22 Oct Ulidia Students Get A Taste For The Film Industry
Last week 20 Year 13 and 14 students from Ulidia Integrated College travelled to Belfast to be extras on the set of Mark Cousins’ new feature film I Am Belfast. Cousins, originally from Northern Ireland is a critically acclaimed filmmaker, presenter and commentator. He is best known for his 15 part series on Channel 4 The Story of Film: An Odyssey.
I Am Belfast is a unique film about a 10,000 year old woman who is the city. It is written and directed by Mark Cousins. Its score is by David Holmes (Oceans 11, ’71). The music is being written whilst the film is shot, so the result is a real collaboration.
The day proved to be a little surreal at times, the context of the scene was the jubilant burial of the last bigot. Our pupils didn’t seem put off by the many shouts of ‘cut’, ‘reset’ and ‘action’ and their energy and enthusiasm helped keep the spirits of the other extras upbeat.
Working on set was one of the world’s greatest cinematographers, the multi-award winning, Chris Doyle, he was quite taken with some of the group, the banter and the selfies were flying. “The students were absolutely fantastic” said producer Chris Martin, “Even after 7 hours of standing in the cold!”
Bethany Masters-Armstrong reaped the benefits of looking a lot younger than she is, when she was selected to take the role of a lead mourner, getting a starring position directly behind the coffin.
The film is destined for screening in various festivals world wide, including Sundance, Cannes, Berlin and our very own Belfast Film Festival. It was an amazing experience for this group of young people and gave the budding actors and filmmakers amongst them a real taste for the industry.
