Year 9 Girls Become Aesthetica Film Critics

Year 9 girls spent a morning as aspiring film critics for York’s BAFTA-qualifying Aesthetica Short Film Festival. ASFF’s Youth Engagement screenings feature a series of specially curated Official Selection film screenings for school pupils where they critically engage and vote for their favourite to decide the winner.

The girls watched seventeen short films aimed at young audiences and chose their favourites from three categories: Friends and Relationships; Fantastical Tales; Someone Else’s Shoes. The films ranged from heart-warming tales of friendship, loss, betrayal, love and nostalgia.

“The quality of the independent film making was incredible,” said Adam Dawson, Head of English. “For the girls to have the opportunity to see such a range of independent film-making is really important. The ideas generated from such thought-provoking films has been really inspiring. I think we might have some budding directors in the future!”

“It was really fun. There was a ton of different short films to watch and so it was nice to sit down together in the main English room and watch all of them. None of the films were by creators who we knew, so we had no expectations, and each film viewed on its own merits.” – Lily

“We emailed our feedback to Mr Dawson forwarded the feedback to the Festival.” – Sian

The overall winning film, as voted on by school children across the city, was Talia, a film about an endlessly curious young girl who is drawn to nature.