YOUNG people in Somerset are being given the chance to take part in a memorable and educational cinematic experience next month as part of the Into Film Festival, the world’s biggest youth film festival.

The festival, hosted by education charity Into Film and supported by Cinema First and the BFI through Lottery funding, is a major cultural and educational event taking place across the UK for free as part of an ongoing initiative to use the medium of film and filmmaking as a learning tool.

About 300,000 young people, aged from five to 19, will be attending the festival to watch, make and learn about film.

The festival will feature new and classic films, workshops, Q&A sessions with industry professionals supported by a range of educational resources to promote discussion and debate around the films.

Into Film has been supported by wellknown actors including Michael Sheen; star of The Queen, Frost/Nixon and the Twilight saga.

Mr Sheen said: “When you're watching a film it feels like you're being entertained but at the same time it's a window to the world of other cultures, other possibilities.

“The Into Film Festival is a great thing for young people to go to as they can sit in a cinema watching a whole range of films, films that they usually wouldn't have access to or wouldn't choose for themselves, and connect with the film industry through special events, and of course it's all free.

So that makes the Into Film Festival totally unique.”

Bookings are now open for this year’s Into Film Festival, taking place between November 4 and November 21.

For information on workshops, events and venues visit www.intofilm.org/festival