Laois TY students wins best film award
The TY students from Knockbeg College who won top prize at the Rubbish Film Festival
A GROUP of transition-year students from Knockbeg College scooped top prize at the national final of the Rubbish Film Festival, which took place in the Light House cinema in Dublin recently.
The group of 12 TY students focused on the theme of deforestation and pollution for their film titled , overcoming stiff competition from schools in Dublin, Cork and Meath.
The film was directed by Eoghan Mitchell, edited by Michael Healy and Ryan Matthews Abraham, and follows main character Eddie Keenan as he traverses a forest.
As he moves through the trees, eerie, coughing sounds can be heard all around him before he reaches a tree with a bloodied bandage around its bark being operated on by a group of doctors.
There are laudable performances by the medical team of Fiachra Moore, Ross Murphy, Ryan Matthews Abraham and Alvaro Gonzalo Navarro, with Arturo Renasco as a lumberjack.
Some shocking statistics about the sheer level of deforestation around the world are shown across the screen, such as ten million hectares of forest worldwide being lost yearly to deforestation.
The film culminates in Eddie Keenan standing in a barren field, devoid of any trees, followed by a message that 2,400 trees have been cut down in the time it took the viewer to watch the film, which lasts 70 seconds.
Rodrigo Martinez was in charge of producing the promotional video, with Merlin Rodriguez in charge of designing the film poster, while Diego Esposito was responsible for synchronising audio and video as the clapper.
In total, films from the winners of the 20 regional awards, including fellow Carlow school St Leo’s College, were shown at the final, which saw over 200 people attend.
The judging panel consisted of film industry professionals and academics from the arts sector.
“The quality of the entries this year has been remarkable. Huge congratulations to the team from Knockbeg for clinching the overall best film award,” said founder of the Rubbish Film Festival Peter Baxter.
“We want to thank the schools, the local authorities, our sponsors, the award judges and, most importantly, the students themselves for making this festival a huge success year on year,” he added.
The Rubbish Film Festival is operated through 20 local authorities nationwide and engages over 1,800 students across 160 schools annually.
