College enjoys a close encounter with Greta Scacchi
12/03/2010
Actress Greta Scacchi visits the Haywards Heath campus
Enigmatic actress Greta Scacchi called in to College this week, after she was invited to host a question and answer session on her career to a group of performing arts and media students. Having spent much of her childhood living in the area, the former student of Haywards Heath Grammar School, which is now the College's Sixth Form Haywards Heath campus, brought a touch of Hollywood magic to the occasion as she visited on Wednesday, March 3rd.
Scacchi, whose numerous credits include 'Heat and Dust', 'White Mischief', 'The Player' and 'Presumed Innocent', spoke about her distinguished film career and answered questions, focusing mainly on her role in Robert Altman's cult movie 'The Player', from which she showed clips. Speaking about her experiences of starting out in the industry, she was able to advise students who are thinking of a career in film or theatre on some important issues such as choosing the right drama school, the mine-field of the audition process and the importance of identifying their own individual strengths to work out their place in the industry.
Open to sixteen to eighteen year-old students from the Crawley and Haywards Heath campuses, as well as staff members from across the College, the event was arranged as part of the FILMCLUB Close Encounters programme, which enables young people to interact with members of the film community. The organisation was founded in 2008 by film director Beeban Kidron (Bridget Jones' Diary: The Edge Of Reason) and educationalist Lindsay Mackie, FILMCLUB offers pupils and teachers the chance to explore a range of classic and contemporary film titles, through weekly screenings, online reviewing and industry events. Free to state schools and easy to set up, FILMCLUB is fast becoming one of the most popular after-school activities in the country, with over 3,080 schools having joined nationwide since its launch.
Chris Beer, Course Leader in Media at the Crawley campus, who also runs FILMCLUB for Crawley-based students, said "We joined FILMCLUB just over a year ago. The youngsters love the website and often write reviews for it. We don't stick to mainstream titles and through FILMCLUB have watched some quite challenging and quirky films which they wouldn't normally have access to." Andrew Hampson, who teaches Film Studies at the College's Haywards Heath campus, and co-ordinates FILMCLUB activities for the site agreed, saying "I think FILMCLUB is great - a good excuse to get students talking and enjoying film from every genre and era. Film is a universal language we can all understand. This is a great way to engage a group of teenagers."
