From Trawna Tuh Belvul, 1994, directed and animated by Martin Rose

From Kosovo: Fragile Peace, 2002, NFB, Moira Simpson, Director and Filmmaker

Filmmakers Martin Rose, Moira Simpson and Ceile Prowse have many years of experience teaching film. Rose is an award-winning animator and Assistant Professor of Animation Studies at Emily Carr University in Vancouver. Likewise, Prowse has taught at Emily Carr in the Animation Program since 2005 as well as given numerous workshops to school-age students. Moira Simpson, an accomplished documentary filmmaker, cinematographer and director has taught film workshops across Canada as well as at UBC, Emily Carr, and this past year, in SFU's Film Studies program.

From the Magical Life of Long Tack Sam, NFB, 2003, Ceile Prowse, Animator and Illustrator

Children's Film School students will learn the principles of animated motion using a variety of techniques including flipbooks, cut-out animation, claymation and pixilation. Adults and older teens can dabble in animation, documentary or digital storytelling, depending on their interests and passions. All will create their own short films and present their work to family, friends, and community on the final evening of the film program - July 23rd.

Don't miss out on this great summer arts experience! The cost is a reasonable $150 for children (9 am - 12:30 each day - Monday to Friday) or $175 for the adult program (1 - 4:30 daily from Monday the 18th to Friday the 22nd. ) All program costs are covered including a souvenir DVD with all the student films.

Register online at www.valhallafinearts.org, email vfs@valhallafinearts.org or call Terry Taylor, VFS Program Coodinator at 250-358-2849 for more details. Space is limited, so be sure to register by July 4th to ensure you have a spot in this year's popular film school program!

Moira Simpson's work as an award-winning freelance director, cinematographer and editor spans 30 years. The subjects of her documentaries range from strife in Kosovo, to youth and drug addiction, to the complexities of offering aid to Africa. Recently Mo was Director of Photography and location sound recordist on the National Film Board's feature length documentary, Finding Dawn, on the epidemic of missing and murdered Indigenous women across Canada.

Two years ago Mo gave a joint NFB-UN Habitat workshop in Nairobi, Kenya with young media activists from Slum TV, Hot Sun and The Ghetto Club, three grassroots video groups in Nairobi's vast slums that have become models of self-empowerment in a society besieged by political disillusionment.

In 2009, as a filmmaker-in-residence in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, Mo helped marginalized residents cross the digital divide as they began to tell their own stories using mobile phone video technology. This year Simpson has been teaching at Emily Carr University of Art and Design and has been creating short docs for the web.

Last year, Mo helped youth and elders in Telling the Story of the Nikkei, a community based project in collaboration with the Kyowakai Society and youth in New Denver, BC. She currently teaches filmmaking at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver.

Ceile Prowse

Ceile Prowse was born in Montreal, and grew up in England. She has a Masters from the National Centre for Computer Animation in Bournemouth, U.K. Ceile has worked commercially and independently in animation using traditional cell animation, stop-motion and 3D animation and more recently a mix of 3D and 2D computer animation using photographs. Her films employ a playful approach to issues like addiction, bereavement, Princess Diana and motherhood. Her work has been screened and broadcast internationally.

Ceile has been an instructor in Animation at Emily Carr University since 2006 and conducts workshops in animation at a variety of elementary schools throughout the Lower Mainland.





Martin Rose

Martin Rose teaches Animation at Emily Carr University and is a practicing independent animation filmmaker in Vancouver. In addition to his faculty responsibilities, Martin also recently worked as a producer at the National Film Board, Pacific & Yukon Centre. There, he coordinated several auteur animation projects, both in development and in production, including the "The Trembling Veil of Bones," an Irish-Canadian co-production, "How People Got Fire," and "Animate Everything" and "CMYK." Martin was instrumental in birthing the Valhalla Film School and returns as a favourite film instructor to the 2011 program. His 1994 award-winning film, "Trawna tuh Belvul", an animation set to Earle Birney's poem of the same name will be featured at the Valhalla Film Festival.