Newsletter Articles 

BOOKINGS NOW OPEN FOR THE WORLD’S LARGEST FREE FILM FESTIVAL

Pupils across Northern Ireland are once again being offered the opportunity to attend free cinema trips and access free resources through the Into Film Festival, with 3,000 film screenings and 200 special events taking place throughout the UK. Returning for its 7th year from 6-22 November, the Festival is the world’s largest free film festival. It’s many themes and topics can be utilised by educators across the curriculum, in subjects such as English, modern foreign languages (MFL), geography, history, PSHE, politics and citizenship. Pupils are also encouraged to enter the annual Into Film Festival film review writing competition to promote literacy through film.

The Festival, hosted by film education charity, Into Film, will launch this year with an ambitious, environmentally themed event that spans the UK with the support of Greenpeace and UNICEF. Featured will be simultaneous pupil premieres of the new climate change documentary “2040”, followed by a Q&A session with director Damon Gameau. “2040” has been cited as the first film aimed at young audiences to offer a hopeful response to youth ‘eco-anxiety.’

This year’s Festival is comprised of eight strands that can help educators navigate the packed programme: Mental Wellbeing & Identity, Language & Creativity, The Natural World, Exploring History, Debate, Fantasy & Adventure, Rebellion and Musicals.

Some of the highlights for Northern Ireland are;

• 2040 WITH LIVE STREAM Q&A WITH DIRECTOR DAMON GAMEAU at Queens Film Theatre Belfast

• Pupil premiere of the Biggest Little Farm at Strand Arts,

• March of the Penguins 2 followed by a workshop with Wee Critters at the Braid in Ballymena,

• Irish language screening of The Breadwinner followed by review writing at Cultúrlann McAdam Ó Fiaich

The Into Film Festival 2019 will take place from 6-22 November. All events and screenings are free.

For programme information, book tickets and download resources visit Into Film

For more information on the 2040 film and campaign, go to WhatsYour2040

For general Into Film NI contact Peter Murray, Into Film Programme Coordinator.

St Colm’s Climate Strike in Draperstown

St. Colm’s High School, along with local primary schools in Screen Eco-schools, took part the Global Climate Strike 2019. They organised a strike at the entrance to the parish of Ballinascreen, County Londonderry, on 20th September 2019. Over 300 pupils and staff took part. When asked why they were striking the pupils held very strong opinions on the need for change.

“We feel passionately about our planet and preserving it for future generations. We want the people in power to hear what we have to say. We are the future and we need to have a secure future!!”

St. Colm’s was awarded the UK’s TES Sustainable Schools Award at a ceremony in London in June of this year and it is one of the most active Ambassador Eco-Schools here in Northern Ireland.

A Week of Climate Action at St Ronan’s College

St Ronan’s College, Lurgan, organised a full week of discussions and activities before the climate strike on 20th September, to encourage pupils and staff members to sign their climate pledge. This pledge calls for actions that will halt climate breakdown and increase awareness about global warming. The initiative has seen the participation of the entire school and an all School Assembly on Climate Action held on Friday 20th with Mrs Bernadette McAliskey as special guest speaker.

On the same day, St Ronan’s College launched their new reusable water bottles in an attempt to cut down on their plastic waste… their next step will be signing their Plastic Promise on the Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful website. Be the next to sign it!

We are delighted to announce that Eco-Schools NI and Into FILM have partnered-up to offer 2 workshops free of charge this November for teachers about storytelling and filmmaking.

These training courses will allow you to become more familiar with the Young Reporters for the Environment programme and at the same time, it will offer you a guide for your project delivery.

Attending the YRE/Into FILM workshops can be used towards your CPD progress and will open the possibility to start new collaborations within your school with colleagues in other departments (e.g. Film-Club coordinator and media coordinator).

Registrations are now open for interested teachers, so please contact Francesca.

Workshops

10am-2pm Strule Arts Centre, Omagh - 26th November 2019

10am-2pm Crawfordsburn Country Park, Bangor - 27th November 2019

More details coming soon

“Our house is on fire”

These words, spoken at the 2019 World Economic Forum by internationally known, teenage environmentalist, Greta Thunberg, encapsulate the urgency required in the battle against Climate Breakdown. This summer alone we have experienced some of the most extreme weather conditions on record, not just in Northern Ireland, but globally. In the Netherlands, it has been reported that there was a nearly 14% increase in deaths during the week of the heat wave in which the highest temperature ever for the Netherlands was recorded at about 400C. This record temperature was not a standalone occurrence as the heatwave swept across Europe. The Arctic Circle has been facing unprecedented wildfires and the Amazon Rainforest, the ‘lungs of the Earth’, have been set on fire to satisfy political and corporate greed that overconsumption drives.

We can no longer speak of Climate Change. This is a Climate Crisis.

Since Greta first began striking in August last year, young people have felt increasingly empowered to take similar action to raise awareness surrounding climate breakdown and demand climate justice. There have been a series of youth strikes and protests since, and several international youth environmental conservation organisations have been established to organise this mass citizen action. Such organisations include Fridays for Future, Youth Strike4Climate, and the UK Student Climate Network.

These organizations and their members recognize that while they did not cause climate breakdown, it is a burden they will have to bear unless immediate, systematic changes are made. The strikes and protests that have been occurring more frequently and on an international level, are a direct result of the climate crisis the world is facing.

However, this is not just a battle for young people to fight, this is multigenerational struggle and everyone needs to get involved in some way. It is for this reason that Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful (the organisation that runs the Northern Irish Eco-Schools programme) has announced that it will be supporting the Youth Strike for Climate Change on the 20th September 2019. Locally, we are adding our voices to the growing number of people who are demanding more concerted action on protecting our environment.

Beyond anything else, the Global Climate Strike is a call to action. Here at Eco-Schools Northern Ireland, we believe that action is the best response to climate breakdown. That is why we have renamed our Climate Change topic to Climate Action – action generates hope and creates positive change. We want pupils to engage with the practical solutions to the problems we face and how they can work to tackle climate breakdown. The Eco-Schools programme, and especially the Green Flag Award, is a pupil lead initiative that empowers young people to make positive environmental changes in their schools and communities which is why, as an organisation, we are lending our support to them on this global day of action. We would encourage you to support any pupils who may independently wish to join the Global Climate Strike.

Speaking about supporting the strike, Chief Executive of Keep Northern Ireland Beautiful, Ian Humphreys, said;

“I want to commend those people, young and old, who are peacefully yet powerfully challenging us all to make a real difference on these undeniable issues. It is for those reasons and a belief that change is always possible that I am delighted to lend our organisations support to this day of action.”

“The Department of Agriculture, Environment & Rural Affairs is launching a consultation for the 25-year environmental plan this month. I would urge every person taking part in this strike to make their voices heard and ensure that we get a massive response to this consultation and a plan that can actually deliver better outcomes for our environment.”

We still have time to act, but we must act now.