A story exploring the self-discovery of fear and paranoia captured the imagination of judges to take out the top accolade of ‘Best Film’ at the 2011 Youthtown New Zealand Short Film Challenge.

New Zealand’s rising film talent gathered together for a red carpet ‘Oscar style’ premiere event at the Academy cinema in Auckland to watch the short films. It was a night for stars with entries judged by South Seas’ On Screen Acting Course Director, Johnny Givens, and Head of Design, Allie Simpson.

Shadow took out Best Film, while Tom Mannion took away Best Director with his film Phasma Phasmatis, the same film that won Benji Angrinon the accolade of Best Actor.

Shadow picked up four of the 10 awards with Best Film, Best use of Prop, Best Script and Best Cinematography.  Phasma Phasmatis took away a further four awards including Best Director, Best Film Runner-up, Best Actor and Best Editing. A third film, Teenage Zombie Hunters, took out Best use of Genre and Best use of Line.

There were 10 awards from best film and director to best cinematography and $2,000 worth of Harvey Norman vouchers up for grabs. This year’s films were required to include the line “You won’t believe what happened next...” and feature a pair of oversized sunglasses as a prop.

In its eighth year, the Youthtown Short Film Challenge is an annual event that gives budding film makers, actors and actresses, between 13 and 18 years of age, the chance to showcase their talents.

Check out the winning films on our Vimeo site.

Youthtown Oamaru opened with a bang late last month with a dance workshop and concert from Kiwi R 'n B phenomenon J Williams. Oamaru definitely knows that Youthtown is here!

Term three after-school programmes are up and running with good participation numbers:

• We have two Lucky 7 air brushing art classes running due to the high demand
• Your Unique Self Makeup hair and wardrobe programme is at capacity, with 14 participants
• Cakes & Bakes has exceeded its maximum number of attendees and Sal’s Kitchen is full at six
• Holistic Life Skills has excited participants who will encourage more to join to learn about natural therapies and stress management
• The Nitro ten pin bowling programme is being adjusted to run over two days due to high demand, as well as the enrolment of last minute students. This programme has also been opened up to 10-12 year olds and is running alongside the current secondary school programme
• Super 6s cricket starts this Friday (Aug 20); currently four teams are registered. Our feedback is that it will gather more interest once all winter sports are finished, so it will potentially run next term

We’re making plans for four new programmes for term four: mountain biking, rock climbing, multi-sport rock climbing/mountain biking/slalom kayaking, skateboard programme, plus two Hip Hop dance classes.

The Youthtown Oamaru Squad is planning a day trip to a snow park in Tekapo and a dance event for September. Will keep you posted!

To register for programmes, email Oamaru@youthtown.org.nz, or call 03 434 6473. 

Regards Mike

New Upper Hutt branch manager Penny Jones is excited about the upcoming September School Holiday Programme, which features a range of activities for children of 5 & 6 years old, 7-9 and 10-13. Some highlights: 

• Laserforce
• Swimming
• A hip hop Three Little Pigs Show
• Trips to Te Papa
• Pirates Day
• Sumo Wrestling (suits provided)

Call or email Penny to secure spots: Ph: (04) 527 9730 • email: upperhutt@youthtown.org.nz

The Upper Hutt Squad are making sure older kids don’t miss out on the fun. Building on the success of the recent Feel the Bass paint party, with about 300 people attending, plans are afoot for a September Urban Unity rave. ‘Oomph’ is scheduled for September 17. Check our Youthtown website for more details: www.youthtown.org.nz

Clubs at the Youthtown After school care in Upper Hutt are teaching young people the joys of making jewellery and offering cooking lessons with a professional chef, along with swimming and visits to the library.

And there’s also Urban Unity’s The Grind on the last Wednesday of every month, when budding rock stars and singer-songwriters aged 13-18 lay down some tunes in the Ascot Cinema. The Chill happens on the first Wednesday of every month in nearby Maidstone Adventure Park, with young people enjoying table tennis, pool and other pursuits.    

Roll on Spring!

Youthtown Taupo, which runs activities for young people aged 13-18 years, has been operational for 14 months. Since opening in May 2009, 2259 young people have attended our programmes and events.

Term Programmes

The types of programmes we have run to date are: Katie’s Cakes and Bakes, Lou's Kitchen, Disrupt the floor Hip Hop, Indoor Recreation, Les Mills Fitness Blast, Short Film Challenge, My Tunes, Golf, Makeup artistry

In term 3 we have 14 programmes on offer:

Fly fishing with Andrew Christmas and DOC: learning to fly fish and the ecology and sustainability of the fishery

Zumbatonic: The latest fitness craze

Spin and Core with Bodyworx: Indoor spin bikes and core fitness

ROM with Bodyworx: Range of Movement low impact fitness and strength programme

Devised Theatre Workshop: Acting, improvising, devising performances, vocal and physical techniques

Mountain Biking: Bike maintenance, riding technique, technical riding. All local tracks and Redwoods in Rotorua

Master Chef: Learning to perfect a variety of dishes leading to a competition

Master Baker: Learning to bake a variety of recopies preparing for competition

My Tunes: create/compose music using the latest in iMac technology

Funk Art: Print making, stencils, Murals, Tie Dying, wearable art

Aqua Mayhem: a blend of aqua aerobics and fitness and water sports

Disrupt the floor: Hip Hop dance programme for performance

Careers programme: Targeting early school leavers going to six different organisations showing job types and opportunities – Fulton Hogan, Penny Homes, Higgins, Tenon, TME and Wairiki Institute of Technology

Holiday Programmes

We have run successful programmes in each holiday, except January when there was no demand. Activities include an Epic 3 day Adventure, a Whakaipo Camp, a 2-Day Epic Fest and the Shreddin snow programme up Whakapapa. Spots are available for upcoming Shreddin Sundays:  

As with term programmes, the holiday programmes are designed to enhance skills, have a physical element and deliver a positive social experience.

Dance Parties

Youthtown Taupo has held five successful dance parties to date:

Neon Rave; Black and White Rave, Bond Prom; Electric Rave and Dane Rumble Concert.

Dion Brown