Submissions Open: Santa Monica International Teen Film Festival

SANTA MONICA, CA – Studio Enterprise and the city of Santa Monica partnered to present The Santa Monica International Teen Film Festival, it was announced Friday. Entering its fourteenth year, the festival showcases the creative talents of teen filmmakers and encourages teens to use filmmaking as an outlet as a form of artistic expression, the press release said.

Studio Enterprise will work with the city of Santa Monica Cultural Affairs to develop and present the festival and will be involved in all aspects of planning, the press release said. The festival takes submissions from teens worldwide; entries in the past were from the U.S., Hong Kong, Iran, Iraq, Turkey, France, Germany, Peru and New Zealand among others.

"The Santa Monica Teen Film Festival has grown every year since its inception with an increase in submissions. As technology has changed and teenagers have grown more sophisticated, we have also seen a huge change in quality of films since our launch," Shannon Daut, City of Santa Monica Cultural Affairs Manager, said. “We are happy to be teaming with Studio Enterprise to further expand the brand and increase visibility of the festival and the teen filmmakers who are part of it.”

Films in the festival range in length from 60 seconds to 15 minutes and cover a wide range of genres including Live Action, Documentary, and Animation. Studio School will award a college-bound teen who wins Best Overall Film a $40,000 tuition scholarship for students enrolling in the Studio School BFA Film & Digital Content Program. The festival also gives the Santa Monica Next Gen Filmmaker Award to the best local submission, the press release said.

Submissions will be accepted until March 11, 2019 and filmmakers will be notified of acceptance on May 3, 2019. The festival will take place at venues in and around Santa Monica on June 22-23, 2019. Submissions will be online though https://filmfreeway.com/.

“Studio School has been a sponsor of The Santa Monica International Teen Film Festival for five years, and we are excited to be expanding our partnership so that we will be directly involved in the festival from the ground up,” said Glenn Kalison, Founder and Campus President. “We are always looking for innovative ways to find, inspire and celebrate the most promising young creative talent in the world. We will continue to build on what this festival has been doing since its inception in the beautiful city of Santa Monica to create a world-class film festival devoted to the next generation of filmmakers.”

Image via ShutterstockSanta Monica International Teen Film Festival