A TWO-day film festival, held at Notting Hill & Ealing High School last week, included an Oscars-style gala evening.

On the first day, secondary school children got the opportunity to attend and learn about careers in the world of film production.

They also networked with film industry professionals, who ran 12 stalls, including a stunt workshop.

There was an inspiring talk from a star-studded guest panel, featuring casting director Lucy Bevan,

responsible for Barbie and Cruella, producer Victoria Fea, who produced TV shows Marchella and The Durrells, and design researcher Karen Krizanovich, who worked on The Avengers and Mission Impossible.

Headmaster Matthew Shoults said: “Women are still markedly under-represented in some of the most significant roles in the film industry, as directors, producers, screenwriters and cinematographers.”

The festival provides a direct way to encourage girls across the 25 schools in the Girls Day School Trust to be able to address this situation.

For the first time, neighbouring schools were also invited, in addition to the GDST network. More than 200 attended in total.

This year’s film competition opened in February with the theme ‘Flip the Script: a different perspective’.

A total of 38 short films were submitted, the highest number received for this bi-annual competition.

The festival culminated in a student-led gala evening in the main hall.

Overall winners for Years 7-9 were Wimbledon High and for Years 10-13 Newcastle High.