Free Films for School Movie Clubs
Thousands of films are to be made available to schools to inspire children about the stories they tell and careers in the movie industry. A website database will eventually hold up to 60,000 films that teachers and pupils can access for free. The initiative is being run by the UK Film Council.
Schools will be able to access films on the Film Club website, where they can also write reviews and rate different films.
Pilot schools are running weekly after-school film clubs for children aged from five to 18. Kent has 7 schools participating in the pilot:
· St Edmund’s Catholic School, Dover
· The Canterbury High School, Canterbury
· Astor College for the Arts, Dover
· Hartsdown Technology College, Margate
· Sandwich Technology School, Sandwich
· Davington Primary School, Davington – Faversham
· Whitstable and Seasalter Endowed C of E Junior School, Whitstable.
The initiative will eventually be open to 10,000 primary and secondary schools across the country, if the pilot is a success.
Movies range from mainstream blockbusters such as Pirates of the Caribbean, to specialised and foreign language films such as Cinema Paradiso.
The website includes online questions and answers with Nick Hornby, a competition by comedy writer Lee Hall who wrote Billy Elliott, and an article by Renee Zellweger about films she enjoyed as a young girl.