THE lure of the silver screen brought an audience of 280 primary school students to Hereford’s Odeon cinema.

But it wasn’t for the latest Hollywood blockbuster, these young film-makers came to see their own movies on the big screen.

With popcorn doled out for the occasion by friendly Odeon staff, film-makers dressed up to the nines, the eight local primary schools took their seats in front of the big screen for the premiere of their films.

Mordiford, St James, Blackmarston, Trinity, Holmer, Eastnor, Madley, and St Thomas Cantilupe primary schools each produced a film using photographs from the Derek Evans archive as their inspiration.

The project was organised by Catcher Media as part of their National Heritage Lottery-funded Herefordshire Life Through a Lens project alongside Herefordshire Council’s Learning and Achievement Service, who delivered film-making training to the schools and a visit the Archives and Records Centre to see Derek’s collection of photos and negatives.

Children created work across the school curriculum, using literacy, art, history and ICT, as well as learning about the local history of the county.

Interviewing people, writing scenes, stories and poems, learning to edit film and composing their own music was all part of the project.

The films will be available to watch on

www.herefordshirelifethroughalens.org.uk
  • The Herefordshire Life Through a Lens project explores the huge collection of photographs and negatives of Herefordshire photographer Derek Evans, digitising the archive and creating an oral history from Herefordshire people about the memories they evoke. The project is funded through the National Lottery Heritage Fund and has recently upgraded to a smart and informative new website, featuring more film interviews, available to watch for free, as well as the archived images that are searchable by topic.