Filmmakers are a class act

IT is not quite the Oscars, but a group of teenagers at an Edinburgh school are celebrating being in the running to scoop a major film award.

Pupils from James Gillespie's High School have been shortlisted across three categories in this year's FilmG competition for two short Gaelic films that they produced.

Cairdeas, which sees a soldier returning home from war and struggling to adjust to normal life, has been nominated for best film, best production, and has also been shortlisted in the FilmG theme category.

The pupils' second film, ran Anam - Gaelic for Song of his Soul - is about the loss of a friend and one man's struggle with his grief.

It has also been shortlisted in both the best film and FilmG theme award categories.

FilmG is MG Alba's Gaelic online media shorts competition, which recently announced its shortlist of films for this year's awards.

Fifth-year pupils Robbie MacLeod and Anna Green were the main characters in ran Anam, which was filmed using a school camera at Cramond Beach and Morningside.

Fellow fifth-year pupil Mairi Macpherson, 16, who lives in Liberton, directed the film.

She said: "I came up with the idea and then we all did little bits of it, editing and filming - that was the fun of it.

"I was pretty surprised when I found out the film had been nominated but we are really proud of it."

Mairi's sister Laura, a third-year pupil at the school, also helped to produce the film.

Around ten third, fourth and fifth-year pupils helped to produce the film, with fourth-years Keir Greatorex and Ruairidh Osborne heavily involved in the making of Cairdeas.

Alex Wallace, headteacher at the school, which offers Gaelic lessons, said: "We have been very successful in FilmG before and I think it's tremendous that the films have been shortlisted.

"Gaelic is a really important part of our school and it emphasises the whole idea of the diversity that we are proud of."

Meanwhile, local film director Fraser Croall is also in the running to win an award.

Mr Croall, a freelance graphic designer from Craigleith, was nominated in the Best Director (industry) category for his animated film Na Reubalaich.

The 28-year-old said: "It's very exciting. It was a project between me and my friend Gary Dewar. My girlfriend, Elizabeth-Anne Pyper, helped with the translation into Gaelic, so it was a bit of a team effort."

The film is set far in the future, where four heroes are on the journey of a lifetime, and on the run for their lives.

A record total of 71 entries were received across all categories in the competition, giving the judging panel a hard job.

All of this year's entries are available to view on the FilmG website at www.filmg.co.uk, where people can also vote for their favourite short film to win the People's Choice Award.

Chief executive of MG Alba, Donald Campbell, said: "We are delighted with the level of creative talent emerging through our FilmG competition and we are encouraging as many people as possible to get behind the shortlisted finalists by voting for their favourite."