Festival a cut above the rest
For the Spielbergs and the Scorseses of the future, the First Cut! Youth Film Festival is back for its 12th outing demonstrating the talent and resilience of Ireland’s young filmmakers.
Moving online this year, the popular festival offers an imaginative, thought-provoking and entertaining programme for young people aged 12-24 years old.
This year’s free event will include open call short film and feature film screenings, workshops, panel discussions with some of the leading filmmakers in Ireland as well as a host of special guest appearances.
One such special guest is Cork filmmaker Shaun O’Connor whose most recent short film, ‘A White Horse’, is long-listed for an Academy Award this
year.
The film, along with another of his films, ‘Mary’, will be screened during the festival followed by an in-depth Q&A session with Mr O’Connor.
An annual highlight of the festival is the Youth Music Video Competition which, since 2016, has offered young emerging filmmakers based in Ireland the opportunity to create music videos under the mentorship of noted director Brendan Canty, filmmaker Lochlainn McKenna and other recognised industry professionals.
Since 2019, First Cut! has enjoyed a partnership with Cork International Film Festival and have this year expanded the partnership with Cork International Film Festival onboard as the official digital partner.
The festival is currently underway and will close on 9 May with a special screening of Oscar and BAFTA-nominated animated feature film 'Wolfwalkers'.
The screening will be followed by a Q&A with directors Tom Moore and Ross Stewart, and screenwriter Will Collins.
“We received a record number of films from near and far this year despite Covid-19,” said Festival Director Mary McGrath.
She continued: “With this festival we are creating an important space, needed now more than ever, for proudly showcasing talent.
“For a lot of these young people, filmmaking is the only thing they are interested in doing.”
First Cut! Youth Film Festival is funded by the Arts Council/An Chomhairle Ealaíon and Cork County Council Arts Office.