Now in its 8th year, Ffresh – the Student Moving Image Festival of Wales – features the best student work from Wales, the UK, and abroad, along with masterclasses, panel sessions and workshops with some of the industry’s most renowned and respected figures. Previous guests have included directors Stephen Frears (The Queen) and Gaston Kaboré (Zan Boko), screenwriters Andrew Davies (Bleak House) and Tim Firth (Calender Girls), producers Stephen Garrett (Spooks) and Sally Hibbin (Land and Freedom), the highly acclaimed visual artists Lichtfaktor, Oscar winning editor Jim Clark (The Killing Fields), and cult animator Phil Mulloy (The Ten Commandments), amongst many others.

The purpose of the festival is to celebrate the best work being created by the up-and-coming moving image talent from around the world, and to provide a vital link between higher education and the media sector. The festival annually takes place in February (11th & 12th 2009) at the Aberystwyth Arts Centre and has a number of international partner festivals who annually select work to feature as part of the festival programme.

The festival programme also includes all the shortlisted work for the prestigious Ffresh Awards, which consists of 12 categories of excellence, which students from around Wales and the UK can submit their work into. The winners are announced during the Ffresh Awards Show on the final night of the festival.The festival is also annually attended by organisations such as BBC Wales, S4C, Skillset, Cyfle, British Council, Bafta and the Royal Television Society as well as representatives from the independent sector.

Along with Ffresh there is also Ffresh + which is aimed at further education students providing them with unique access to high profile industry figures, information on moving image courses throughout Wales, and the opportunity to showcase and celebrate their work.

The festival programme will be announced on the festival website in early January. To find out how you can attend click here. To watch sessions and interviews from past festivals click here. If you want to find out who were the winners from the 2009 Ffresh Awards click here.

"A thriving festival. We were amazed by the volume and general ability on display"

Editor Jim Clark (Vera Drake, The World is not enough, The Mission.)