Into Film Clubs
Find out everything you need to know about starting an Into Film Club.
After two and a half weeks of cinematic celebration across the UK, the Into Film Festival 2017 drew to a close in style with an exclusive pupil premiere of new Disney/Pixar animation Coco in London's Leicester Square, where 250 lucky youngsters were serenaded by a Mexican Mariachi Band before enjoying the colourful new musical fantasy adventure, which is inspired by Mexico's Day of the Dead rituals. This special pupil premiere was held two months ahead of the film's UK release in January 2018, and judging by the reactions, Coco is going to be a very popular film for the new year!
This year's Festival welcomed almost 500,000 5-19 year-olds and their educators to 3,000 free screenings and events in over 600 venues across the UK, making this the biggest Into Film Festival yet! Venues ranged from the Science Museum, the V&A, the BFI Southbank and Pinewood Studios in London, to a secret bunker in Scotland, a farm in Wales, an aquarium in Plymouth and an Ark in Northern Ireland - reaching more areas of the UK than ever before.
We took 54 year 4 children to the Into Film Festival and the experience was absolutely fantastic! We've used the film we saw to inspire us in our writing in English week at school and are just really thankful for the free tickets. For some children, it was their very first visit to the cinema so this was very exciting.
Amy Periam, Hotham Primary, Putney
If you and your students were among those near-500,000 who attended, don't forget to remind them to enter our Into Film Festival Review Writing competition for the chance to win great prizes for your film club or class.
As always, we have enjoyed warm support from the film industry, with appearances from - among others - actors Will Poulter (Maze Runner, Detroit), Dave Johns (I, Daniel Blake), and Naomie Ackie (Lady Macbeth), producer Melissa Simmonds (A Caribbean Dream) and Paddington 2 director Paul King, along with stars of the film Sam Joslin, Madeleine Harris and Simon Farnaby.
Speaking of Paddington, our star-studded Paddington 2 pupil premiere was a great opener to this year's Festival, and many a tear was shed during another pupil premiere - that of new drama Wonder, adapted from R.J. Palacio's bestselling novel, which we screened in all four nations on World Kindness Day (13 November). If you didn't manage to catch it, Wonder is released nationwide on 1 December. .
We've also brought you preview screenings of new Emma Stone/Steve Carrell sports drama Battle of the Sexes, which highlights issues around gender politics and inequality, and American social drama The Florida Project, set in the the run-down area that exists in the shadow of Disneyworld, Florida. If you didn't catch them at our Festival, both films are now on general release.
Our Academy ‘Careers in Film Summit', hosted by the organisers of the Oscars®, introduced a young audience to the full range of jobs in the film industry, from actor and director to a raft of less familiar professions, including technical and other below the line roles. In Bristol, four times Oscar®- winning studio Aardman delivered a hands-on animation workshop, including preview clips from their upcoming release Early Man, while at Folly Farm in Pembrokeshire, Magic Light Pictures shared some tricks of the trade alongside their newest animation Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes. We also received an insight into foley sound from expert Peter Burgis at the renowned Pinewood and Shepperton Studios.
With a nod to the past we screened Alfred Hitchcock classic Rear Window at London's iconic Cinema Museum, aptly situated in the historic former Workhouse in Lambeth where Charlie Chaplin spent his childhood. At the other end of the spectrum, we also showcased future-facing technology with a virtual-reality workshop and virtual screening of Easter Rising, as well as numerous 4DX, 3D, Dolby Atmos and IMAX screenings.
And in true Into Film fashion we have used the Festival to support the curriculum and promote discussion about topical issues, with talks and Q&A sessions with notable guests including representatives from the Anti-Bullying Alliance, Stonewall, Mental Health Foundation and Media Smart.
The Festival may have finished for 2017, but our Festival Strand Resources are designed for use both before, during and after the Festival, so if you've attended any screenings or events, be sure to download the accompanying resources and film guides to help ensure you get absolute best value out of your Into Film Festival experience.
And if you're already missing the Into Film Festival, then don't worry - we're busy working on a brand new series of Spring Screenings across the UK for you to enjoy in the new year. Stay tuned for details... but for now, check out the video below to witness the impact of the Into Film Festival first hand
