The Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival has launched the Sidewalk High School Filmmaking Competition – a summer filmmaking competition for Alabama high school students.
“With more young people than ever having access to Digital Video (DV) cameras and computers, we wanted to create an exciting competition to allow them to use this new technology to create short films during their summer vacation,” said Erik Jambor, Festival Director. “With this year’s film festival taking place September 19 – 21, the timing is perfect to include competition finalists in the festival program.”
Alabama students in grades 7 – 12 are invited to make a short film, five minutes or less, featuring the theme of this year’s competition: kudzu. Entries may be in any style or genre (narrative, documentary, drama, comedy, animation, experimental), but must be about the invasive green vine. The deadline for entries is August 15.
“It takes years to produce a feature length film. I can’t wait to see what the kids of Alabama can do with a five minute short film shot over the summer,” says Alan Hunter, President of Sidewalk’s Board of Directors.
Competition finalists will be screened at the 5th annual Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival in downtown Birmingham, September 19 – 21. A panel of Sidewalk filmmakers will cast their vote to determine which filmmaker will receive the grand prize – a copy of AVID Xpress DV digital editing software (a $995 value for Mac or PC). Additional awards TBA. All finalists will receive two Saturday & Sunday passes to the film festival.
To help teach students how to make a film, Sidewalk, along with Birmingham animator and filmmaker Chris Garrison, has created a free filmmaking handbook. “SO YOU WANT TO MAKE A MOVIE: TIPS AND TRICKS TO HELP YOU CREATE A WORK OF GENIUS,” explains the basic concepts of filmmaking in a fun and exciting way.
To download the handbook, as well as receive more informationon the festival, visit the Sidewalk Film Festival website.
