"The Bully", premiering at the BIFF Kids film festival on Saturday, stars young local actresses in a short film about a group of girls who build up the courage to confront the school bully. A second locally-produced short, The Race, four minutes in length, is about three boys who vie for the title of most competitive at camp and decide to settle it once and for all in a foot race.

Both shorts were produced at the BIFF Storytelling camp, led by instructor Kalilah Robinson and her assistant Coleman Amaral. The Storytelling Camp was one of seven camps held this summer over a period of eight weeks on the Somersfield Academy campus.

The ten youngsters attending the Storytelling Camp, ranging from eight to 13 years of age, split themselves into two groups. While the boys' film focuses on the competitive nature of young people, the girls, inspired by the venue, a school, decided to explore the theme of bullying, which is "sort of" a problem among young people, according to Sydney Blee. Nine-year-old Sydney, who played the role of Jasmin, one of the victims of the bully, explained that her character was the one who got bullied the most but who confronted the bully, played by Tamara Jackson, to defend her friend.

"I felt nervous because I had never seen myself in a movie,' she admitted, but noted with considerable satisfaction, "It's all your own ideas getting put into one play. We all had to decide what the story would be about. We told [the instructor] what we wanted our characters to be like."

Tamara, when asked how she felt about taking on the role of a bully, answered frankly, "It was a choice of being an extra or a bully. I wanted a speaking role. The director explained that if I was just an extra, when people saw the film, they'd wonder who I was." Initially she found it difficult to take on the role because she didn't want to shout. "It was scary nervous," she admitted, and she found it difficult to remember her lines during the confrontation scene, but she was able to act convincingly in the end.

Eight-year-old Tracy Jackson wasn't entirely sure she would enjoy the acting experience at all, and at the beginning was "kind of nervous because when I go to camps my Mum signs me up for I think there might be too much people" and unkind children. But she found she enjoyed acting in her roles as friend and extra.

At the end of the camp she felt "pretty good because I did the whole thing" and is now looking forward to seeing herself on the big screen. Her advice to would-be actresses? "It's OK to be scared. Don't be scared too much. It's only a movie. Nothing bad will happen to you."

Her comments were echoed by Ingrid Burke, who also played the role of victim. She expressed mixed emotions about the experience, "a bit nervous" because she had never been in a film before and "kind of glad because I could see myself act and I get to get a copy of the film."

Both films will screen at the BIFF Kids Film Festival at 4.15pm on Saturday October 18 in the Tradewinds Auditorium at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute. Tickets are available online at www.bdatix.bm or in person at Transact, Internet Lane, Reid Street or Picture Perfect, Heron Bay Plaza, Southampton and at the door.