TUESDAY mornin ah taen the lang, braw drive doun the picturesque Nith Valley tae Dumfries and the Robert Burns Film Theatre fir the Into Film 2017 Festival event there. We wir haudin a Scots Language related film showin o the animated films The Gruffalo an its sequel The Gruffalo’s Child, based oan the buiks bi Julia Donaldson.
A group o around 60 P3/P4 weans frae St Michael’s Primary Schuil, Dumfries, aa filed intil the film theatre – aa wearin their wee luminous yella heich-vis vests! As ye wid expeck, the weans wir aa gey kittled up anent their jaunt tae the flicks!
The ower-airchin ettle o Into Film is tae gie young fowk an innins tae the cinema, uisin it as a cultural, personal development an educational tool. They wark in pairtnership wi Education Scotland. Hence, ah met up agane wi Kirsty Gallacher (Into Film Programme Delivery Manager), a rael force o natuir! An Bruce Eunson, Education Scotland Scots Language Co-ordinator. Bruce is a native o Shetland an a rael advocate an champion o the Scots leid, wha warks tirelessly throu-oot Scotland promotin Scots in oor schuils an wider communities.
Into Film’s 2017 film festival is the warld’s maist muckle sic festival fir young fowk an caters fir an age range o atween 5–19-year-aulds. The festival rins throu-oot the hale o the UK frae the 8th till the 24th November, sae gin ye’d like tae check oot gin their a film screenin or event in yer ain airt then aiblins hae a keek here oan their wabsite; https://www.intofilm.org/scotland
Thair ower 280 free events fir fowk in Scotland!
Films wull be screened in a wheen o Scottish touns, islands an airts; the likes o: Ayr, Dundee, Dunfermline, Falkirk, Kilmarnock, Paisley, Stirling, Clydebank, Castle Douglas, Oban, Orkney and The Isle of Skye. Wi a braw selection o films includin: Beauty and the Beast (1991 and 2017), Moana, Step, Diary Of A Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul, The Eagle Huntress, Chasing Coral, The Lego Batman Movie, The Lego Ninjago Movie, La La Land, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, A Beautiful Planet, An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power, I, Daniel Blake, Wonder Woman and Dunkirk. Sae fir haurd pressed faimilies in Scotland this micht be a guid chaunce tae lat yer weans hae an educational an free day oot at the cinema!
Some o this year’s Into Film Festival 2017 heichlichts include: A screenin fir primary weans at Edinburgh Zoo, follaed bi a tour o the zoo; Matilda Scratch an Sniff event at Eden Court Cinema in Inverness; Demonstrations at Falkirk Toun Hall bi special effects expert Artem; Screenins in Gaelic o Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes at Edinburgh Filmhouse an Belmont Filmhouse; an Whisky Galore! (1949) screenin and Scots-language event. They really hae pit thegaither a wide-reegin an byordnar programme fir fowk!
Film showins are alsae heized bi the festival’s sindrie educational resources; these hae discussion questions, review stairters an extension acteevities fir uise oan the day an back in the clessroom. In response tae teacher feedback mony o the resources wull this year, fir the first time, be in PowerPoint format sae teachers can adapt thaim tae suit the needs o their ain students. A review writin competition gies an addeetional incentive fir thaim uisin the Into Film Festival tae support leeteracy an critical thinkin. Accessibility and inclusivity are key aims o the Festival as weel, wi ower hauf o the programme oaffert as audio-described, subtitled or autism-frienly.
A survey o teachers wha attended last year’s ongauns kythed that 94 per cent of teachers said the festival acteevities wir uisefu in helpin tae deliver the curriculum, 94 per cent o teachers felt the festival acteevities wis valuable in terms o the braider education o young fowk, an 82 per cent o teachers said that the festival hud made thaim mair likely tae uise cinema veesits tae support the delivery o the curriculum.
Gaun bi the reactions o the P3/P4 weans in Dumfries, Into Film seem tae be oan tae a winner! The young anes really enjoyed the films, an they alsae enjoyed the twa readins in Scots that ah gien thaim o baith The Gruffalo (in Scots) an the mair raicent owersettin, agane bi kenspeckle novelist James Robertson, o The Gruffalo’s Wean. Bruce, Kirsty an masel then speirt the weans anent their knowledge o Scots an e’en at their tender age they wir weel able tae kythe a sound an solid unnerstaunin o a braw reenge o Scots wirds. The weans o St Michael’s PS are a credit tae their wunnerfu teachers an support staff!
Twa wee lassies doun the front in perteecular kythed a rael interest in Scots language, an these twa wee chatterboxes wir the leevin truth an promise tae masel the the torch o the Scots leid wull ne’er gang oot – an wull be cairriet intil the bricht future bi new speikers an advocates o Scots language!
Education Scotland is alsae the nou promotin a Scots Language Creative Writin Competeetion. Gin ye’d like tae submit a poem or short story (nae mair as 750 wirds in length) tae this, an staun a guid chaunce o winnin a braw prize! Then get yer teacher tae hae a swatch oan the GLOW web resource an its Scots blether bit.ly/scotsblether link. Else, send yer entry til Bruce Eunson at Bruce.Eunson@educationscotland.gsi.gov.uk Guid luck wi yer writin – an yer bletherin in guid Scots!
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