Young film stars need your votes
The Journal
Young film stars from a primary school are preparing to rub shoulders with the rich and famous at a glittering "Oscars" ceremony next month.
But they need the help of the North-East public to help them clinch first prize.
Judges including actress Kate Winslet, star of Titanic and Finding Neverland, and William Moseley (The Chronicles of Narnia) will cast a critical eye over The Princess and the Pendant, a production by pupils of Hartside Primary School, Crook, at The Odeon, Leicester Square, London.
But the public also has a vote.
The film, which the youngsters spent 10 weeks making alongside professional artists Helen Ward and Jane Crawford, has made a shortlist of only three for a national "Oscars" award.
Hartside Primary goes head-to-head with a school from Bristol and another in Norwich for the First Light Movies Awards 2007 (Best Film by 12s and under) category.
The Princess and the Pendant, a tale about a princess who breaks her father's rules to go exploring in Horrid Land, and who loses the pendant her father had given her, is the children's creation.
Teacher Sian Maddox said: "They created the storyline and characters, and used musical instruments to make the sound effects and animated the film using the latest technology."
It was entered in the First Light Movies awards, a British young filmmakers' competition which
provides funding and expertise for five to 18-year-olds to make films.
First Light hosts a an annual Oscar-style awards ceremony in the Odeon, Leicester Square.
Actors, directors, producers and writers help to judge eight categories.
But the organisers also want the public to have an input.
Miss Maddox said: "Bristol and Norwich have much larger populations than Crook, so we are appealing to the people throughout the North-East to get behind our children and to register their votes.
"The pupils have put in an awful lot of hard work and it is a tremendous achievement."
Voters can view extracts from all three films in Film Street's online cinema now on www.filmstreet.co.uk. Voters should e-mail their name and the name of their favourite film to info@filmstreet.co.uk to qualify for entry into a prize draw.
Votes must be in by Monday, January 8, 2007.
