THE seventh Wicked Wales International Youth Film Festival will take place at Rhyl Town Hall from October 20-23.

Wicked Wales is bringing short films made by young people from across the world to Rhyl, and all are welcome at any of the festival’s events, with entry free of charge.

An opening ceremony will also take place on Thursday, October 20, starting with an international reception at 6.30pm, while a closing ceremony will finish off proceedings at 7.45pm on October 23.

As well as the international films, the festival will include a world premiere of short documentary “Dylan”, a Wicked Wales Studios production by director Ffion Pritchard and producer Dion Wyn Hughes.

The festival will welcome special guest, ITV Cymru correspondent Carole Green, to present the work which has being going on in Nepal with the Brick Children’s School, followed by a UK premiere of the film “Across the Himalayas”.

Saturday will be “Young Film Takeover Day”, when young and emerging filmmakers will share their experiences of looking to enter into the creative industries.

Wicked Cinema will be back celebrating 25 years of Harry Potter with a screening of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, with a wand-making workshop for little witches.

It will be celebrating Wales with films “Dreamhorse”, “I Am Not a Witch”, and “Olga”, and will be welcoming international guests from Serbia, Sweden and Germany.

Rhiannon Hughes, festival director, said: “We want people to continue to be able to go to the cinema in these challenging times and in response to this, all of our festival screenings and activities will be free.

“There will be a warm wicked welcome for anyone who wants to pop in and watch films by themselves or with their families.”

Highlights at this year’s festival will include:

• “Dream Horse” (PG rated, 4.30pm on October 21) – a Welsh cleaner and bartender decides to breed and rear a racehorse. Her unlikely investment pays off as the horse competes in a national championship.

• “Olga” (15 rated, 6.30pm on October 21) – a Ukrainian gymnast exiled in Switzerland who is working to secure a place at the country’s National Sport Centre.

• “Brian and Charles” (PG rated, 2.45pm on October 22) – an endearing outlier Brian lives alone in a Welsh village, inventing ‘oddball’ contraptions that seldom work.

• “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” (PG rated, 2pm on October 23)

• “I Am Not a Witch” (12A rated, 6.15pm on October 23) – in a remote Zambian community, a girl is denounced as a witch.

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You can also follow the festival via its YouTube channel at: www.youtube.com/channel/UCj7hrTa3a2dTlPtx85cgx1g.

From 8am GMT on Saturday, October 22, more than 60 award-winning short films will be premiered on the YouTube channel, and available to watch for seven days.

All of the festival’s awards have been decided by an international jury of 38 young filmmakers from 10 countries.

And you will be able to meet some of them during the awards ceremony on Saturday, October 22 at 7pm.

The entire festival programme can also be found at: www.flipsnack.com/wyfnewszine/wicked-wales-international-youth-film-festival-brochure-2022.html.