In Person Summer Film Program - Austin Film Festival

Surround your young writer or filmmaker (ages 9-18) with like-minded collaborators as they are guided by professional instructors who help ignite their creativity, inspiration, and learn essential screenwriting, filmmaking and editing skills!

At AFF’s Summer Film Program (both virtual and in-person), we focus on two things: storytelling and collaboration. We believe that for any budding artist, these two things are of utmost importance. Storytelling allows students to express themselves while giving them a vehicle through which to practice their developing filmmaking skills (be it directing, camera operating, sound recording, or editing). Collaboration is a challenging but necessary aspect of filmmaking since every product is made up of many crew members playing different, but equally important, roles.

Led by professional filmmakers, all AFF Summer Film Program students walk away with a finished short film created by their group! Furthermore, students have the unique opportunity to see their films on the big screen (and walk the red carpet!) at the annual Summer Film Showcase. Students also participate in inspirational panel discussions with visiting guest speakers, who in the past have included industry luminaries such as Pamela Ribon (writer Moana) James V. Hart (writer Hook), Rita Hsiao (writer Toy Story 2), Robert Mark Kamen (writer The Karate Kid), Justin Marks (writer The Jungle Book), and Caroline Thompson (writer The Nightmare Before Christmas).