We wanted to develop a strategic relationship with NUFF, to look at the operation and running of the festival, programming and the role of young volunteers. We also wished to bring back to Wales examples of good practice from this well established and well respected festival. There were three elements which were particularly impressive and ideas which we would like to progress in Wales.
WORKSHOPS – The first few days of the festival were taken over by workshops run by international practioners, all with recognised reputations. The workshops included a masterclass examining the crossover of film and technology and throughout the week the film workshops worked alongside music workshops producing music to accompany the films. The resulting short films were part of the festival screenings and were very impressive. As part of the screenings there were opportunities for discussion with the filmmakers and their tutors which we found enlightening.
A THEMED FESTIVAL – NUFF had chosen a theme for their festival this year, which was looking at the crisis for refugees and immigration through the eyes of young people. We saw how choosing a theme gave a focus to the festival which was very powerful and also within that theme many challenging issues were able to be addressed. This experience has helped to clarify the way in which we will feature the Wales/India theme as part of our festival in 2017.
YOUNG VOLUNTEERS – We were able to see the role played by young people and the responsibility they were given in organising and recording the festival. This included programming, marketing, presenting, filming, photographing and event management. The whole time we were there, there was a strong feeling of ownership of the festival by young people. This is something we would wish to develop and we will include a training programme for young volunteers to take on similar roles. We will also look at an exchange programme to allow young people from Wales to shadow more experienced young people in volunteering at other festivals.
Our experience at the festival has already influenced our planning for this year’s festival. This includes how we are developing our festival workshop programme in terms of structure and outcomes. As with NUFF we will be asking the workshops to produce two short documentary films: one about the festival and one about the YCN International conference. These short films will then be used as promotional material in 2017.
One issue for NUFF was the small numbers attending some of the screenings. Wicked is keen to get good audiences for its screenings and having seen that this could be a potential difficulty, a lot of time has been spent since returning contacting schools and youth organisations before the summer holiday break to get their commitment to engage with the festival activities.