Children’s film festival to make stop-off in Shetland

The Discovery Children’s Film Festival is to make a brief visit to Shetland early next month, with screenings of international films for children of all ages. There will be screenings for schools on Friday 4th February at the Shetland Museum and Archive and screenings for the public on Saturday 5th February.

Hailed by Creative Scotland as Scotland’s leading youth film festival, the Discovery Film Festival is thriving in its seventh year. Based at Dundee Contemporary Arts, and touring to partner venues throughout Scotland, the festival screens films from all over the world which have been specially selected for young audiences. Discovery will arrive in Shetland straight from a visit to Skye.

The public screenings include Short Films for Wee Ones, a selection of fun films from around the world, chosen for their appeal to audiences aged three and over. This will include a screening of The Gruffalo in which you can join brave little mouse and his big imagination on a search for tasty nuts in the forest. “Doesn’t he know, there’s no such thing as a Gruffalo!” Or is there …? There is a mask making workshop for limited numbers before the film starts.

On the Saturday afternoon there is a film with a distinctly Viking appeal for audiences aged 10 and over, Time Trip – Curse of the Viking Witch. After crashing his dad’s car, 15-year-old Valdemar will do anything to get the cash to fix it. Local physicist Benedict is desperate for help with his time machine experiment so, for a price, the sceptical Valdemar takes it for a test drive. He finds himself on a dangerous 10th century mission among Denmark’s legendary warlords and within reach of a powerful witch.

The touring festival is funded by Regional Screen Scotland, and is supported locally by Shetland Film Club, Shetland Arts and the SIC education department.

See this week’s Shetland Times for more details.