BUDDING Steven Spielbergs, Ridley Scotts and Martin Scorseses are being urged to say ‘lights, camera, action’.

A Dunbar Short Film competition will be launched this summer, with movie fans of all ages being encouraged to get behind the camera.

Dunbar Film Society is organising the event and committee member Tadg Farrington explained how the idea came about.

He said: “We just thought it would be something to do to see what is out there.

“We’ve been running the film society for 10 years now and thought it would be a good thing to do.” The group meets on the last Friday of each month to watch a film at the town’s Hallhill Sports Centre.

The competition, entitled the DAFTAs (Dunbar Amazing Film Talent Award), will be open to young and old, with just one restriction: the film must be less than five minutes long.

Mr Farrington said: “It will be happening during Dunbar Civic Week, which is a growing event and we always do something for Civic Week.

“We set the boundaries as wide as possible.

“Films can be about anything, any style of film and filmed on anything from professional cameras to a mobile phone.

“We did that to get as many entries as possible – we have no idea what is going to happen.

“There are three age categories and it will be interesting to see the difference between the older ones and the younger ones.

“[It will be interesting to see] if there will be quite small kids making films – they are all so media savvy these days.” The films can be created on cameras or even mobile phones and can cover any sort of genre.

All the shortlisted films will be screened as part of a special film event during Dunbar Civic Week, which takes place from June 13 to 22.

The films will be divided into three categories: under-12, under-16 and over-16.

The winners will then receive a trophy as well as prizes, including DVDs, film society membership, film-making goodies and an opportunity to attend a film making workshop with BAFTA-winning writer Bernard MacLaverty.

The winning films will be screened later in the year as part of the Dunbar Film Society regular programme.

The submission deadline is May 30 and the award screening will take place on June 16.

For more information on how to enter, go to dunbarfilm.org.uk