ASPIRING filmmakers in Oxford are being given the chance to try their hand at filmmaking, animation and special effects this summer.

The Summerscreen 2010 film festival, organised by Film Oxford, features nine days of workshops, screenings and tours from July 24 to August 1.

Next week, Film Oxford will hold tutorials for young volunteers so they can teach their peers during the film festival.

Film Oxford development officer Gary Shenton said: “The real core of this festival is that it’s young person-led.”

The bulk of the festival will be filmmaking workshops for young people.

The one day sessions cover subjects including animation, special effects and editing.

Mr Shenton said the workshops would be accessible to all young people.

He said: “What we wanted to do this year was to make the festival inclusive, so that young carers, refugees, disabled people and people from low-income backgrounds can join in.

“This festival is about offering an opportunity.

“I would encourage people to get involved, because you never know what you might learn.”

To encourage this, many of the workshops are free, he added.

Mr Shenton said: “The festival’s tagline is ‘film, fun and fantasy’.

“The young people will learn new skills and engage with film, but in a fun atmosphere.”

Student Amy Bellamy, 21, who is helping to organise the film festival, said: “We are running it to raise the ambitions of young people who aren’t in employment. I wish I had it when I was younger.”

To kick off the festival on July 24 there will be an outdoor screening of Fantastic Mr Fox in Hinksey Park.

The free screening begins at dusk – roughly 9.15pm.

The festival will also feature several tours around Oxford. One highlight is a Harry Potter tour.

The half-hour tour is free and will take the young film fans around New College, the set of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

During the festival, a live magazine programme, Studio Live 305, will be screened daily.

This will be a chance for the young people to get a taste of live TV, and learn how to be presenters, camera operators and vision mixers.

Three weeks of training for this event starts on Monday next week.

The festival finishes on Sunday, August 1, with Best of the Fest, a screening of all the young people’s creations at the Phoenix cinema, Jericho.

Awards for the best films of the festival will then be presented in several categories, including Best Film and Best Animation and Best Documentary.

Mr Shenton said: “The Best of the Fest is a great celebration of a long, hard 10 days.”

For more information, visit ofvm.org/summerscreen