Young film makers to debut animated doc at East End Film Festival

The documentary has been produced through a collaboration of 15 year 7 pupils from Stratford School, Cumberland School, St Angela's School and St Bonaventure's School.

The pupils attended a series of workshops run by Chocolate Films, covering the creative and technical aspects of filmmaking including pre-production, post-production, exhibition and distribution.

The pupils also visited the Purely Natural Hair Salon in Stratford to learn about black hair from the experts and used these ideas in their documentary.

The talented students then carried out interviews, created animation, composed a musical score for the film and were taught how to market and publicise their film.

Executive member for culture, Councillor Jo Corbett, said: "This is an innovative and interactive program aimed at giving local school children the opportunity to learn new skills, be creative and participate in the exciting process of film making."

"This project could be the catalyst for some of the students to carry on in the footsteps of great British film makers such as Alfred Hitchcock, Gurinder Chadha or Danny Boyle."

Year 7 pupil Yvonne from St Angela's Ursuline School said: "It was a good way to find out new things about black hair. The filmmaking was really fun because we learnt different ways to capture the moment on film.''

The project is being funded by Newham Council and is supported by the Lottery through the UK Film Council's First Light Movies initiative. It took place at Stratford School's City Learning Centre.

The project is part of ID:London, a London-wide youth filmmaking project produced by Chocolate Films exploring London's cultural diversity through the eyes of young people from four of its minority communities.

To see the full programme for the East End Film Festival 2009 visit www.eastendfilmfestival.com