An adaptation of the fairy tale about a monstrous-looking prince and a young woman who fall in love.  Disney’s animated classic takes on a new form, with a widened mythology and an all-star cast. A young prince, imprisoned in the form of a beast, can be freed only by true love. What may be his only opportunity arrives when he meets Belle, the only human girl to ever visit the castle since it was enchanted.

Come and join ArtWorks for a magical night watching Disneys Beauty and the Beast in the Penyrenglyn Project.  Tuesday 17th October at 5pm.  Optional fancy dress or pjyamas.

To book tickets call ArtWorks on 01443 30 30 32 or emma@ValleysKids.org

After inadvertently wreaking havoc on the elf community due to his ungainly size, a man raised as an elf at the North Pole is sent to the U.S. in search of his true identity.

Buddy was a baby in an orphanage who stowed away in Santa’s sack and ended up at the North Pole. Later, as an adult human who happened to be raised by elves, Santa allows him to go to New York City to find his birth father, Walter Hobbs. Hobbs, on Santa’s naughty list for being a heartless jerk, had no idea that Buddy was even born. Buddy, meanwhile, experiences the delights of New York City (and human culture) as only an elf can. When Walter’s relationship with Buddy interferes with his job, he is forced to reevaluate his priorities.

Tuesday 5th December 5pm – Soar Centre, Penygraig, CF40 1JZ

For tickets please call ArtWorks on 01443 303032 – emma@ValleysKids.org

We would love to celebrate this landmark event with our wonderful Rhydyfelin community.  Please come and join us for an afternoon of reminiscing and memory making.  This is your celebration so please come and meet old friends and have afternoon tea with us in the Ilan Centre, Poets Close, Rhydyfelin.

Valleys Kids is welcoming National Youth Theatre of Wales (NYTW) to work with young people (14+ years) at its home at SOAR in Penygraig over two days this summer!  You’ll be introduced to physical theatre and theatre-making, using skills and techniques developed by international physical theatre company, Frantic Assembly.

Jess Williams will lead the workshops, which will be energetic, dynamic and FUN. Jess recently performed in the UK and USA tours of Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night time, and she worked on the National Youth Theatre of Wales production, dead born grow.  Jain Boon works regularly with NYTW. She’ll guide you through story-telling and theatre-making using the physical skills taught by Jess. Whether you’ve applied to join NYTW in the past or you’re thinking of applying in the future, Jain will give you a taste of what we’re about and what you could expect of future
courses and residencies with NYTW!
Whether you’ve done a lot of drama, theatre or performance – or just a little and you’re keen to do more! – these workshops are a great opportunity to expand your skills, and get involved with NYTW!

Jess and Jain are looking forward to meeting and working with you.
Who: young people (14+ years)
When: 24 and 25 August 2017 (4pm – 8pm)
Where: SOAR, Penygraig, RCT
Cost: FREE

Places are limited and must be booked in advance with Valleys Kids Gemma@valleyskids.org 01443303032

Further details will be sent once you have booked your place.

ArtWorks are proud to be working with our partners NYAW, Avant Cymru and Afon Dance.  Look forward to seeing you there

Thursday 21st September 6.30pm – Soar Centre, Penygraig, CF40 1JZ

In a classroom newly arrived refugees learn about multifarious Europe. Operating at the intersection of fiction and documentary, Stranger in Paradise reflects on the power relations between Europeans and migrants in a candid fashion.

In a classroom in Sicily, just inside the walls of Fortress Europe, recently arrived refugees receive lessons from a teacher (Valentijn Dhaenens) who has some rather unbalanced traits. One moment he mercilessly rejects the refugees – the next, mollifyingly, he embraces them. Operating at the intersection of documentary and fiction, Stranger in Paradise investigates the power relations between Europe and refugees. Europe is represented by a teacher who drags his class of refugees down into his despair. A plea that borders on the immoral; a welcome charged with a guilt complex; and the compromise between these, made policy: Stranger in Paradise is an unflinching film essay on the mechanisms through which Europe tackles the refugees’ desire for happiness.

From the Director
“I tried to look down on the Earth from above. Contemplatively, and far removed from moral judgements. It started in May 2013, with a visit to the Italian island of Lampedusa. There, I met some of the migrants who have landed up there, their hopeful dreams for the future seeming to clash with a Europe that has little to offer them. I was struck by the power relations: how those with happiness treat the desire for happiness in others.

The contours for this film that formed them have changed little since. I wanted to make the power relationship I observed from a distance (and then later, during the research phase, up close) not so much visible, as feelable.”
Guido Hendrikx, Amsterdam, November 2016

Crossings: Stories of Migration is an ICA-led UK-wide film and events programme supported by the BFI using National Lottery funding and in partnership with the Goethe-Institute and the School of Film & Television, Falmouth University.

For all the films available please visit Crossings2017.co.uk

Watch the trailer

Friday 4th August – Soar Centre 6.30pm

Crossings: Stories of Migration is an ICA-led UK-wide film and events programme supported by the BFI using National Lottery funding and in partnership with the Goethe-Institute and the School of Film & Television, Falmouth University.

We live in an age of migration. Driven by political and military conflicts, the pressures and possibilities of increasingly globalised economies, climate change and the desire for a better life, more people than ever now move and live across borders. These are diverse trajectories; each journey has its own story and each story its own journey, traversing different landscapes and carrying with it its own past.

Through a programme of screenings and events, Crossings: Stories of Migration explores the stories of modern-day migration and reflects on cinema’s potential to interrogate the damaging ways in which it is often framed. Including a variety of documentary and fiction features, the programme engages with transnational crossings from the last five decades through different forms of aesthetically-innovative storytelling.

Crossings: Stories of Migration brings together leading commentators, critics and contributors from across various cultural and political contexts to create a rigorous yet diverse platform for discussion to explore migration from both global and local perspectives. Engaging with ethical and political questions raised by representing these narratives on screen, the season aims to open a space for dialogue at a time when this is more urgent than ever.

For all the films available please visit Crossings2017.co.uk

ArtWorks have been working with the ICA and the Goethe Institute to bring the film ‘Fire at Sea’ to a brand new audience.

Samuele is 12 years old and lives on an island in the middle of the sea. He goes to school, loves shooting his slingshot and going hunting. He likes land games, even though everything around him speaks of the sea and the men, women and children who try to cross it to get to his island. But his is not an island like the others – its name is Lampedusa and it is the most symbolic border of Europe, crossed by thousands of migrants in the last 20 years in search of freedom.