School on the screen

By Nicole Williams
SCHOOL children in Dandenong are making an impact on international movie screens.
VicHealth’s Arts About Us Face to Face project asked children from St Joseph’s, Heatherhill and Spring Park primary schools to create comic artworks about their lives.
The art pieces led to interviews which feature artist Sarah Catherine Firth where the students shared their thoughts on culture, belonging, identity, friendship, race-based discrimination and bullying.
The interviews were turned into an animated film, which will now be shown at film festivals in Spain, London and Miami.
The film has been picked up by the film festivals because of its cultural diversity message.
VicHealth CEO Jerril Rechter said the animated film was a great achievement.
“The Arts About Us program is using the arts as a platform to celebrate cultural diversity and generate a dialogue about the harmful effects of race-based discrimination,” Ms Rechter said.
“The fact that the Face to Face animated film has caught international interest shows that issues of cultural identity and the effects of race-based discrimination resonate globally.”
In Australia it will be screened for families in Bondi in April next year.
It will also screen at the 7th Renderyard Short Film Festival in Spain this month, at the Rushes SOHO Shorts in London in July next year and will be part of the Art Takes Miami Competition.