Mr. Russell’s 5th Class 2017/18 entered the national FÍS film making competition for primary schools. The boys wrote a script and made storyboards for their 5 minute film, which is a short look at the history of Waterford’s City Walls. The title for their film was “Waterford: Ireland’s Oldest City”. Then, in September 2018, came the amazing news that the boys had been shortlisted for an award and were invited to the 2018 FÍS Film Awards at The Helix Theatre in Dublin. These awards are the Oscars for primary school film making in Ireland. It was a thrilling honour for the boys to reach this stage. On Wednesday, November 14th, the boys travelled to Dublin with Mr. Russell, Mr. Morris, Mr. Fahy and some family supporters. The class had their photo taken before the ceremony began, and Charlie and Ajim (from 5th Class) interviewed PDST Technologies Team Leader Mr. Michael McNamara about FÍS and the awards. The best part of the day came when it was announced that St. Stephen’s had WON the Award for Outstanding Achievement in Film Making for a Documentary!!! Josh and Benjamin accepted the award on behalf of the class and had a chat on stage with show host Sinéad Kennedy.

We’re very proud of the boys for this huge accomplishment. It was a wonderful day out, and the boys enjoyed the movie atmosphere around The Helix. A huge word of thanks to the parents who travelled with the class to offer their support, and to Michelle, Michael, and everyone at PDST, FÍS and Bernadette and all at IADT who made everyone so welcome on the day. Check out some photos from the 2018 FÍS Film Awards in the gallery below, and watch a slideshow of the day too!