ACT's Young Lives Film Competition - win a £300 prize

We have launched a new film competition, in association with Underdog Crew Studios, which invites young people, between the ages of 11 – 21, to submit a 2-3 minute film that reflects on the challenges and problems they have faced during their lives.

The top five films will be shown at a special showcase event held at the Colchester Arts Centre on 28 November.

We want to learn about the issues young people experience, so we can share them with health professionals in the voluntary and statutory sectors, who can help work out ways to address their problems in the future. 

For example:

  • A young person might just want to talk about the struggles they feel about the future, in terms of climate change, long-term ambitions, job prospects and the cost of living crisis.

  • They might have experienced physical and social media bullying at school and they want to share how it made them feel, to empower other people who have been through the same experience.

  • We are also interested in young people with autism, ADHD, learning disabilities, or any other condition they want to raise awareness about how they see the world.

  • A film could be made about a young carer, telling their story about looking after a loved one.

  • Or maybe a young person just wants to share an experience that was important to them.

We want to support young people with expressing how they feel, so others can learn from them.

At ACT, we care about how young people feel and want to help improve their lives.

The Underdog Crew has the same ethos as us, which is why they teach young people about the art of filmmaking, to improve their health and well-being.

If you have an idea, please get in touch.

You might even just want to talk about your concept. so we can help you to shape it.

Even if you want to present your suggestion in a different format, such as a poem, a piece of art, or a short written story, we still want to hear from you.

We can discuss the idea with you and connect you with experienced filmmakers, such as Directors from the Underdog Crew, to help you make your film.

We will hold a prize giving ceremony later in the year and a £300 prize will be awarded to the winner. However, other prizes will be awarded too.

We also have experienced judges on our panel, including leaders from:

  • The Mercury Theatre
  • The Arts Centre
  • The University of Essex’s film department
  • The Colchester Institute’s filmmaking unit
  • The Curzon cinema
  • The Colchester Independent Short Film Festival
  • Signals

To find out more, please register your interest in the form below and we will guide you further from there. We encourage you to get your idea and film in ASAP so the judges have more time to appreciate them. You can email us too about any questions.

Please watch one of the productions below that the Underdog Crew is working on at the moment, as an example of their high production values.

This teaser for the new TV pilot is called The Slip, which stars a young carer and highlights some of the challenges that young people are experiencing these days:

Watch a behind the scenes video about the making of the teaser too:

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