A charity helping to create opportunities for talented female filmmakers will be showing off some of their work this Saturday ahead of presenting a much-loved football movie in Newcastle in celebration of International Women’s Day.
The Young Women’s Film Academy, set up by former Coronation Street actor Charlie Hardwick, will be taking over a screen at the city centre‘s Tyneside Cinema to show 2002 comedy Bend It Like Beckham. And beforehand it will be featuring two short films made by the academy, offering the audience a chance to see some of the results of its work.
Local favourite Charlie – an award-winner known for both TV and stage work and a singer in local band Kissed too – is a also a patron of the academy which provides film-making activities and services for girls and young women across the region; helping them with education, skills development and also boosting mental health.
It is said to be the only film academy of its kind in the UK and everyone involved – from the board to its volunteers and the industry professionals working with it – is female. Described as a platform that can change lives, the academy provides a safe space for people to tell – and communicate – their stories and through its youth engagement programme it helps forge connections.
At its March 8 event, which will begin at Tyneside Cinema at 5.30pm, it will screen two short films made by the academy – Zara and Who We Are – which are just three and 10-minutes long, to give a taster of its work. These will be followed by Gurinder Chada’s Bend It Like Beckham, about London teenager Jess, played by Parminder Nagra, who dreams of having a professional football career and finds a chance to further her dream when she is invited by a local girl Jules (Keira Knightley) to join a women’s football team.
For tickets to the event – costing £13.75 plus fees, with concessions also available – see here. The cinema invites 15 to 24-year-olds to sign up to its free Young Tyneside membership – see here – which would mean access to tickets for £7. Find out more about the Young Women’s Film Academy see here.
View news Source: https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/whats-on/film-news/newcastle-charity-kicks-international-womens-31132641
