Emerging Limerick Filmmakers undertake their biggest project to date

EMPOWERING young people to find their creative voices is something that's important to Pete Moles, a local film producer and festival programmer. He's been working with young artists in Limerick for 15 years.

But now, he heads the youth film academy Emerging Limerick Filmmakers. ELF was set up in early 2020 with the aim of fostering the growth and independence of young artists.

Over the past three years, ELF has proven that when given the space and credibility to do so, young people can create exceptional film.

The group has produced multiple award winning short films that have seen success in several international film festivals.

With their short film Killer Krush, directed by 16-year-old Izzy Dalton winning best group at the Fresh International Film Festival in April 2023.

Amidst the success, ELF is grappling with an issue that faces many artists in Limerick, a lack of funding and arts spaces to operate from. “What I want is a real solution: a dedicated youth arts space. The infrastructure doesn't exist,” explains Pete Moles.

His goal is to have a permanent place for ELF to call a home.

“Office with a fish tank is my mantra, once we have the resources to maintain a fish tank I'll have achieved what I wanted,” the producer joked.

ELF has no core finance, it receives grants and funding on a project by project basis, meaning every term is a new battle to keep the ship afloat.

“It's not an insignificant thing. these kids are performing extremely highly in a competitive space, which to me deserves more recognition and support.”

While fighting the battle for space and funding, Emerging Limerick Filmmaker's biggest project to date is currently in development.

Scenario X is the development of two funded short films that have received funding from a number of Irish sources - from the Arts Council through the Youth Ensemble scheme, with additional funding from Screen Ireland, the Local Arts Office, and the National Youth Film and Animation Network.

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The two shorts, Mob the Trench and Rat King written by Eoin Harrison and Nina Devine will premiere at this year's Dublin film festival.

Pete was proud to add “This is the biggest film project done with young people in Ireland. One of our DP's is 15, which is one of my favourite things about the whole project.”

To prepare the elves as they've come to be known as, the members received personal mentoring from Colm Bairéad, director of the Oscar nominated Irish film An Cailín Ciúin. Bairéad worked closely with directors Niamh Collins and Róisín Leavy-Sahin.

“He treated them as young filmmakers, which brought such a sense of credibility. Credibility they deserve, at the heart of this, the scripts they've written for the project are exceptional,” outlined Pete.

Oscar nominated director Vincent Lambe was also brought in to mentor the young creatives, who was impressed with the scripts presented.

“It's funny, some people get really surprised with what they're capable of,” said Peter.

Speaking on the scale of the project, he added: “I like to see how far you can push things, that includes our members. Young people are resilient, and when you're making a project that doesn't offer a challenge it's harder to take it seriously.”

Pete understands the importance of keeping young people engaged with the projects and allowing them to make the creative decisions.

“Meaningful projects are the way to do it, there's a great sense of ownership there.”

Investing in it's young members is a primary goal for ELF, operating on the belief that when given freedom and credibility, young people are easily empowered to be creative leaders.

“I'm not interested in watching films made by young people who don't care about what they're doing.” said Pete, confident that the young creatives in Emerging Limerick Filmmakers are making movies for the right reasons.