Every summer, Northwest Film Forum offers camps for kids and teens to get hands-on with the art and craft of filmmaking and to let their creativity run wild! Camps for ages 8 to 18 are taught by experienced local filmmakers, and offer the chance for budding directors, actors, editors, and DPs to get practical experience with video production and video editing, using professional-level filmmaking gear and software. Summer 2023 camps take place between July 10 and end in August. In partnership with Three Dollar Bill Cinema, we host Reel Queer Youth, an expansive educational program serving queer youths 13-18 years old interested in the art of filmmaking.

Children’s Film Festival Seattle is the West Coast’s largest and most highly-regarded festival dedicated to children and their families. Our annual selection of over 180 films ranges from gentle animation for pre-schoolers to eye-opening documentaries for middle-schoolers. Each year, we showcase films from across the world that align with our values of racial equity and diversity, inclusivity, social justice, global awareness, and that represent the very best in visual storytelling for young people.

Youth ages 8-18 may join youth-led juries that view films and award official prizes to CFFS’ short and feature films. Youth of all ages can sign up for special festival workshops through our youth workshops page.

Email your questions to Kendra Ann Sherrill, Festival Director for Children’s Film Festival Seattle, at kendra (at) nwfilmforum.org.

Each year, we invite educators to join us for specially curated screenings; each short film program is themed by age and topic, with options from pre-K through high school. These exceptional field trip opportunities come complete with post-screening discussions and takeaway journal pages for participants, and for the youngest, coloring pages for each kid!

Can’t make it? We also lend out many of our short film programs for youth in digital formats to community and cultural centers and schools.

Email paul (at) nwfilmforum.org to be added to the educators’ mailing list.

Our year-round youth workshops run the gamut from sock puppetry for kindergarteners to sophisticated script-to-production sequences for teens!

At Northwest Film Forum, we are committed to providing youth the skills to tell their own stories, cultivating spaces for youth to build community, and advancing media literacy for young people.

All workshops and camps are pay-what-you-can. We are proud to collaborate with local schools and nonprofit partners that prioritize equity and inclusivity to create access to film education for young people in our region.

Email your questions to Nico Vargas, our Youth Programs Manager, at nico (at) nwfilmforum.org.