Submissions are open for the 14th Annual Student Film Festival, a short film competition of the Latin American Cinemateca of Los Angeles that will take place online early next year. The deadline for entries is Dec. 31.

The fest’s purpose is to encourage and acknowledge young filmmakers from middle and high schools and media programs in the L.A. Greater Area, “from the (San Fernando) Valley to South L.A.; and from East L.A. to Venice,” according to organizers. 

Film entries must be of a length of 5 minutes or less and have been made during 2020-2021. Students must submit with the consent of teachers or mentors. Accepted genres include animation, commercial, documentary, experimental, narrative, newscast and public service announcement, or PSA.

There is no charge to enter films. 

The festival will take place Jan. 22.

Three winners will be selected for three categories: Best Film, Best Documentary and Most Creative.

LACLA is a nonprofit institute of cinema exhibition with the year-round programming of Chicano, Latino and Latin American films. It was founded in 1997 by a group of L.A.-based Latino cultural activists and cinéastes in response to the lack of local, as well as national, exhibition spaces for Latino and Latin American cinemas. 

For more competition rules and information, visit www.lacla.org.

Check out below Age of Consequences, a short about global warming by young director Salvador Garcia from Bell High School, in Bell, California, that was screened by LACLA.

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Project extended Through May 15th

Los Angeles, CA — Academy Award®-nominated actor Edward James Olmos announced that the Youth Cinema Project (YCP) has added additional shows and talent to their YCP Live Reads line-up. The live stream script reading sessions will continue through Friday, May 15, 2020 due to overwhelming participation from the Hollywood Latinx community.

YCP introduces elementary, middle, and high school students to the art of filmmaking and bridges the achievement and opportunity gaps by creating lifelong learners and the entertainment industry’s multicultural future. The program is implemented in public schools across California.

YCP Live Reads has added Mondays to their current schedule. Live virtual readings will take place on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 1pm PST through Friday, May 15, 2020 on the Youth Cinema Project website, and can be found on social media with the hashtag: #YCPLiveReads.

“The response and outpouring of support to the readings from both talent and the community has been tremendous,” said Edward James Olmos.  “The kindness that we have seen is incredible, and we are thrilled that we can do this for our YCP students.  We know how important storytelling and creativity are for them, especially during these extraordinary times, while they are dependent upon virtual classrooms and distance learning.”

VIdeo from founder of Youth Cinema Project

#YCPLiveReads Schedule:

Wednesday, April 22

• Queen of The South – Hemky Madera, Veronica Falcon, Idalia Valles, Alejandro Barrios, Alimi Ballard and Vera Cherny.

Friday, April 24 – A double feature

• Multi-Show Mash-Up En Espanol – Cassandra Ciangherotti (Los Espookys), Bernardo Velasco (Los Espookys), Isabella Gomez (One day at A Time), Bruno Bichir (Party of Five)
• Napoleon Dynamite/The Sinner/Rambo Last Blood Collab – Efren Ramirez, Eddie Martinez and Fenessa Pineda.

Monday, April 27

• The Casagrandes – Izabella Alvarez and Carlos Alazraqui.

Wednesday, April 29 

• Broke – Jaime Camil, Pauley Perrette, Natasha Leggero and Izzy Diaz.

Friday, May 1

• East Los High – Danielle Vega, Alicia Sixtos, Vannessa Vazquez, Andrea Sixtos, Tracy Perez, Jorge Diaz and Gilbert Saldivar.

Monday, May 4

• On My Block – Jason Genao, Diego Tinoco, Jessica Marie Garcia, Julio Macias and Paula Garces.

Wednesday, May 6

• Little America – John Ortiz, Jearnest Corchado, Melinna Bobadilla and Gustavo Gomez.

Friday, May 8

• Elena Of Avalor – Aimee Carrero, Jenna Ortega and Joseph Haro.

Monday, May 11

• Selena: The Series – Christian Serratos, Gabriel Chavarria, Ricardo Chavira, Seidy Lopez and Noemi Gonzalez.

Wednesday, May 13

• Mayans – JD Pardo, Emilio Rivera, Carla Baratta and Frankie Loyal

Friday, May 15

• Narcos Mexico – Alejandro Edda, Fernanda Urrejola, Teresa Ruiz, Mayra Hermosillo, Andres Almeida, Jesse Garcia and Alberto Zeni.

The series began on April 8, 2020 with talent from Devious Maids, Genteifed, Spanish Aqui Presents and Vida participating. 

Video from Edward James Olmos here. 

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