MOSSEL BAY NEWS - A Mossel Bay girl is a finalist in a filmmaking competition which was organised for youth in the Garden Route area.

She stands the chance of winning thousands of rands.

Tarren Erasmus (17), born in Mossel Bay, completed her schooling at Kairos Secondary School in Heidelberg, where her mother, a police officer, was based.

Tarren returned to Mossel Bay at the end of last year, because her mother took up a job in Mossel Bay.

A competition was designed to give young video creators from the Garden Route a chance to showcase and develop their skills in video content creation and marketing while also providing them with the experience of travelling to Cape Town as well as a chance to win up to R30 000 in cash prizes.

The Young Video Creatives Student Challenge is an initiative of the Garden Route Film Commission (GRFC), the International Tourism Film Festival Africa (ITFFA), taking place in Cape Town from 2 to 5 May, Nikon South Africa and Value Film Fleet.

The objective was that the young people shoot Nikon/ITFFA-branded promos and showreels, showcasing a venue and its surroundings as a destination of choice.

Tarren and Grenville Jantjies, who is from Heidelberg, were the two selected from the entire Garden Route to compete in the competition and they joined other young creatives, learning key skills in video creation, marketing and film production, with their costs sponsored by the Garden Route Film Commission.

In the challenge, teams stay in Constantia and Bantry Bay and, in survivor style, they compete in a series of challenges.

The first challenge, which has already taken place, will see the winners, to be announced at the ITFFA awards ceremony on 5 May in Cape Town, walk off with a cash prize of R10 000.

The second challenge, which Tarren and Grenville qualified for, has a cash prize of R20 000. It is a further incentive to encourage the youth to try their best and challenge themselves with the new skills they have learnt. Tarren explains: "We had to do a short promo video for a hotel in the Cape.

"We had to motivate why we thought we should be part of the challenge. I received an email back, saying I had been accepted. I'm excited to be one of the finalists and I'm looking forward to the next challenge."

She says her favourite subjects at high school were history, life orientation and life sciences. She attended Mossel Bay EK Primary School. She would like to be involved in the film industry as a career, she says.

Chair of the Garden Route Film Commission, Patrick Walton, said: "Skills development in the film industry is vital to increase crew with specialised skills who will remain in the Garden Route and become the core team that services and attracts more local and international productions to the area."

Follow the second challenge by visiting www.gardenroutefilmcommission.com.

Grenville Jantjies (left) and Tarryn Erasmus (right) with James Byrne of the ITFFA.

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