Cannes Glamour comes to Hereford

More than 250 Herefordshire children from eight local primary schools will be parading along the red carpet to watch an exclusive viewing of short films produced by local school children.

Herefordshire Council has been working with schools on a project called Frameworks which aims to improve children's literacy and help them be creative by offering them a different medium to explore.

Each school involved receives state-of-the-art filming equipment together with training and the assistance of a local filmmaking expert. Once they have developed their own unique film, the schools get to keep all the equipment.

The films produced will be aired at a special screening at the Odeon Cinema on September 26 at 11am. Themes include The Good Samaritan (with a modern twist), House destroying robots and super heroes, imaginary worlds where the grass always seems greener on the other side and teaching an alien child how to recycle.

The dress code for the screening is 'Cannes Glamour,' and previous groups have arrived in limousines. Local saxophonist, Terry Jones, will entertain the children with well-known film theme tunes.

Sarah Laws, arts learning officer, said: "This is an important collaborative event between different council departments and schools. Teaching staff receive training in film making, and the children get involved in creating a unique piece of work - the children were all hands-on in the creation of their films.

"This scheme has proved to be incredibly popular with pupils and teachers: participating children have gained better SATS results in literacy and schools have been able to keep the equipment so they can continue with their movie making after the project.

"Teachers have learned new effective ways to deliver literacy lessons and some films have been accepted by national film festivals."

In true Cannes style, each school will be presented with a glass 'gong' and a copy of their finished DVD.