ACMI's Screen It 2012 registrations open

The Australian Centre for the Moving Image has thrown open its doors to registrations for Screen It 2012.

The call has been put out for game-makers and filmmakers of school age from all corners of Australia to register for the Australian Centre of Moving Image (ACMI)’s annual competition. Applicants can submit their registration online and free of charge.

Those interested must be from primary and secondary education, entering through their school or independently, with entry forms free to consist of films, computer games or animations - the only condition is that all entries must be related to the theme of the Screen It 2012 competition. Christine Evely, ACMI’s Screen Education Manager, looks to the competition as an incentive for young students to develop themselves further in creativity and maturity.

“ACMI continues to encourage and support a new generation of young game and filmmakers who are caring and respectful citizens through Screen It. Once again, the theme connects with topics being investigated by Australian students, assisting them in understanding and critiquing things they experience or issues reported by mainstream media,” she said.

ACMI is an exceptional hub of screen media located in Federation Square, Melbourne, that first began as a collection-based institution named the State Film Centre in 1946. Since then, it has evolved to become ACMI, a major attraction that fills the year with events, workshops, exhibitions and education programs all related to ‘moving images’, open to local and visitors of all ages and cultures.

The theme for this year’s competition is ‘Belonging’, in the sense of community kinship – from family to sport teams, in patriotism and online identities, including the lack of it and how it affects individuals and groups.

“By encouraging students to understand ideas of belonging and inclusiveness, we are equipping a generation of young Australians for thoughtful, caring and confident futures,” said Christine Evely.

ACMI’s team of educators provide an Education Resources package and online education tools to assist the teachers of the student entrants. Screen It 2011 was a huge success, with 499 entries submitted by over 1456 students from across the country, marking the previous year as the biggest in the history of the competition.

The entries will be judged by a panel of experts of the screen industry, the handpicked winners announced at an awards ceremony in December, with prizes aplenty along with the winners’ schools receiving brand-new projectors to enrich their teaching curriculum. Not only that, the winning submissions will become part of the ACMI’s library of the Australian Mediatheque, an on-demand national screen resource centre, and website.

Registration and entries for the Screen It Competition close on Friday the 14th of September. For further information, students and teachers can visit http://www.acmi.net.au/screenit