Looking back on the De La Warr Pavillion’s first ever Young People’s Film Festival

35 budding film makers from towns across the South East took part in the event, which hoped to give young film makers of all stripes a chance to showcase their hard work and creativity.

The event was co-ordinated by James Hobson, an award winning editor and film maker with experience working on a variety of science-based and factual TV shows for channels all over the world. Contributors were free to submit films of a variety of types, covering any topic they liked. The only condition was that participants had to be under 25 years old.

Submissions went before an experienced panel of judges from the De La Warr Film Club, which eventually decided on a group of winners.

They were: “ Parkour Summer”, a documentary by Jake Nash, “Sunglasses”, an abstract short film by Jacob Cunningham and “Password”, a drama directed by Pradeep Shahi.

The festival emerged from the Pavilion’s Young People’s Film Club programme, which is no longer running but was, at the time of the festival, in its third year, having taught more than 100 young people everything they needed to know about film-making, from directing, to filming, to casting, and, finally, editing it all together.

The event also hosted a variety of other competitions for Bexhill’s budding Hitchcocks.

Alongside the main film competition, organisers also challenged young people to make a film in 48 hours or less, a challenging event eventually conquered by students Harry Dixon and Amelia Lampitt, from Claverham School, in Battle.

Other features included a horror movie workshop, which gave students a chance to dress up like zombies, ghouls and other fantastical beasts, as they learned from special effects artists with real industry experience.

Although the De La Warr Pavillion’s Young People’s Film Club, has since closed, the Pavillion’s legacy of supporting young people’s creativity has not.

In July last year, they advertised a film-making competition to Bexhill’s young directors, offering the winning short film £250 in prize money and a slot on the Pavilion’s Sunset Screenings. More than that, the arts centre also organises the Young Creatives Group, a group of 14-21 year olds who take an active role in co-producing projects for the Pavilion.

They work with programmers, organisers and professional artists to develop their skills and, by helping to bring De la Warr projects to life, work towards shaping Bexhill’s artistic community.

To find out more about the Young Creatives group and read personal accounts from members, visit dlwp.com/ learning/ young-creatives/ or call Grace Clements on 01424 229 103.