The call for entries for Ireland’s Young Filmmaker of the Year 2020, Ireland’s festival celebrating young filmmakers from Ireland and overseas is open!

Fresh Film and is an advocate for young filmmakers year-round and encourages young people to make films by hosting the annual Fresh International Film Festival which incorporates Ireland’s Young Filmmaker of the Year Awards. Fresh International Film Festival 2020 takes place in Limerick from March 23 – 28, 2020 and is open to young people from 7-18 years of age.

2020 will be its 24th year encouraging young people from Ireland and overseas, aged 7 to 18 years, to create, exhibit and share films. The Fresh International Film Festival provides an opportunity for young filmmakers to see their work on the big screen and to compete for the title of Ireland’s Young Filmmaker of the Year and to win €1000 towards their next film. All submissions are also considered for a range of Specialist Awards including the Radharc Trust Award for documentaries, the Animation Award, the RTÉ 60 Second Award, the Film in the Irish Language award and the RTÉ Factual Award, in addition to the International and Audience awards.

The Festival has Junior (7-12 years), Senior (12- 18 years) and International categories for individual and group projects. Young filmmakers can enter as independents, as part of their school or in a group. Films must be original and can be up to 15 minutes duration for Seniors or 10 minutes duration for Juniors. Senior films will be screened at one of the Regional Heats, which take place in Dublin, Cork, Galway, and Limerick during early March. The Senior and Junior finalists’ films will be screened during Fresh International Film Festival 2020 from March 23 - 28 in Limerick. The awards will be announced at the final screenings on March 25 and 26, 2020.

Fresh Film runs a number of initiatives under strand headings. The Fresh Production strand features the 'Fresh Blood' horror film workshop, the 'Hothouse' programme and the 'Fresh Film Squad' designed to bring young people together to share their film experiences and create new work. Under its Fresh Education strand, it devises film programmes for the classroom such as the ‘You Judge It’ school juries, and the 'young programmer' project. As part of its Fresh International strand, it distributes Irish films made by young people to festivals all over the world and seeks opportunities for young people to participate in international exchanges.

Speaking about the final call for entries, Festival Director and Founder Jayne Foley said,

“From filmmaker exchanges to film shares, awards to workshops, Fresh continues to seek new and innovative ways of engaging with international young filmmakers and audiences. We are an international film festival and we distribute Irish films to festivals all over the world. Fresh’s relationship with filmmakers and festivals from all over the world began in 1993 with a screening of ‘Kids in America’ a collection made by young people from the USA. We are looking forward to great things from our 2020 crop of films. Understanding the basic building blocks of storytelling, camera and editing will stand you in good stead in the media-driven future. We are seeking filmmakers, the makers of dreams, the ones who challenge us with their alternative vision and the ones who show a mastery of the art. We give you this gentle nudge again. Write your story. Grab your camera. Get your friends or your classmates or do it on your own. We await the new crop. We look forward to the harvest.”

Closing date for entries is Friday, January 24, 2020.

The full festival programme will be available shortly.