Since the beginning of the year children throughout the London Borough of Brent have been getting into movie mode, working alongside Preston Manor City Learning Centre (PMCLC). Over 850 pupils, ranging from 3 years up to 18 have been creating their own films and in less than 6 weeks their work will be shown on the big screen at the Tricycle Theatre, Kilburn: This is the Four Ells Film Festival.
The idea for the Festival was generated by an initial teacher training session ran by the team at Preston Manor City Learning Centre and the Brent School Improvement Service. Then following a further financial injection of over nine thousand pounds from The National Lottery Awards for All, The Four Ells Film Festival was born!
The lottery fund enabled Preston Manor City Learning Centre to purchase equipment required for portable filming and editing. It was time to invite the schools on board.
A total of 14 schools and educational groups jumped at the chance to be involved in such an innovative project.


1. Carlton Vale Nursery School
2. Carlton Vale Infants School
3. Wykeham Project
4. Hay Lane Special School
5. Kensal Rise Primary School
6. Kilburn Park Primary School
7. Kingsbury High School
8. Malorees Junior School
9. Mitchell Brook Primary School
10. Our Lady of Lourdes School
11. Preston Manor High School
12. St Mary's CE School
13. Oakington Manor School
14. Woodfield School

The children and teachers went through the filmmaking process, learning new exciting skills including Chroma-Key (blue screen filming), storyboarding and using Mac and PC software for editing.

In addition to the new experience of filming, the children took on the roles of actors, script editors, sound people, lighting engineers, directors and very helpful people, learning all about being in front of and behind the camera.

Along with the opportunity to try something new the teachers and facilitators at Preston Manor CLC worked hard at getting the students' imaginations going. PMCLC came up with four words to get Brent's young minds wondering; Living, Laughter, Life & Love (the Four Ells!!)

From 12th March to 15th March the Four Ells Film Festival will be on the big screen at The Tricycle. Separate screening times have been arranged to cater for all the pupils and guests. It will be a magnificent way to celebrate the hard work of Brent's educational community as well as being a fun learning experience for students. The film festival has brought people together and introduced an innovative way to learn.