Help make young filmmaking students’ dreams come true by donating to this not-for-profit project! Project Paradiso is an all-or-nothing fundraising campaign to make an industry-quality short film in Sicily, which students can use to kick-start their careers.

Project Paradiso is a prestige project from Young Film Academy (YFA), offering a select group of YFA’s most promising students aged 16-20 the chance to create a stunning short film in a cinematic location in Sicily, Italy.

Project Paradiso is being supported by Registered UK Charity Prospero World. Project Paradiso is an ambitious collaborative project that aims to unite educational training with a real-world film industry opportunity – offering participants the experience of a lifetime. 

Supporting Project Paradiso is an opportunity to support the next generation of filmmaking talent!

Using cinema-quality filmmaking equipment, the intention is for Project Paradiso’s completed film to premiere at an international film festival, and screen on the festival circuit with all the creator’s names on it – the ultimate-calling card for the aspiring cast and crew.

Young Film Academy (YFA) is the UKʼs leading provider of filmmaking courses, schools film making programmes, community filmmaking projects and film making outreach events to young people aged 6-19.

Based in London, YFA work nationwide to help over 15,000 young people each year complete their first digital films, from West End-premiered movies to curriculum-linked film projects in schools.

For Project Paradiso 2023/24, YFA has selected 24 students (aged 16-20) to join specific departments. Guided by YFA staff, talented writing students will craft a compelling story for the actors and filmmakers to bring to life.

In February 2024, the filmmaking and acting students will join YFA staff in Sicily to shoot the film, against the majestic backdrop of Mount Etna.

After shooting is wrapped, the film will be edited and post-produced to the highest industry standards.

A cast and crew screening will be held in London, in summer 2024.

The film created by the last year’s Project Paradiso students (2022/23), ‘Lemons’, is currently playing at festivals internationally. The Italian premiere took place at the Ortigia Film Festival in July 2023 and to date the film has played at the following festivals:

We are fund-raising to repeat Project Paradiso in 2023/24 and offer this amazing opportunity to a new selection of students. This is how it will work:

YFA invite selected students to join specific departments for the project, and the overall project team is confirmed. Project fundraising launches and each participant is responsible for raising a proportion of the budget. If the team reaches the fundraising target, the project is green-lit!

The Writer’s Room: students in the screenwriting department collaborate on the movie’s story and script. Taking place over Zoom, writers work together with YFA staff to create a story for the actors and filmmakers to bring to life.

Taking place over February half-term (10th-18th February 2024), a group of actors and filmmakers join YFA staff in Sicily to shoot the film the writers have dreamed up. In the shadow of Mount Etna, actors work with a coach on their performances, while filmmakers are split amongst a variety of departments, from directing, crew (camera, lights, sound), producing and production design – working alongside YFA filmmakers and learning on the go.

The in-house Young Film Academy team post-produce the film to the highest industry standards.

Students in the producing team will work alongside Young Film Academy to get the film to its international premiere and onto the festival circuit! The aim is for the movie to open doors for participants and provide the highest quality showreel and showcase material.

Participating in Project Paradiso involves working closely with industry professionals on-set and developing skills to produce the highest production values. The production crew will stay for a week on a beautiful farm with sea views at the base of Mount Etna in Sicily, and shoot the movie on location in the surrounding area.

But we need your help to make it happen. Please support our participants to raise the funding needed in order for them to participate.

“Project Paradiso was a life changing experience for me. Being able to work on such a unique programme with likeminded, talented and creative individuals is an opportunity unlike any other. Being selected for this project was a really empowering feeling, as if validating my love and enjoyment of making films. Project Paradiso was a taste of the industry. Now I feel prepared to enter it in full force, and, particularly working as a 1st AD, with the management skills and confidence required for such a role.“

– Project Paradiso 2023 student