The Vancouver Island Short Film Festival is looking for budding young filmmakers for a new Youth Showcase.

The festival is looking to screen 10 short films by youth 18 or younger in a special program at the festival in March.

Festival Director Zoey Heath says the idea for the Youth Showcase came after requests for more family-friendly films at the festival.

“Our goal was to create a festival environment that's youth centered,” they said. “It will include its own Goldies, the award ceremony, to give young people the festival flavour in an environment where the ratings are PG.”

Heath says the idea for the Youth Showcase is also a way to make part of the festival family friendly.

“We have a lot of families emailing us asking us if the main Vancouver Island Short Film Festival program was family friendly,” they said. “So we thought instead of censoring our main program, we [would] create something for families.”

The Youth Showcase is a collaboration with Nick Janzen, who teaches filmmaking and photography at Nanaimo District Secondary School and is the coordinator for the showcase.

“I am constantly blown away by what students can achieve,” he said. They work, I think, somewhat more chaotically than people who are embedded in the industry would be working. But frequently, they come up with pieces that surprise and delight me, whether they're making a found footage horror film, or an experimental art film, or a serious drama.”

Jansen says that he’s happy to be able to work with students and give them access to equipment that they might not otherwise be able to use and is looking forward to seeing their submissions to the film festival.

“Some of the young people in our society, in our city and across the world, are telling captivating stories in a sophisticated way. So it's super exciting to have the Youth Showcase to be able to share those.”

Heath says doing a film festival on Vancouver Island has its unique challenges

“One of our filmmakers last year, who was supposed to be part of the Q & A, in classic Island fashion, got stuck on the ferry,” they said.

As the festival is also live streamed, the filmmaker was able to chat online with people as the ferry made its way to Nanaimo, fielding questions and receiving encouragement from the audience.

“They ended up running in during the Q &A with their coat on and their hat on and ended up making it on stage. But it ended up being a very Island experience.”

Janzen says that part of the reason he’s collaborating with the short film festival is to help the local film industry nurture homegrown talent.

“I think it's hard to grow an industry or a community, unless you are activating the youth to become involved, they will be the next generation of leaders,” he said. “And the earlier we can support them, to empower them to have a voice and to be a part of that community, the stronger the community will be five and 10 years from now.

Submissions for the festival’s main program are open until January 10, while submissions to the Youth Showcase are open until January 26, to coincide with the end of the high-school semester. For more information you can visit the festival website at visff.com

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