I'm thrilled to announce that pupils from St Aidans CE High School in Harrogate are celebrating after their animated film, “Hungry for Health” won Best Youth Fest Animation in Hollywood, California, at the 16th edition of the annual International Family Film Festival!
This is even more special for me as I am a former pupil of St Aidans, so having the chance to work at my former high school was a really special experience. There is a chance to see a special TV report on the films success on BBC Look North next Friday at 6.30pm.
The St Aidans pupils made Hungry for Health, an animated campaign film promoting healthy lifestyle choices for young people. The film was made as part of the National Media Museum’s DCMS Strategic Commissioning funded Anim8ed project in collaboration with the British Library’s "Campaign! Make an Impact" initiative using public service campaigns from history to inspire young people into creating their own contemporary versions.
There is a chance to see it play closer to home, at the National Young Filmmakers' Awards, taking place on Monday 4th April as part of Leeds Young People's Film Festival.
It also plays in competition at the VAFI - International Children and Youth Animation Film Festival Varaždin, 29th April - 1st May 2011, partner of the Los Angeles International Children's Film Festival.
Hungry for Health also won critical acclaim last November, winning the BAF 2010 Films by Young Animators Award at the National Media Museum.
Dennis Richards OBE, Headteacher, said: “It has been an inspiration to discover an art form which hitherto we knew nothing about, which has made such an impact on so many children and the school as a whole.”
Deb Singleton, director of Bradford Animation Festival said: “This year we had a fantastic response to our call for entries for the Films by Young Animators category, both in terms of number of films submitted and the quality of the films. We awarded Hungry for Health the top prize in recognition of the filmmakers’ ambition and success in creating an engaging, funny and pacy film with a clear message. We particularly admired the creation of films within films, each of which had a distinct style, as part of the overall story.”
St Aidan’s art teacher Jane Smithson, said, 'It was a tremendous experience for our young people. They were utterly engaged with the research, writing and artwork. Some comments from the young people were "Best time of my school life", "It really improved my confidence in my ability in art". As a teacher I found it built their confidence and made me think about how I deliver my lessons, as the risk taking is what they really enjoyed'.
Simon Lee, student animator, said: “It was an amazing experience being in such a creative atmosphere led by David Bunting. I never would have thought at the start that we would finish with anything reasonable, let alone an award!”
This is the second BAF win for an Anim8ed project. The scheme has produced animations that have won awards all around the world. Anim8ed was set up in 2004 to enable young people to engage with various museum collections through animation.
IFFF is a non-profit educational and cultural organization in Los Angeles County, California.
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