Adam nominated for Young Filmmaker award and Animation award

“ADAM has had an interest in animation for several years.” explain Linda Kerr, JCSP Librarian, and Vaughan Byrne, media studies teacher at Killinarden Community School (KCS).

6th Year KCS student Adam Mooney has been nominated for Ireland’s Young Filmmaker of the Year and the Animation Ireland Award.

He uses an app to create frame-by-frame animations on his phone. He does not use a stylus, only his finger to draw each frame.

Adam is hoping to pursue animation as a career, and this is his first step along the way.

‘Running Late’ is a film about Jacko trying to make it to school on time. His teacher has told him he will get detention if he is late again, but Jacko runs into trouble along the way in this colourful and engaging animation.

KCS previously had a student make a film a few years ago that was entered into the Fresh Film Festival.

Their whole class went to see its screening, as it was their first school trip since Covid; “it was a big deal.”

Students then started coming to the library saying they wanted to make a film too.

Linda and Vaughan explain “that’s when we applied for a Google Community Grant to turn an unused room in the library into a studio.”

That is how Backroom Studios was born. KCS now has a film club that has made movies for the Fresh Film Festival and won awards at the JCSP Academy Film Awards (JAFAs) in the Lighthouse Cinema.

School management has continually supported KCS’s filmmaking efforts. Recently retired principal Ms Adrienne Whelan was a “huge champion” of Backroom Studios, and new principal Ms Gillian White has continued that support.

This has fostered a culture of visual storytelling within the school. Adam has spent many hours in Backroom Studios working on ‘Running Late’ with the support of the whole school.

Adam’s family has always supported his love of drawing and animation. He “couldn’t have done any of it without them”, according to Linda and Vaughan. Adam is also mentoring young animators within the school; that has led to his character Jacko meeting another student’s character in a collaborative work on YouTube.

The school as a whole is “thrilled” that Adam is up for Ireland’s Young Filmmaker of the Year.

They are “stunned” at the level of professionalism displayed in ‘Running Late’, and Linda and Vaughan conclude that “we as a school community are all behind him”.