About Us » Learn More About Showcomotion

‘I welcome the steps taken by Showcomotion to help promote new ways of teaching citizenship skills to our young people.’
Rt. Hon. David Blunkett MP, Home Secretary

‘I have long been arguing for a greater use of film in education, and here is Showcomotion setting a shining example of putting the theory into practice. Children and young people in Sheffield are very fortunate to have this Festival on their doorstep, I hope hundreds of families will take advantage of the Festival this year. Viewers of any age will find themselves immensely enriched by the films, and stories in other media, from around the world. I can’t think of a better way to stimulate the imagination and the international cultural understanding of Sheffield’s younger generation.’
Lord Puttnam

History of Showcomotion

Showcomotion is based at the Showroom Cinema, a large (650 capacity) independent cinema which shows the widest possible range of international films to the public in the Sheffield region.

Showcomotion has a number of key strands:

Film Previews and Premieres

Firstly, the festival is a fun celebration of film for young people and children. Special film previews in the past have included Chicken Run and Shrek and 2003 previews included The Hulk, Rugrats Go Wild! and Sinbad: Legend Of The Seven Seas.

International Films

The festival selects a diverse and innovative range of films produced for young people, which would not otherwise be screened in the UK. Priority is given to films representing the lives of children from around the world and addressing issues which are pertinent to groups of young people. The festival was developed in response to the lack of culturally diverse films for young audiences being distributed in the UK other than big budget American animation. The festival recognises and celebrates cultural diversity but also universality within experiences of childhood. Films from Iran, Russia, Latvia, Germany, Spain, The Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and France have been shown during Showcomotion. UK production for this audience is also limited particularly when compared to other European countries such as Sweden and Denmark or indeed less wealthy countries such as Iran. The festival strives to show UK films made for a young audience.

Workshops, masterclasses and drop-in sessions

Young people are encouraged to find out about the art and craft of film making by taking part in workshops and masterclasses such as animation, scriptwriting, film reviewing and sessions on how to get into the film biz. In the past workshops have been run by YTV, HIT Entertainment, Lego and Nickelodeon and in 2003 the Film Editor from Heat Magazine gave a masterclass at the festival.

Films made by young people

In 2003, 58 of the 101 films shown at the festival will be made by young people. Showcomotion enables the young people to show their films in a professional film festival context and to have their work celebrated in a professional printed programme. For many it’s a once in a lifetime experience to show their work on the big screen. In 2003 young people from Barnsley, Doncaster, Leeds, Rotherham and Sheffield will be represented at the festival.

Teachers

All festival screenings are open to schools. The festival also runs separate workshops for teachers and provides a downloadable PDF teaching resources on the festival Website.

Industry conferences

The festival organises conferences for television professionals, media educators, cinema programmers, film makers, teachers and youth workers. Subjects in the past have included Citizenship and Joining The Dots on the links between children’s film production and exhibition. Speakers in the past have included Rt. Hon. David Blunkett MP and Robert Jones, UK Film Council.


Becky Parry was Education Manager at the Showroom Cinema from 1998 until 2002 and she had the initial idea to organise a film festival for children and young people. She was inspired by a touring programme of films from Cinemagic (the film festival for young people in Belfast) which had visited the Showroom and which had demonstrated that there was a local audience for ‘outside the mainstream’ films for young people.

Parry organised the first Showcomotion in 1999 and developed the festival over the next few years, assisted by Lorna Partington. Following a successful application to the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation and Arts Council Yorkshire, Kathy Loizou (previously Director of the Sheffield International Documentary Festival) took over as Director in August 2002.

Year-round activities for young people at the Showroom Cinema

Contact Gez Walker, Education Manager at the Showroom for more information on year-round activities at the Showroom Cinema.
info@showcomotion.org.uk

Useful links

www.atomfilms.com
www.bbc.co.uk/blast
www.bbc.co.uk/films/festivals
www.bbfc.co.uk
www.bfi.org.uk
www.creative-partnerships.com
www.elmii.org.uk
www.e.bell.ca/filmfest
www.filmeducation.org
www.firstlightmovies.com
www.imdb.com
www.filmyorkshire.co.ukwww.film-makers.co-op.co.uk
www.firstlightmovies.com
www.leedsfilm-cyp.com
www.sheffcol.ac.uk/links/Film/Showroom
www.showroom.org.uk
www.sidf.co.uk