When it comes to cinema, young people don't generally get much say. They're seen by big studios as a highly exploitable demographic, but do the film those studios make really have much to do with their interests? We spoke to some of the team behind the Glasgow Youth Film Festival to find out.
"Youth is often pushed aside at the cinema," says Molly Aitken-Sheridan, who has been with the festival since its inception. "Young people like all sorts of different films. I'd like to see more world cinema aimed at us, for instance."
Her colleagues agree. "We basically always get the same film," says Calvin Berry. "Harry Potter and so on."
"It's all about teenagers and sex," adds Megan Glassford, laughing.
In helping to curate the festival, which developed as part of the wider Glasgow Film Festival but is now much more independent, running for a week on its own before the main festival starts, the youth team have put together a much more varied package. The festival opened with a special preview of Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo and include a gala presentation of The Scouting Book For Boys, with personal appearances by director Tom Harper and star Thomas Turgoose.
"I'm introducing a film called Sita Sings The Blues," says Megan. "It's an animation, and it's actually my favourite thing at the festival."
"We met up on Monday nights and watched lots of different films - not just one type - and then had discussions about them," Calvin explains, adding that his favourite is Japanese film The Blue Bird. "At the end the GFF organisers let us choose which ones we liked best, so we had quite a lot of input into the selection process."
Calvin became involved in the festival through his school, whilst Molly became involved with host cinema the GFT on work experience in 2007 and met learning coordinator Emily, who suggested they work together to explore the idea of a youth event. Megan joined because she has a friend who worked on GYFF 2009 but was too busy to come back this year, so she volunteered as a replacement. She's pleased to be on board just when things are really getting interesting. "We didn't have any celebrities last year. It's getting much bigger now and were starting to get more media coverage of our own."
Also among this year's guests are writer Ben Schiffer and star Joe Dempsie from the popular television drama Skins, whom Molly will be interviewing in front of a live audience in her first ever Q&A. It's a nerve-racking business, but everyone in the team seems confident. "We just want it to be a success!" she says.
