One Earth Film Festival's Young Filmmakers Contest to Offer Instructional Workshop

OAK PARK, IL - The third “One Earth...Our Earth” Young Filmmakers Contest is accepting entries and will offer, for the first time, instructional workshops for those who want to sharpen their video production skills. The workshops will be presented in cooperation with the River Forest Park District on Saturday, December 13.

The contest, as always, seeks solution-oriented films from students grades 3 through college. Professional filmmakers and photographers will lead the workshops and cover topics such as script writing, storytelling, casting, lighting, video, audio, copyrights and editing. Green Community Connections sponsors the contest as a part of its One Earth Film Festival.

Contest organizers hope the workshops will help increase the number of entries and draw submissions from aspiring filmmakers who may be reluctant to compete because they’ve never made a video.

“Students will learn the basics of filmmaking with hands-on exploration of the craft,” said Sue Crothers, contest committee chair. “We will see even more creativity when we debut the winning entries at next spring’s One Earth Film Festival. We want young people’s ideas on topics like sustainability and climate change to come forth and shine.”

Students from anywhere in the U.S. can compete in four grade categories: elementary, middle school, high school and college. Winners will receive a cash prizes and matching grant which can be donated to the charity or sustainability project of their choosing. Additionally, winning films will be debuted at the film fest and digitally hosted online.

Entries for the Young Filmmakers Contest are due January 18, 2015. Full contest details can be found on the festival website, oneearthfilmfest.org. Children interested in registering for the December workshop are encouraged to visit rfparks.org or call (708) 366-6660 for more details.