A 19-year-old from Holywood in County Down received a nomination in the Animation Ireland category of Ireland’s Young Filmmaker of the Year Awards for her stop-motion film The Volunteer.

Charlie Beimers produced the 10-minute film over six months as an A-Level project at Sullivan Upper School. She filmed it at home in her garage with assistance from her father and handmade all elements including a puppet from recycled materials.

The film centers on a volunteer from a resource-depleted Earth tasked with scouting new planets. On a pristine world, the character recognizes its value and reports it as uninhabitable to protect it.

Beimers drew inspiration from school discussions on climate change and the stop-motion film Mad God by Phil Tippet. She focused on world-building, sound design, and atmosphere compared to her prior work.

The film gained acceptance into Animation Dingle festival. Beimers plans to pursue stop-motion production independently rather than through university, submitting to awards and festivals.

She noted limited stop-motion opportunities in Northern Ireland despite the region's film sector and expressed interest in developing such work locally.

The audience-voted awards ceremony occurs on March 26 in Dublin. Shortlisted films appear on Fresh Film’s YouTube channel from March 9.