Due to the COVID lockdown the closing date for the call for entries for Ireland’s Young Filmmaker of the Year 2021, Ireland’s festival celebrating the best in young filmmaking has been extended to Monday February 22, 2021.

Fresh Film is an advocate for young filmmakers and encourages young people to make films by hosting the annual Fresh International Film Festival and Ireland’s Young Filmmaker of the Year Awards. Fresh International Film Festival 2021 takes place from March 22 – 28, 2021 and is open to young people from 7-18 years of age.

This year Fresh celebrates its 25th year and it continues to celebrate the work of young filmmakers through Ireland’s Young Filmmaker of the Year and to win €1000 towards their next film. All submissions are also considered for a range of Specialist Awards including the Radharc Trust Award for documentaries, the Cartoon Saloon Animation Award, the RTÉ 60 Second Award and the RTÉ Factual Award, in addition to the International and Audience awards.

The Festival has Junior (7-12 years), Senior (12- 18 years) and International categories for individual, group and school projects. Young filmmakers can enter as independents, as part of their school or in a group. Films must be original and can be up to 15 minutes duration for Seniors or 10 minutes duration for Juniors.

Festival Director and Founder Jayne Foley said, “We are extending our closing date for entries to Monday, February 22 to give filmmakers more time to put together their films for this year’s Festival this means you'll have an extra month to put the finishing touches to your films or even start making one now! It’s incredible to be celebrating our 25th birthday this year and we are going to have a really exciting event at this year’s Festival looking back at the many young filmmakers that 'got their start' at Fresh.”

Closing date for entries is Monday, February 22, 2021.

The full festival programme will be available shortly and there will be free online workshops for schools and individuals. Further details about Ireland's Young Filmmaker of the Year and an online application form can be found at freshfilmfestival.com.