Celebrating MONSTERS. Bold young voices.

Young voices.  Bold ideas.

Part of the Connect & Create programme 2025, MONSTERS invited children to imagine the aftermath of a dramatic monster attack on towns across East Anglia. Drawing on the familiar images of Hollywood blockbusters, the film became a playful yet powerful way for young people to reckon with ecological change and its impact on the fragile landscapes they call home. A participatory project that’s as imaginative as it is thought provoking.

Making MONSTERS – N&N Festival film project

Artists Andy Field and Beckie Darlington collaborated with four primary schools, working with groups of ten to twelve children in each. Together, they wrote and performed their own fragments of the larger story. These strands were woven together in the final edit, enabling the children to see themselves represented on screen alongside peers from across East Anglia, tackling the same issues and creating one shared narrative.

A playful reckoning

MONSTERS wasn’t just about filmmaking. It was about giving children the tools to explore big questions: how communities respond to change, how landscapes shift, and how creativity can help us imagine futures together. By blending humour with serious themes, the project encouraged young people to see their world differently and to express those ideas through performance.

Celebrating success

The film launched its world premiere at Cinema City during Norfolk & Norwich Festival in May 2025, complete with a red carpet for the cast, a joyful evening for everyone involved. Since then, it has been screened at First Light Festival, with further showings at SPILL Festival, Nene Park Trust, and Sheringham Little Theatre scheduled soon.

And the celebrations don’t stop there. We’re delighted to share that MONSTERS won Best Short Film at Cambridge Film Festival 2025, an audience award recognising the creativity and collaboration at the heart of the project.

Why it matters

MONSTERS shows what happens when young people are given the space to create, imagine, and lead. It’s a reminder that creativity can help us confront serious challenges while keeping joy, play, and community at the centre.

We’re proud to celebrate this project and the incredible young voices who brought MONSTERS to life, as part of our support for Art in the East and the Festival’s Creative Leaders programme, learn more here:  Creative Leaders | Norfolk & Norwich Festival.