinemagic London Festival

Cinemagic celebrated our very first London Festival last week! Young people, aged 4-25, participated in a fantastic Cinemagic feast of film and television events from 30th June-3rd July, marking the first Cinemagic London Festival. With support from our funders, Creative Skillset and Irish Youth Foundation, and our venue partners BFI, Barbican and Cineworld, Cinemagic offered young people creative opportunities hosted by top industry professionals from Aardman Animations, BAFTA Children’s, Downton Abbey, Broadchurch, Channel 4, The X Factor, The King’s Speech, and Hubbard Casting for an action packed insight to the industry!

The Festival Showcase hosted by patron Bronagh Waugh (The Fall, Hollyoaks) featured a special presentation of young people’s work and a Q&A with patron Dermot O’Leary and Sharon Osbourne .

The host of award winning media, film and television industry members such as TV and Radio Presenter, Dermot O’Leary (The X Factor, BBC Radio 2), Radio Producers, Ben Walker and Simon Ward (BBC Radio 2), Film Producers, Gareth Ellis Unwin (The King’s Speech) and Jessica Malik (Zaytoun, Ghosted), Director James Strong (Broadchurch, The Great Train Robbery), TV Presenter  Alex Brooker (The Last Leg, The Jump), Costume Designer Susannah Buxton (Downton Abbey, Burton & Taylor), Production Designer Donal Woods (Downton Abbey, Cranford), TV Producer  Mark Sidaway (The X Factor), and Hubbard Casting (The Commitments, Dracula Untold) presented Talent Lab Masterclasses and shared their skills and experiences with young people.

Film Education/School workshop highlights included a Q&A with Julie Dawn Cole aka Veruca Salt and a screening of Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory, Genre Study: The War Film with Euro Script, Storyboarding and Animation with Aardman Animations Creative Director, Merlin Crossingham andBAFTA Children’s: Behind the Scenes with CBBC presenters Katie Thistleton and Ben Shires and crew from Horrid Henry and Strange Hill High!

Aspiring filmmakers had the opportunity to participate in a Film Camp hosted by Wayne Yip (Misfits, Utopia) and produced a film from concept to screen in under 3 days!