.Kilmoyley pupils at The Helix in Dublin this afternoon.
PUPILS from Scoil Naomh Eirc in Kilmoyley were among the winners at a national film awards ceremony this afternoon.
The 5th and 6th class pupils travelled to the Helix Theatre in Dublin where their short film, ‘The Church Beneath The Waves’ scooped the award for ‘Outstanding Achievement in Film Making- Best Local Interest Film’ at the Fís film awards.
The students designed sets, filmed, acted and edited the film themselves, with the story centring around a local legend in Ballyheigue (see film below).
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The FÍS Film Awards 2023, was hosted by RTE’s Sinead Kennedy, and is a collaboration between the Institute of Art, Design and Technology and the Professional Development Service for Teachers.
It was devised as a grassroots initiative to nurture Ireland’s future moviemaking talent by encouraging them to devise, develop, produce, and submit their short films for consideration in a range of categories.
The event was co-produced by students of IADT’s National Film School and streamed live on the official FÍS website.
.Ardfert National School at the Fís Film Screening in Siamsa Tíre on Thursday. Photo by Lisa O’Mahony.
A CELEBRATION of young Kerry filmmaking was held in Siamsa Tíre on Thursday morning with the annual FÍS Film Project for Schools screenings.
Each year, the Education Centre working in collaboration with the Kerry Film Festival invites schools to present their films at local screenings.
This provides students and teachers involved in FIS with an opportunity to share and celebrate their work.
The nine schools, which participated in FÍS 2016, were CBS, Primary School, Tralee; Spa NS; St. Joseph’s NS, Ballyheigue; Scoil Realt Na Mara, Tuosist; Holy Family NS, Rathmore; Moyderwell Mercy Primary School; Killury NS; Scoil Muire Gan Smal, Lixnaw and Ardfert NS
Two of the films won awards at the National FÍS Film Awards, in the Helix in November of last year. The Film Category winners were Scoil Muire Gan Smal, Lixnaw- Storyboarding and Ardfert National School-Environment.
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FÍS is an initiative from the Department of Education and Skills (DES) in the Republic of Ireland and is a project designed to introduce the medium of film as a support for the implementation of the Primary School Curriculum (Curaclam na Bunscoile).
The project is going from strength to strength in primary schools in Kerry with an increase in the number of schools participating each year and teachers have found that children love working with this medium and are stimulated by the range of creative opportunities it provides.
The Centre provides training for teachers, who wish to engage in FIS and a Resource Pack is also available online to teachers on the FÍS website www.fis.ie.is.
Pupils of CBS, Primary School, Tralee at the Fís Film Screening in Siamsa Tíre on Thursday. Photo by Lisa O’Mahony..Saint Joseph’s National School Ballyheigue at the Fís Film Screening in Siamsa Tíre on Thursday. Photo by Lisa O’Mahony.Milosz, Sama, Jonathon, Emily and Hailey from CBS Primary School. Tralee at the Fís Film Screening in Siamsa Tíre on Thursday. Photo by Lisa O’Mahony..Moyderwell Mercy Primary School at the Fís Film Screening in Siamsa Tíre on Thursday. Photo by Lisa O’Mahony.Andrea Foley, Shane Guerin, Veronica Herbert and Andrea Balogova of Moyderwell Mercy Primary School at the Fís Film Screening in Siamsa Tíre on Thursday. Photo by Lisa O’Mahony..Abrahem Harazi, Jessica Murphy and Sean Kennedy of Moyderwell Mercy Primary School at the Fís Film Screening in Siamsa Tíre on Thursday. Photo by Lisa O’Mahony.Susan Brown and Lisa Mulvihill with pupils from Lixnaw National School at the Fís Film Screening in Siamsa Tíre on Thursday. Photo by Lisa O’Mahony.
.Pictured at the 11th FÍS Film Festival are students Joe Linihan and Bríd Stack from Spa NS, who received the Award for ‘Outstanding Achievement in Local Interest’, for their film “William and Mary Together Forever”.
THREE primary schools just north of Tralee received awards for excellence in film making at the 11th FÍS Film Festival, which took place in the Helix, DCU on November 3.
St Joseph’s NS in Ballyheigue, Spa and Ardfert National Schools took home an award from Dublin, as well as one other Kerry school, St Finian’s NS in Waterville.
Spa received the award for ‘Outstanding Achievement in Local Interest’ for their ‘William and Mary Together Forever’ film which documents some of the history surrounding the Rose of Tralee.
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Ardfert National School’s film ‘The Fight for Freedom’ received the award for ‘Outstanding Achievement in Script’ for their re-enactment of the tragic life of Sir Roger Casement.
St Joseph’s ‘The Chase’ received the award for ‘Outstanding Achievement in Direction’ for their beautiful homage to screen great, Charlie Chaplin.
St Finian’s effort, ‘Micko’s Missing Medals’, received the award for ‘Outstanding Achievement in Drama’ for their film about the time legendary Micko Dwyer’s All Ireland medals are stolen. The truth is not what it seems.
The FÍS Film Festival – an initiative of the Department of Education and Skills – empowers teachers and children to explore the medium of film and digital media in the primary curriculum.
A total of 24 primary schools from across Ireland were awarded for film making excellence in a wide variety of categories including Comedy, Acting, Storytelling, Adaptation, Animation, Special Effects, Direction, Costume, Editing, Production, Cinematography, Sound, Public Safety, Best Newcomer, Best Junior Class Production and Historical Adaptation. Due to the high calibre of entries this year, 13 schools also received a Highly Commended award.
The awards were presented by RTÉ star, Sinead Kennedy, and were attended by over 800 people including 700 primary school children from all over the country, their teachers and parents.
This year’s special guest was Jan O’Sullivan TD, Minister for Education and Skills.
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Pictured at the 11th FÍS Film Festival, are students Jack O’Halloran and Niamh Dineen from St. Joseph’s NS, who received the Award for ‘Outstanding Achievement in Direction’ for their film “The Chase”.Pictured at the 11th FÍS Film Festival, are students Gavin Flaherty and Heather Walsh from Ardfert NS, who received the Award for ‘Outstanding Achievement in Script”, for their film “The Fight For Freedom”.Pictured at the 11th FÍS Film Festival are, Eoin Murphy and Jessica Galvin from St. Finian’s NS, who received the Award for ‘Outstanding Achievement in Drama’, for their film “Micko’s Missing Medals”
.Spa NS is amongst four schools in the county to be nominated for the Fís Film Festival.
FOUR Kerry schools have seen their hard work pay off after they have been nominated for awards at the 11th FÍS Film Festival.
This year’s schools will be hoping to emulate the success of St Brendan’s National School in Fenit who took home a top award at last year’s festival (see story here).
Spa National School, Ardfert NS, St. Joseph’s NS Ballyheigue and St. Finian’s NS Waterville are the schools in question that have been nominated and are amongst 20 other schools that were chosen from around the country.
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They will attend the award ceremony in the Helix in Dublin on November 3.
There must something special in the water over at the Spa National School it seems, with this being the school’s second nomination for the FÍS Film Festival in three years, with their current nomination coming from the work on their short film entitled ‘William and Mary Together Forever’.
St. Joseph’s NS in Ballyheigue will see its film, ‘The Chase’ entered into the awards while St. Finians NS entered with ‘Micko’s Missing Medals’ and finally Ardfert NS will be hoping that their piece ‘The Fight for Freedom’ will prove triumphant.
“We in Spa N.S. are delighted to be involved in the FÍS Film Festival again this year. FíS is an amazing experience for all students. It allows them to tap into and exhibit all of their wonderful creativity and imagination in a medium that excites and inspires audiences,” said Spa NS school principal Peter Linehan.
“The project encourages and demands teamwork from everyone. It is wonderful to see how all students participate and give their all, from start to finish and how they take real pride in their entry. The FÍS event in Dublin is the ‘icing on the cake’ as the students get the opportunity to celebrate all of the entries and share their experiences with their peers,” he finished.
To enter the festival, primary schools across the country were asked to devise a five minute long film on a subject of their choice.
The film had to be produced by the children and their teachers and entries are judged on imagination and creativity, the originality of the story, excellence in set design, costume design, film direction and production as well as the use of sound, acting and cinematography with those that chose to use special techniques such as animation or special effects to be awarded extra points.
Awards will be made in a wide variety of categories including Comedy, Acting, Storytelling, Adaptation, Animation, Special Effects, Direction, Costume, Editing, Production, Cinematography, Sound, Public Safety, Best Newcomer, Best Junior Class Production and Historical Adaptation, among others.
