Media and Film School presented master class series for schoolchildren at Qazaqhfilm in November 2022

During the autumn holidays for three days following the grant project “Art Factor” students of the Almaty gymnasium #25 joint the world of cinema arts and creative industries.

From November 3 to 5 AlmaU Media and Film School in partnership with Qazaqfilm studio named after. Shaken Aimanov designed a unique educational program among schoolchildren of 7-9 grades. Program participants spent part of their holidays learning about how the film, media and entertainment industries work.

On the first day of activities the schoolchildren visited AlamU and discussed topics on digital technologies and their empirical particularities for film and media professionals. In Qaynar Bulaq coworking space at AlmaU Dana Shayakhmet, Director of the Center for Creative Industries, held a discussions with on the topic of creativity in entrepreneurship.

Following two days of the Program, the students spent at the country main film studio. Qazaqfilm representatives presented a tour, demonstrating the pavilions where films are made, the spaces of the studio, where film is processed and sound is recorded. “I knew about the existence of Qazaqfilm, but the fact that this is a huge territory with large-scale buildings and pavilions was new for me,” ninth-grader Maria Lotash shared her mind and impressions on the program, she dreams to be an actress since she was five.

The program participants had opportunities to apply practical skills during master classes in animation, acting and make-up. The practical sessions expired the students: “We were shown how to apply makeup, the whole process from drawing lines and applying glue to full-fledged blackouts, indentations and drawing every small detail,” said seventh-grader student Dmitry Kulibaba.

According to the pupils, taking part in the project and learning new things will make watching films more exciting because now they know the long and hard work behind each film produced.

At the end, in order to use make-up, apply their newly acquired skills and try on film studio costumes, the project participants staged and filmed a short skit under the direction of director Abylaykhan Aitzhanov.

This educational programme was developed by the School of Media and Film thanks to a grant from Art Factor. The main aim of this initiative is to enable young participants to see the connection between science, technology and art through real-life examples.