Narc. Magazine Online
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A young filmmaker captures his life in Newcastle
A young filmmaker has beautifully captured his teenage years and living in Newcastle’s West End.
17-year old Adam Opie, a filmmaker from Newcastle, captures friendship, frustration and the slog of the early morning trek to school in Every Day I Wake Up, one of three films made as part of Young Writers’ City (a project from New Writing North’s Cuckoo Young Writers and a programme, funded by Newcastle Culture Investment Fund) at Excelsior Academy.
After beginning his process as a filmmaker aged just 1o, Opie received his first commission to film a wedding when he was 14, and since then has continued his development at an impressive rate. Scripted by students at Excelsior Academy, lots of Newcastle’s well known landmarks are featured. A shoestring budget didn’t hold the young filmmakers back, and the help and tutelage of experienced writers Rowan McCabe, Fred Phethean and Bob Beagrie over the course of the academic year helped them explore the ways they could write about identity. Every Day I Wake Up followed all of this, and is a perfect snapshot of a young life in the city, as well as a big marker for a young filmmaker taking his first assured steps as a movie maker.
