Into Film Launches in Wales

Into Film is proud to announce its launch in Wales in a special event at Danescourt Primary School, Cardiff on 25 March.

As part of our ongoing aim to inspire a love of film in the next generation across the four nations, our bilingual Welsh launch saw us announce our plans to put film at the heart of young people's cultural and learning experiences across Wales.

Present at the launch was our guest speaker, Minister for Education and Skills Huw Lewis, who opened the event with a series of filmmaking workshops before speaking about the importance of film in education.

Huw spoke about film's ability to inspire and ignite imaginations and the role that film can play in improving literacy, language and communication skills. Joined by Huw was Danescourt Primary's Deputy Headteacher Abigail Beacon who talked about the power of film in the classroom. Abigail regularly uses film within her teaching practice. Her Into Film Club has watched and discussed a wide spectrum of films and made use of the free resources, which she feels has enabled her pupils to analyse, evaluate and think creatively.

Youth voice and film industry interaction

In front of an attentive audience including pupils from neighbouring schools, representatives from partner organisations such as Film Agency Wales and BFI Hub Lead Organisations and the media, Into Film made sure that the Wales launch event retained some of its core values providing a youth voice and film industry interaction for all.

Young filmmakers from Ysgol Plasmawr spoke in English and Welsh about their bilingual filmmaking project that explored the ways in which young people communicate. Talking of their pride in winning the Best Animation Award at the Media for Schools Awards last year, Ysgol Plasmawr filmmakers cited working alongside industry professionals as a way to develop skills that could be included on their CVs and opened up potential career avenues to explore.

Audience members were also entertained by a choir from Llandaff City Primary School and a variety of iconic film scenes were acted out by students from Tonypandy Community College.

Welsh actors Michael Sheen and Matthew Rhys, who are both filming in the US at the moment, recorded video messages for the event. Commenting on Welsh heritage, Matthew Rhys said, "I can't begin to emphasise how important Into Film is for the young people of Wales. As a nation of ancient storytellers, I think it's important that we uphold that tradition, albeit in a modern way, and film does exactly that."

We're delighted to launch in Wales and look forward to providing even more children and young people the opportunity to see, think, make and imagine.