Say Hello to Our Friends
NFFTY is by no means the only organization providing visibility and opportunity to the next generation of visual storytellers, and we’re proud to launch a new Community Partner program to highlight these resources for young filmmakers. Call them our “nonprofit crushes” — programs and organizations that are doing great work! You may see offers and opportunities from them from time-to-time on NFFTY’s channels, carefully vetted to meet the needs of NFFTY’s community of aspiring and emerging filmmakers.
If you represent a not-for-profit organization — committed to anti-racism and equity in the film and media arts industry — and want to be an official Community Partner of NFFTY, please contact us to learn more!
Media Arts Programs
Ghetto Film School
Ghetto Film School (GFS) is an award-winning nonprofit founded in 2000 to educate, develop and celebrate the next generation of great storytellers. With locations in New York City, Los Angeles and London, GFS equips students for top universities and careers in the creative industries through two tracks: an introductory education program for high school students and early-career support for alumni and young professionals
BAYCAT
BAYCAT exists to end racial, gender, and economic inequity by creating powerful, authentic media while diversifying the creative industry.
BAYCAT operates out of the San Francisco Bay Area, and provides training to underrepresented youth of color, queer folk, and young women ages 11-17 through their BAYCAT Academy program. Like NFFTY Creative, BAYCAT has also worked to provide professional paid work opportunities to young adults ages 18-25 with major companies and organizations through their BAYCAT Studio Internship program.
Reel Queer Youth
Three Dollar Bill Cinema fosters deeper community engagement by showcasing queer film programming, educational experiences, and social dialogue. They provide access to films by, for, and about lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) people and their families, and a forum for LGBTQ+ filmmakers to share and discuss their work with audiences. Three Dollar Bill Cinema curates themed screenings throughout the year and produce programs in partnership with other arts, cultural, and service delivery organizations in the Greater Seattle area…such as NFFTY!
Three Dollar Bill Cinema produces Reel Queer Youth, a video production and media literacy program for LGBTQ+ youth and allies grades 9-12. During this week-long camp, participants will queer cinema, and create a film using media and tools they have available.
Reel Youth
Reel Youth is a media empowerment project that delivers community development programming to youth and adults across Canada and internationally. Film production and distribution programs are designed to create positive change in young people's lives through technical skill building, leadership training, creative collaboration with peers and mentors, and increased connection to community resources. Their award winning programs support participants to create media about issues they care about as they gain tangible media production and leadership skills. Programs are as much about film making as building personal resiliency in marginalized youth to overcome challenges, be successful, and inspire those around them.
Programs are often followed by the Reel Youth Film Festival, a celebration of short films made by youth 19 years and under. Insightful and entertaining, the touring festival collects films from around the world, for an engaging program of some of the best youth filmmaking today. NFFTY has also featured Reel Youth work over the years!
WQED
WQED Film Academy supports film and digital media arts in Pittsburgh and beyond, with virtual programming offered to students all over the country. Their work bridges art and industry with a pathway from education to employment. They develop diverse content creators with training, mentoring, equipment and networking opportunities.
Among their many programs is the high school-focused WQED Film Academy (Virtual Film Academy offered everywhere!) which draws on its partnership with teaching artists and professional mentors to teach a curriculum of the basics of digital media arts. Upon successful completion of WQED Film Academy, students can advance to an internship, and eventually, the WQED Teen Film Crew. The Teen Film Crew gets paid while they continue to build their skills creating promotional videos for clients or pitching their own creative content for our award-winning web series, The Reel Teens.
For middle school, Film Academy Lite offers an intro level to filmmaking for 7th and 8th graders. Additionally, WQED Film Academy offers in-person and virtual events throughout the year, including their annual Film & Media College Fair in October, and in-classroom support and professional development offered to educators throughout the year. This is just the tip of the iceberg, please check out the website to learn more at filmmakers.wqed.org!
Fresh Films
Fresh Films uses the fun of film to connect with teens across the nation, working to build their technical skills and abilities to problem solve, work hard, communicate and take on leadership roles. 53% of Fresh Films participants are female and 55% are youth of color.
Now offering courses, workshops, and camps virtually and in cities all across the US, such as the Weekly Filmmaking program for teens (13-19), Fresh Films also partners with big production companies and studios to get youth on-set experience, including with Reese Witherspoon’s AT&T Hello Sunshine Filmmaker Lab.
SF Art & Film Workshop
The San Francisco Art & Film Program was established in 1993 to make the arts a constant and inspiring presence in young people's lives. Their motto is “we give you what school can’t” and they deliver on it by making over 100 first-rate cultural events available free to Bay Area students every year; events chosen to stimulate students’ curiosity, excite their imaginations, and help them enter a wider world. SF Art & Film believes a steady stream of contact with the arts gives them a context through which they can begin to understand their own lives and discover their own creative energies.
THE FILM WORKSHOP is offered annually is open to all Bay Area students, from late middle school through college. Each year, new students are introduced to the fundamentals of professional filmmaking while returning students refine and deepen their skills. The Workshop acts as producer, helping students to build a portfolio of work that will help them get into film schools and develop a foundation of skills – looking, seeing, thinking, doing - that will serve them throughout their careers.
Reel Voices
Reel Voices is an incredible program run by Pacific Arts Movement, which also produces the San Diego Asian American Film Festival. Since 2005, Pacific Arts Movement has empowered local high school students to learn the art of documentary filmmaking. This 8-week summer class helps students become socially-conscious storytellers, learn video editing, and experience all stages of production. Students choose their own topics ranging from self love, mental health, social issues, cultural identity and more in stories that are both personal and deeply relevant to the broader San Diego community.
Students receive a $500 scholarship for their work, which premieres at the annual San Diego Asian Film Festival in November. After the films hosted online, and screened at festivals around the world. Previous Reel Voices students have used their works to earn additional scholarships to film school.
The Vera Project
The Vera Project is an all-ages nonprofit space dedicated to fostering personal and community transformation through collaborative, youth-driven engagement in music and art. A music venue, screen print shop, recording studio, art gallery, and safe space for radical self-expression, VERA is a home to Seattle’s creative community.
Some of our favorite programs at VERA include Ground Zero Radio and the Digital Production Lab. There are great classes and opportunities to be creative and learn about livestreaming, sound mixing, lighting, and other elements, perfect for youth interested to learn other aspects of live events and festivals.
Artist Support Programs
Seed&Spark
Seed&Spark delivers education, tools and resources that create access for all storytellers to get their work made and seen. NFFTY regularly collaborates with Seed&Spark to present workshops and industry guests at our festivals and events, helping emerging filmmakers get really concrete skills and tools that are often lacking in traditional film education curricula.
We're pleased to announce that we have a new partnership with Seed&Spark, a crowdfunding platform with the lowest fees, the highest campaign success rate in the world (80%), and a track record of setting filmmakers on a path to success. Crowdfunding is not a stop-gap funding measure; it’s a tool in your professional arsenal to take control of your career. We're now able to offer 1:1 mentoring with their crowdfunding specialists, and we encourage you to sign up here — we think you have a bright future ahead of you, and crowdfunding could be one of the paths there.
Creative Culture
Jacob Burns Film Center developed Creative Culture to champion diverse voices and foster a thriving artistic community from the region, across the country and around the world. Donor-funded fellowships and residencies help to ensure that people from every economic background have access to this rich experience.
Creative Culture provides 10-month-long fellowship experiences for emerging filmmakers looking to produce two short film projects in a collaborative community. Fellows receive access to production equipment and space, mentorship, and the JBFC’s industry network.
YoungArts
YoungArts identifies the most accomplished young artists in the visual, literary and performing arts, and provides them with creative and professional development opportunities throughout their careers. Artists ages 15–18, or grades 10–12, in the U.S. are encouraged to apply in the discipline of their choice. All applications are judged by esteemed discipline-specific panels of artists through a rigorous blind adjudication process, and award winners are offered a lifetime of artistic support and ongoing connection with an extraordinarily robust network of peers and mentors.
YoungArts features a Film Competition, which encompasses narrative, documentary, experimental, and animation filmmaking. The most competitive films are well edited and showcase original and clear storytelling, while demonstrating strong elements of character and theme.
Northwest Film Forum
Seattle’s Northwest Film Forum incites public dialogue and creative action through collective cinematic experiences. A nonprofit film and arts center located in Seattle, Northwest Film Forum presents hundreds of films, festivals, community events, multidisciplinary performances, and public discussions each year. A comprehensive visual media organization, the Forum offers educational workshops and artist services for film and media makers at all stages of their development. Artist services include access to space, gear, fiscal sponsorship, and an edit lab. Northwest Film Forum is a member-based organization.
Among their many excellent programs, one that NFFTY loves to highlight is Remove the Gap Productions. REMOVE THE GAP PRODUCTIONS (RG Pro), works to support and uplift the careers of girls, women, nonbinary, femme, trans, and gender-nonconforming filmmakers. What distinguishes the RG Pro program is their immersive and sustained mentorship model—apprentices work directly with professionals from the media and filmmaking industries, completing video productions and building lasting relationships over time.
Directors Notes
Since its launch in 2006 Directors Notes has been regarded as one of the web's leading curatorial platforms for independent film, working with filmmakers to create in-depth feature articles which reveal the painstaking production stories behind their award winning work for a worldwide audience of industry professionals, festival curators and dedicated film fans. Eclectic in its tastes, Directors Notes is where you can find the most cutting edge films regardless of genre, length or technique.
Youth Film Festivals
BFI Future Film Festival
If you’re 16 to 25 and want to learn about or work in film, BFI Film Academy can help. BFI Film Academy has a range of accessible courses and resources, whether you want to take your first steps in film or improve on existing skills. As a student of a Film Academy Short course, you’ll gain experience working alongside industry professionals and will be offered hands-on filmmaking experience to help develop practical knowledge and skills. If you want to take your interest further you could apply for one of our Specialist residential programmes. Courses last between 1 and 2 weeks and are designed to develop skills in specialist areas such as animation and documentary.
BFI Film Academy produces the BFI Future Film Festival, the UK’s largest festival for young, emerging filmmakers. It takes place over 4 days in February, with virtual and physical events and screenings, all focused on helping filmmakers aged 16 to 25 break into the screen industry. You can submit here!
Location
London, UK
CineYouth Festival
Created in 2005, Cinema/Chicago’s CineYouth Festival is designed to encourage youth filmmakers in their creative endeavors. CineYouth provides opportunities for young filmmakers to articulate themselves artistically, and have their voice heard. Held annually in Chicago, CineYouth is a festival celebrating and fostering the creativity of filmmakers 22 years old and younger by screening officially selected work and encouraging their creative endeavors with workshops, discussions, and panels. CineYouth encourages the talent of young filmmakers and supports diverse youth voices by providing opportunities to have their work showcased, to learn from industry experts, and to network with peers.
CineYouth typically takes place in late April over a 3-day weekend, and like NFFTY, accepts entries from all over the world! We recommend checking them out, and you can submit here.
Location
Chicago, IL
Indie Memphis Youth Film Fest
Indie Memphis’ Youth program provides support and guidance to students, between grades 7-12, through the following opportunities: Year-Round Workshops, CrewUP Mentorship, and Youth Fest. You can learn about all three programs on their website!
Indie Memphis Youth Film Fest typically takes place over a 3-day weekend in late August, featuring films by local Memphis youth and from across the U.S. It also includes workshops in addition to screenings, and is free to attend. Check it out! To submit, you can check out their FilmFreeway.
Location
Memphis, TN
MSPIFF Nextwave Youth Film Competition
NEXTWAVE YOUTH FILM COMPETITION is a youth engagement and education initiative that is part of the annual Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival (MSPIFF). The competition provides premier regional film and media exhibition opportunities to youth pursuing an interest or career in filmmaking. It is a celebration of the up-and-coming generation of cinematic story-tellers, and an opportunity for their stories to be seen by an audience of 45,000 festival-goers and industry professionals.
Nextwave typically takes place in April and screens work by youth 18-and-under from around the world. Films are programmed by an all-youth jury. You can learn more about submitting your film on their website or FilmFreeway!
Location
Minneapolis, MN
SIFF FutureWave
You may recognize our friends SIFF as being our lovely host venues for most of the NFFTYs we’ve produce in Seattle! They also offer a lot of great programming for youth in the Greater Seattle Area, as well as for youth under 18 from around the world in their FutureWave competition. More info about how to submit to FutureWave, or participate on a youth SIFF jury, are here!
SIFF also produces workshops, filmmaking camps, and bootcamps for teens and kids, and you can learn about those opportunities here.
Location
Seattle, WA
Scout Film Festival
Much like NFFTY, Scout Film Festival (Scout) celebrates, supports, empowers, and connects diverse, emerging filmmakers worldwide aged 24 and under through short film. Scout's community consists of more than 6000 filmmakers from 107 countries. Founded in 2014—Scout produces an annual international film festival offering screenings, interviews, talks, and workshops with leading industry professionals. Their Educational Program offers support, resources, and networking opportunities through grants, mentorships, and webinars.
Location
Stowe, VT / Boston, MA
My First Job in Film
Run by current film industry professionals, the MFJF Network is here to support you to achieve your film ambitions. Find exclusive job opportunities from our contacts from across the industry and connect with our network of industry professionals via 1:1 mentoring, virtual workshops, networking events, exclusive programs and the latest jobs and opportunities from across the web and social media.
Location
New York, Los Angeles, and the UK