| Date | |
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| Author | DCM |
| Categories | Exhibitor NewsFilm Festivals |
The Showroom Workstation in Sheffield is to host a special film industry weekend with screenings and conference sessions in partnership with Action for Children’s Arts on Saturday 6th - Sunday 7th July as part of its Showcomotion festival of inspirational children’s films this summer.
Bringing together industry professionals and key decision makers, the remit of the event will be to explore ways of increasing the diversity, quality and number of films available for young audiences on cinema screens in the UK and to look at strategies for encouraging more UK production. The sessions will identify and address current market challenges, inspire collaboration between sectors, agencies and creatives, explore new opportunities afforded by the BFI’s Film Forever strategy and encourage innovation in the sector. The weekend is a celebration of good practice and a chance for delegates to share their knowledge, experience and ideas. The discussion takes place against a backdrop of screenings of international films for young audiences throughout the weekend, providing valuable access for distributors and exhibitors to watch films currently available for UK sales.
The event is aimed at professionals working across the film production-distribution-exhibition chain who are interested in films for young audiences. In addition, academics, students and anyone with an interest in the industry sector would benefit from attending.
Joan Parsons, Showcomotion Festival Director said: “Showcomotion has a track record of showing a really diverse range of films for young people and our ambition is to see that diversity across the UK’s cinema screens every day. The Showcomotion Industry Weekend is part of our strategy to make our ambition a reality and we can’t wait to get the industry together to discuss how we can make it happen. Our partnership with ACA is particularly exciting, bringing as it does a wealth of experience in getting the children’s cultural agenda taken seriously.”
Joan Parsons, Showcomotion Festival Director
Vicky Ireland, Vice Chair Action for Children’s Art adds: “After Sir David Puttnam’s keynote speech, which opened the 2011 Children’s Media Conference, Robert Ryder, Head of Film at The Barbican, asked the following question, “Why in the UK, are so few films made especially for Children?” Let’s hope this important weekend can provide some answers, offer some challenges and create some solutions, so the question is never asked again.”
The Showcomotion Industry Weekend is sandwiched by the Children’s Media Conference directly before and Showcomotion Young People’s Film Festival directly afterwards, all of which will be held at the Showroom Workstation, marking it out as a key destination for anyone working in children’s media and film.
The full programme of speakers, sessions and film screenings will be announced soon.
Delegate passes for the Showcomotion Industry Weekend are now on sale, with an early bird rate available until Monday 3 June. http://www.showcomotion.org.uk/industry
Follow @showcomotion and @childrensarts on Twitter