The Yorkton Film Festival/Access Communications 2012 High School Video Competition is now open to entries.
For the past 10 years, the High School Video Competition has given the province's young aspiring filmmakers a taste of what professionals experience at the Yorkton Film Festival.
"The film festival is really pleased to continue to work with emerging filmmakers," says Randy Goulden, executive director of the Yorkton Film Festival. "This is one way that we can engage them."
The video competition, explains Goulden, is a way of involving students from beyond Yorkton who can't participate in the festival's Student Day-where top filmmakers hold all-day workshops for about 50 students at Sacred Heart High School.
"The High School Video Competition is available year-round for different classes around the province. As they're doing their films, they can enter them in the film competition."
The competition calls for films under six minutes in length in one of six categories: Animation, Performing Arts & Entertainment, Comedy, Drama, Experimental, or Documentary. A winner is chosen from each category and aired across the province on Access Television.
To mark the 65th anniversary of the film festival, the theme for films submitted to the competition this year is "65 years."
"They can go anywhere they want with that," says festival program manager Blair Yacishyn. "You could make a film about a 65-year-old woman. You could make a film about 65 dalmatians. Or you could do something traditional like a 65-years documentary on the festival. It's a broad definition that we would like people to be creative with."
Entry into the competition is free. The deadline is April 30.
"We're looking for as many entries as possible," says Yacishyn. "If they're unsure, I'd say they should check it out, because they really don't have anything to lose."
More information is available at www.goldensheafawards.com.
