Christmas comes early for Cinemagic Belfast film & TV festival audience

Sept. 11, 2012 - PRLog -- Live action family feature, When Santa Fell to Earth, has been selected to play at the Cinemagic International Film and Television Festival for Young People in Belfast on October 6th, ahead of its cinematic release this Christmas.

The film is based on the novel of the same name by international bestselling author, Cornelia Funke, whose Inkheart story – part of the Ink-trilogy - was made into a feature film in 2008 starring Helen Mirren, Jim Broadbent, Brendan Fraser and Andy Serkis. German-born Funke, who has topped 10 million sales worldwide, was included in Time magazine’s 2005 list of the 100 most influential people. Her latest novel, Ghost Knight, will be published by Orion Children’s Books on October 4th.

When Santa Fell to Earth is an enchanting Christmas tale full of magic and fantasy, suitable for all the family and is produced by Uschi Reich of Bavaria Filmverleih und Produktions GmbH and directed by Oliver Dieckmann. The film, which will be released on December 7th, is being distributed in the UK and Ireland by Munro Film Services, who acquired rights from the film’s licensor, Sola-Media.

Cinemagic is the largest children’s film and television festival in Great Britain and Ireland. The Under 12s programme runs from 5th to 19th October and will include film previews from around the world as well as film and television workshops, master classes and filmmaking competitions.

Director Oliver Dieckmann said “I’m thrilled that our film will be playing in Belfast. The Cinemagic festival – what an appropriate name for what we aspired to do; to enchant our audiences, to give them a sense of magic, a sense of wonder in our story celebrating the Christmas spirit.”

Claire Shaw, Cinemagic Press and Marketing Officer added “We are delighted to present When Santa Fell to Earth as part of Cinemagic Belfast’s family film programme. The theme of our under 12s festival this year is fantasy, myths and legends and the film is a perfect fit. Our ethos is to inspire and motivate young people by exhibiting films from around the world that will entertain and broaden their minds, and this enchanting film will do just that!”

When Santa Fell to Earth will be playing at the Odeon Belfast on Saturday October 6th at 4pm.  Tickets are available from the Odeon website www.odeon.co.uk or on 0871 22 44 007. For full programme details for Cinemagic, please visit www.cinemagic.org.uk

For further information regarding the film’s release, synopsis and images, please contact Jane Smith on 01992 814621 or email  jane@magascene.net