CINAGE Conference & Film Festival 2015

Written on 20 July 2015.

Cinema for Active Ageing

17/18 July 2015 - The Northern Film School at Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, United Kingdom

The event brought together filmmakers, researchers and international colleagues from across Europe for an exciting event on European cinema and active ageing. It was the time for the presentation to a wider European audience of the CNAGE innovative approach and its most outstanding results.

The Film Festival acted as a platform to showcase work that addresses all aspects of ageing - filmmakers from around the world submitted their films for consideration in the inaugural CINAGE for Active Ageing Festival and Competition. This special competition screening features short films which addressed one of the following criteria (i) aspects of ageing (ii) feature senior actors (iii) produced by senior production team. Twenty short films have been selected and were judged by an industry panel.

The festival took place on Friday 17 July from 8-11pm at the Hyde Park Cinema in Leeds, where CINAGE film Mid-August Lunch was shown as one of the project’s films which focus groups chose as best representing active ageing. Two years ago, focus groups, with project target audience’ representatives in each of the four participating countries, were invited to watch a broad range of European movies and to discuss their portrayal of age and ageing, and how senior people with real life problems are addressed through film.

On Saturday 18 July from 10am -1pm at the Leeds Everyman Cinema, all 12 short-films produced as part of the project were screened; from 2-5.30pm at the Carriage Works in Millennium Square, a selection of new international short films, which either address aspects of ageing, feature or were produced by seniors, were shown; and from 7.30-10.30pm at the Hyde Park Cinema, there was a screening of the hit short documentary 'Fabulous Fashionistas', with a Q&A with two of the stars and director, followed by the 2015 film, 'Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel', starring Judi Dench, Maggie Smith and Bill Nighy.

The CINAGE Conference and Film Festival for Active Ageing celebrated the richness of later life and it is expected this to be a first event of many others that will follow annually.