2023-24 Young Filmmakers Competition winners, pictured with Geoff Thompson; Credit: BIFFL

On Wednesday 18 September 2024, the second edition of the Young Filmmakers Competition was launched at the British & Irish Film Festival Luxembourg 2024 Autumn Edition.

At the start of the festival's Shorts Evening, festival organiser Geoff Thompson addressed the audience, referencing the eleven entries that had been received in the inaugural 2023-24 competition and which was won by Noah Piff of the International School Differdange (EIDE) and Sylvain De Bel with their short drama "Close".

The winner's prize included flights to London and accommodation costs covered, and for them to create a 5-10 minute short documentary on their trip; this they did with "Being Human", a fascinating insight into the answers to big questions such as "What is Love?" by characters they met while there. Geoff Thompson commented: "The short film is really well done and has excellent cinematography in particular, with the editing resulting in a wonderful short film. The festival is really proud to have unearthed such young talent."

He confirmed that the festival has received specific funding from the Œuvre Nationale de Secours Grande-Duchesse Charlotte to help it widen its net and approach more schools to encourage secondary level pupils to enter the 2024-25 competition.

The outline of the competition he revealed was similar to the inaugural competition, in that its is open to secondary and tertiary students (aged under 25 years by 1 March 2025), the films should be 2-5 minutes in duration, the genre is open (drama, documentary,...), it does not necessarily have a British / Irish connection (but if the dialogue is in a language other than English, it must have EN subtitles).

He explained that the judging criteria have been simplified to storytelling (script / storyboard), artistic (acting) and technical (lighting, sound, etc.), with the submission deadline of 31 January 2025 (together with an info sheet). The winners will be announced at the Shorts Evening of the British & Irish Film Festival Luxembourg 2025 Spring Edition.

The evening continued with the screening of a number of short films, as follows:
- Catastrophic, a four-minute animated film by John Hegarty (in attendance)
- Waiting Day, a ten-minute drama by Grace Dyas
- The Wilde Sisters, an eleven-minute drama by Taine King (in attendance)
- Warts and All, a fifteen-minute drama by Pat Shortt
- The Golden West, a 24-minute drama by Tom Berkley and Ross White
- Being Human, a ten-minute documentary by Noah Piff and Sylvain De Bel (2023-24 competition winners)

Full details are available online at https://festivalevents.lu/.