A group of Mayo’s budding young movie moguls have been honoured for their excellence in filmmaking at a colourful awards ceremony in The Helix, Dublin.
The filmmakers at Behy National School, Ballina, took home the top prize for Outstanding Achievement at the 10th annual FÍS Film Festival on November 4.
Their short film, The Battle of Ardnaree, beat off stiff competition from 24 primary schools across Ireland to claim the number one spot jointly with Leitrim’s Carrigaline Education Together NS.
And the honours for Mayo’s young creatives did not end there.
Ballina featured among the award winners a second time when Killocraun NS picked up an award for their Best Comedy Film with A Change is Gonna Come.
The third Mayo winners were the students of Tooreen National School, this time in the Best Local Interest Film category with their project Mixed Blessings.
RTÉ stars Sinead Kennedy and Eoghan McDermott presented the awards, attended by 800 school children, their teachers, and parents.
Special guest at the ceremony was Education Minister Jan O’ Sullivan.
FÍS is an initiative of the Department of Education and Skills, coordinated by PDST Technology in Education, in collaboration with the Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology.
The awards encourage teachers and children to explore the medium of film and digital media in the primary curriculum to develop active learning, creative thinking, language, imagination, collaborative learning, and problem solving skills as well as giving children hands-on experience of using technology as part of the film making process.
