Discovery Schools Programme 2017

16 August 2017

2017 sees us celebrate the 14th edition of Discovery Film Festival, which once again offers 16 days of the best new films for young audiences – hand-picked from across the world and brought back to film-goers across Tayside. We’ve looked for films to appeal to every age group (we think even those over the age of 18 will find much of interest here!) and once again there’s a broad range of content – dramas, short films, documentaries and animation – representing a total of 12 countries and in 13 different languages.

As always there are a lot of animals! Perhaps this is the year of the chameleon, with two very different, very colourful tales in our Shorts for Middle Ones collection – although there are also quite a few pigs, wolves, bears and one very large, hairy, green-eyed, pop-guzzling monster. True stories featuring wartime escapes sit alongside family dramas presented both by real actors and stop-motion puppets, and one documentary shows the variety of journeys young people make to schools across the world.

The action will take you to downtown Tel Aviv, the snowy slopes of southern France, a mysterious fantastical island and a secretive, cobwebbed room full of forgotten stories. Take a ride across Germany in a borrowed Lada, seek out the quietest place to have a nap and learn that using catnip as a cologne is perhaps not the best way to keep a low profile…

Once again we offer a complete age-range of easily downloadable CfE study resources to enhance the experience back in your classroom, plus assisted transport to and from your school. With the ongoing rise in travel costs, we have had to make some small changes to ticket prices this year, but we hope we have spread the increase fairly amongst bus-users and independent travellers.

As with previous festivals we have a mesmerising exhibition in DCA galleries, this year featuring the spectacular big-screen planetscapes of Kelly Richardson. With so much to do, it’s well worth making a day of your visit to DCA. With a variety of workshops and creative activities on offer, there are a wealth of experiences and opportunities for critical thinking to be had, all featuring CfE-related content and aiming to extend vocabulary.

We remain indebted to our partners, without whose support the festival just wouldn’t be the same. Our bus arrangements are made possible through our ongoing partnership with Fishers Tours, and we’re grateful for our special relationship with local teachers to bring you the top quality educational materials. We may say it every year, but it is absolutely true – we couldn’t do it without them.

In 2016 well over 5,000 people from 50 schools across the region attended one of our 45 schools screenings. So whether you are returning, or joining us for your first visit, we genuinely can’t wait to welcome you to Discovery 2017.

Mike Tait
Festival Producer and Cinema Youth Development Officer