Coram Shakespeare Schools Foundation celebrates school performances with online event

The Coram Shakespeare Schools Foundation (CSSF) is streaming the highlights of recorded performances from over 60 primary, secondary and special schools across the UK in its ‘Best of the Fest’ event tomorrow. 

The event will highlight some of the most creative and moving scenes from the CSSF’s project with education charity Into Film, where children produced their own high-quality abridged Shakespeare films. 

The film festival project ran from June 2021, with online sessions for teachers and students, providing young people with an opportunity to learn about Shakespeare, as well as technical skills such as lighting, directing, editing and design. 

The ‘Best of the Fest’ event will be hosted by CSSF patrons, presented by actors Hugh Dennis, Alfred Enoch and Jan Ravens.

Francesca Ellis, head of Creative and Programmes at CSSF, said: ‘Last year the closure of theatres forced us to rethink how schools would share their work and many chose to film their shows. 

‘Teachers told us about the new possibilities this opened up for them, such as the SEND school that involved every pupil across the school in the film, the secondary school where media studies students led the film shoot, the teenager who is a whizz with editing software and the primary student who gets to call the shots from the director’s chair. 

‘This develops skills in innovation, problem solving and collaboration, and when their film is screened to the school, as well as to a national audience via our website, the sense of pride and resulting confidence boost is enormous.’

Watch the ‘Best of The Fest’ at 7pm on 2 December at shakespeareschoolsfilmfestival.org