Mention films for young people and you automatically think of Herbie Goes to Montecarlo and Disney cartoons. Cinemagic, the Northern Ireland International Film Festival for Young People, has been challenging that perception since it was founded as a project of the Northern Ireland Film Council in 1989.
Cinemagic's aim, says the festival's director Shona McCarthy, is to present films - foreign language features, live action films and animation - from all over the world for young people in Northern Ireland that they wouldn't normally see. This year there is work from Scotland, Hungary, Canada, Iceland, Sweden, Belgium, France and Germany on the programme.
One of the highlights this year is Kelsey Grammer (Frasier) in the British-made The Real Howard Spitz, about the pulp fiction writer.
Both Hollywood and Iceland are on the festival programme: "We open the festival with a big Disney premiere (this year it is the blockbuster, Mulan) and finish with a big Warner premiere (Loony Tunes). We hook young people with the things that they're used to seeing and then get them interested in the rest of the programme and the alternatives of other cultures, stories and mythologies," says McCarthy.
The total audience at the festival averages 15,000 over the 10 days of the festival, which this year runs from December 3rd to 13th. . The festival is moving out of Belfast and into rural areas to reach more young people; there is a five-day event in Derry (November 23rd-28th) and a series of Minimagics in Newtownabbey, Co Down (November 16th-17th), Ards, Co Down (November 19th-20th), Coleraine, Co Derry (November 23rd-25th) and Armagh (November 26th-28th).
Lights, camera and plenty of action. Info: 08 01232 311900.