The AFF Youth Filmmaking Competition is a rewarding opportunity for South Australian school students and young people to create, produce and share their films on the big screen as part of the internationally acclaimed Adelaide Film Festival. It’s a chance to embrace your creativity, meet new people and make industry connections in the buzzing South Australian film industry.

The shortlisted films in each category will be announced at our AFF Youth Gala, where young filmmakers will have the chance to walk the red carpet, get their photo snapped and see their work presented in front of a full cinema.

The competition prize categories are:
• Best South Australian Primary School Film
• Best South Australian Middle School Film
• Best South Australian Senior School Film
• People's Choice Award

AFF Youth looks for bold and original storytelling encouraging young people to embrace a diverse and complex world where they can make a courageous contribution.
Works must show a good grasp of storytelling and structure, and a developing technique.

All entrants must reside in South Australia. Entrants can be individual students, groups of students or a class of students. In the case of class projects, the work must be driven by the students, but the teacher can submit the entry on their behalf. Where the filmmakers are a group of mixed age students, the entrant should enter the film in the category of the majority of the makers (i.e., most are primary school students, etc.).

GENERAL ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS:

Films must be made for and by children and young people and be able to
meet appropriate content ratings (PG equivalent or less).

The film’s intended audience must be specified in the submission i.e., ideal for teenagers (13-year-olds and above) or ideal for 5 to 10-year-olds.

Films must be 7 minutes or less.

Films must be in English or be submitted with English subtitles.

Films must be presented in High Definition (1920 x 1080p to 4K) with a frame rate of 24 or 25 fps.

Submissions must be accurately designated to the submission categories of Primary, Middle or Senior School.

Submissions must include at least one high-resolution still image from the film. Entrants are encouraged to take stills during the production process.

If selected, films must be provided as a downloadable file via Dropbox, WeTransfer, Google Drive etc., no later than 14 days after official selection.

Films must have been completed after 1 November 2023.

Submitted films must be complete at the time of entry.

Filmmakers must own the rights (or be in the process of negotiating the rights) to any assets including sounds, music, images or stock footage used in the film. Films have been rejected in the past due to use of copyrighted material. Please adelaidefilmfestival.org/aff-youth for more information on royalty free music.

Filmmakers must also own the rights to the story and any other IP, i.e., the film must be based on an original story or be an adaptation of a work in the public domain (myths and legends, nursery rhymes etc.)

Senior School Category
Films made by filmmakers aged 16 to 18 are eligible for the Senior School category if the producer, director, writer and cinematographer (these can be the same person) were 16 to 18 years old when the film was completed. The cast can be any age. You can engage the help of an adult or professional for services such as music, editing, VFX, post-production. The most important point is that the key creative decision makers and the young people driving the project from idea to completion are 16-18 years old.

Middle School Category
Films made by filmmakers aged 13 to 15 are eligible for the Middle School category if the producer, director, writer and cinematographer (these can be the same person) were 13 to 15 years old when the film was completed. The cast can be any age, and you may have assistance from an adult or teenager in the form of technical and creative advice. An adult or teenager may also be involved in the editing and post-production process. The most important point is that the key creative decision makers and the young people driving the project from idea to completion are 13-15 years old.

Primary School Category
Films made by filmmakers aged 5 to 12 are eligible for the Primary School category if the producer, director, writer and cinematographer (these can be the same person) were 12 years old and under when the film was completed. The cast can be any age, and you may have assistance from an adult or teenager in the form of technical and creative advice. An adult or teenager may also be involved in the editing and post-production process. The most important point is that the key creative decision-makers and the young people driving the project from idea to completion are under 12.

AFF YOUTH RIGHTS
If your film is selected to screen at AFF Youth, AFF holds screening rights for 12 months from the date of screening. This is non-exclusive. AFF reserves the right to use your film or excerpts of your film including stills to promote future events or regional screenings and such similar events. If selected, you must inform AFF if you do not wish your film to be used for these purposes.