National Schools Film Week starts next week with a record number of schoolchildren attending free screenings and other related events at cinemas across the country.
Established and run by Film Education, the industry-funded organisation developing educational materials and services around films and filmmaking, the event – the largest of its kind in the world – will see over 400,000 young people attending more than 2,000 free screenings, many of those held at cinemas run by CEA members. To get an idea of its scale, that represents 1 in 20 of the UK school age population.
NSFW will run in England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 20-24 October and then from 3-7 November in Scotland.
Films for primary pupils include: Igor, The Spiderwick Chronicles, The Golden Compass, Kung Fu Panda, WALL:E, The Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian and Dr Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! whilst older students will be attending screenings of: The Kite Runner, Persepolis, Happy Go Lucky, Juno, Son of Rambo, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging.
In addition to the screenings, a number of filmmakers will be holding Masterclasses with children including two-time BAFTA winning director Kevin McDonald (The Last King of Scotland), Stephen Frears (High Fidelity, Dirty Pretty Things), Abi Morgan (Brick Lane) and Mark Herman (The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas).
More information on Film Education can be found at www.filmeducation.org.