The Glasgow Youth Film Festival kicks off today with a gala screening of Paul, the latest comedy hit from Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. The ten day event, now in its fourth year, runs up to the start of the main Glasgow Film Festival but is specially geared toward a younger crowd, ages five to 18. It's curated by young people too.
Highlights of this year's youth festival include the often hilarious family drama Boy and the thoughtful Son Of Babylon, which sees a boy and his grandmother travel through post-Saddam Iraq. There are also a number of workshops aimed at helping young people to get involved in filmmaking themselves ad sponsors Muvizu will be running a special animation workshop. There's a chance to find out how the film classification process works, and the evenings see discos and parties with unusual film-related themes.
With special guests in attendance and lots of ways to get involved, this year's festival looks set to match the successes of last year's. "There’s a wide variety of films and brilliant workshops which will give people the opportunity to learn and take part in new things they otherwise wouldn’t do or see," says festival organiser Lucy, 17.
