REPLAY Festival
- A celebration of children and young people’s creativity and play.
- A film, photography, and media festival made for and by children and young people.
REPLAY is a new festival of film and media that is part of the creative learning programme for Children's Capital of Culture. Film and media made by local children and young people will be shared during this festival alongside some of the world’s best short films made for children.
The festival takes place from 10 until 15 November 2025 – in schools, at Arc Cinema, at Wentworth Woodhouse, and in ROAR’s gallery at the Hope Centre.
What if a magic, flying car...?
Over 300 children from five Rotherham primary schools worked with Kettu Studios to co-create a new animation about a magic car that flies over Rotherham, casting spells.
What sort of car is it? What magic does it create? What change do the children of Rotherham want to see?
Expect imagination, invention, sparkles and a few surprises on the way. The film is being premiered at the REPLAY opening event at Arc Cinema on 10 November, and will also be shared with the children who made it and their families.
Picturing Play
Young people from a Rotherham secondary school have worked with artist Moira Lovell to produce their own exhibition exploring play. Inspired by a visit to the Wentworth Woodhouse’s 'House of Fun' exhibition, the young people have created photographs and zines that invite you to think about why play is important to us all.
Join us to celebrate the Picturing Play exhibition:
Opening event on Tuesday 11 November at ROAR's Garage Galley, Grove Road, Rotherham, S60 2ER, from 4:30pm until 6:00pm.
This free exhibition will be open from Tuesday 11 until Saturday 15 November from 4:00pm until 6:00pm daily. Selected images will also be exhibited at Wentworth Woodhouse on 15 November at their Big House | Short Films event.
Children's Games
What games do children in Rotherham love to play?
Inspired by artist Francis Alÿs’ Children’s Games, over 200 children from seven schools have worked with their teachers, filmmaker Rachel Bunce, and Into Film to create short films that celebrate and share the games they play and their creativity and ingenuity.
The films will be premiered at the REPLAY opening event at Arc Cinema on 10 November and will be exhibited at Wentworth Woodhouse on 15 November at Big House | Short Films.
Archives of Play and Creativity
Inspired by the Opie Archive of Childhood and Play, children and young people are stepping into the role of historians, archivists and curators to document their experiences of taking part in Children’s Capital of Culture.
This project is led by researchers and archivists from the University of Sheffield, who are working with Children’s Capital of Culture to support schools and colleges to capture what they think is important about this landmark festival year. The schools and colleges will each create time capsules to be held in Rotherham Archives.
Small World Cinema
Schools and early years settings in Rotherham will become hosts for a day of an installation, encouraging play with lights, cameras, sounds and colours with Small World Cinema. Young children will engage with international short films, using them as inspiration for creativity and storytelling.
Big House | Short Films: An Interactive Film Festival
Join a group of creatives at Wentworth Woodhouse from 6.00 – 9.00pm on Saturday 15th November for Big House | Short Films, where young filmmakers from South Yorkshire will challenge stereotypes and share personal takes on what heritage means to them. Expect a mix of powerful short films, creative installations and opportunities to interact with the filmmakers themselves.
Magic Light Pictures
Magic Light Pictures will be sharing some of their best loved and most beautiful films with young audiences from Rotherham. These films seek to enrich the imaginations of children and families worldwide.
At our opening event we are excited to be joined by a special guest, Andy Martin, director of Magic Light Pictures' children's animation Tiddler.
You can also join us for a festive double-bill of Magic Light Picture's The Gruffalo's Child and Stick Man at the Arc Cinema on November 15 at 2:00pm.
Rotherham Retold
Young people from Rotherham schools took part in a week of work experience, building text-based games for children using Twine, an open-source tool for telling interactive, nonlinear stories.
Working with writer and game designer Lauren O’Donoghue, our young designers took inspiration from the Children’s Capital of Culture themes to create their games before pitching their ideas to industry professionals.
The games explore some favourite local locations and aim to develop team building, wellbeing and curiosity. The games were publicly shared at Plug In and Play festival in October 2025, and you can also play them online.
Rotherham Rhythm Youth Project: Flow
Follow the journey of a young dancer as she explores textures in a safe environment, discovering her unique body movement and flow. The film, created by Gemma Thorpe, highlights the importance of having the freedom to play and explore, so that confidence and creativity flourish.
This film is part of the Arts Council funded Rotherham Rhythm Youth Project led by ASHAY Dance CIC (Nisha Lall) and Khula Arts (Tongesayi Gumbo). Magic Light Pictures will be sharing some of their best loved and most beautiful films with young audiences from Rotherham. These films seek to enrich the imaginations of children and families worldwide.
Rope Girls
National Circus and Fairground Archive at The University of Sheffield commissioned animator Natasha Poland to be inspired by the work of the 'Skinning The Cat to create a film that dives into the life of an aerialist.
The project explored what it's like being in the spotlight, putting the show together and what it means to the people performing, on and off stage. Natasha has worked with children and young people from two Rotherham schools to create a series of animations, illustrating excerpts from the book, 'The Aerialist' by Rebecca Truman. The animations will be screened at the opening event of the festival.
