About the Festival
The San Joaquin Student Film Festival is a celebration of creativity and storytelling by young filmmakers across K–12 (and college) in our region. Students from across San Joaquin County and neighboring areas are invited to submit original short films, be they fiction, documentary, animation, music videos or other formats, and have the exciting opportunity to see their work on the big screen.
We host two festivals a year, the first being the Reel Week film festival challenge in October/November where student filmmakers have one week to make a short film using the given prop, line, and genre. In May we host the San Joaquin film festival where filmmakers can submit any film under 10 minutes that they have created in the past two years.
What to Expect
Participants submit their entries (under 10 minutes) and selected works are then shown in a live event at Weston Ranch High School in Stockton. The festival gathers fellow students, family, teachers and the community to watch, support, and celebrate emerging filmmakers.
Why It Matters
The goal of our festival is to give young creators a real-world platform to showcase their voice and vision. We seek to build community within the region’s creative youth, offering a place where students don’t have to travel far for this kind of experience. It encourages experimentation in many styles (animation, documentary, music video, narrative) and fosters confidence when a student sees their work projected, receives an audience response, and hears their own story.
Who Should Participate
If you’re a student (K-12 or even college) living in San Joaquin County or nearby county, making a short film (of whatever genre) is something you should definitely consider. Even if you haven’t made one yet, this festival offers a motivating deadline and a real goal to aim for.
If you are not located near San Joaquin County you can enter our international, or national categories.
Doors of the Weston Ranch High School Theatre will open at 5:30pm and the show will start at 6pm. This is a free event and seating is limited to 230 spots.
Awards will be given for all categories.
