Mr. Russell’s 3rd Class 2021/2022 entered the national FÍS film making competition for primary schools. The boys wrote a script and made a storyboard for their short film, which was a story about an accident during icy weather. On top of this, the boys wrote the story IN IRISH! They entered the storyboard in the FÍS Storyboard Competition, which was highly commended but not a winner. The boys went on to use the storyboard to create a film. They made the film using LEGO, hand painted backgrounds, green screen and a stop motion animation app. After several weeks of work and post production editing, the boys entered the film into the 2022 FÍS Film Competition.
Then, in November 2022, came the amazing news that the boys had been shortlisted for an award at the annual ceremony and that they were invited to the FÍS Film Awards at The Helix Theatre in Dublin in February 2023.
These awards are the Oscars for primary school film making in Ireland. There are always a lot of entries but only a very lucky few films are shortlisted for an award and invited to the big day in Dublin.
It was a thrilling honour for the boys to reach this stage. On Wednesday, February 22nd, the boys travelled to The Helix Theatre in Dublin with Mr. Russell, Miss Lowe and Miss Robinson.
The class had their photo taken before the ceremony began, and Alfie and Reece (from 3rd Class 2022/2023) took part in an interview with IADT about FÍS and the awards and the organisation of the day.
Without a doubt, the best part of the day came when it was announced to the crowd in the Helix, and the many watching the live stream online at school and at home, that St. Stephen’s had WON the Award for Outstanding Achievement in Film Making for Direction!!!
Jamie and Razvan were invited onto the stage and accepted the award on behalf of the class and had a chat on stage with the show’s 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. The last stop of the day was to enjoy some McDonald’s on the way home! Well done to everyone on a magnificent achievement!
A huge word of thanks to Michelle, Anthony, Niall, Michael, and everyone at PDST and FÍS, and Bernadette and all at IADT who made everyone so welcome on the day. Thanks to Michelle also for arranging the lovely photos that you can see at the bottom of the page. Check out some of our own photos from the FÍS Film Awards in the gallery just below!
