The Garden Education Center (GEC), in partnership with Greenwich Library, has launched the fifth annual Greenwich Youth Film Festival (GYFF) contest. Entries will be accepted until Monday, March 21. Films can be entered in five genres: Creative, Documentary, Experimental, Animation and Environmental Action. The contest is open to high school students living in or attending school in Fairfield County and Westchester County, NY. Students and teachers can visit fairchildatgec.org/gyff2016 for further information and entry materials.
The top film submissions will be shown at the Greenwich Youth Film Festival on Sunday, April 24, at 1 p.m. at Cole Auditorium in the Greenwich Library. Over $4,000 in cash prizes will be awarded. The student whose film is selected as the best overall entry across all genres will be awarded the Grand Prize of $1,000. Winners of the other genres will each be awarded $500. An award of $100 will be given to all second place genre winners, and an award of $50 will be given to all third place genre winners. An award of $250 will be given to the best First Year Film Student Submission, recognizing the newest young filmmakers. An award of $100 will be given to the Best Film Poster.
In addition, a new prize has been added this year, the Fairchild Challenge Award, which will recognize a competing school, instead of a student. The Fairchild Challenge Award will grant $500 towards a school’s environmental projects, and is awarded to the school that earns the most points in the Environmental Action Category. Schools must pre-register to be eligible for this award at fairchildatgec.org
GEC also announced that filmmaker Ed Brown has signed on to serve as a judge for the contest. Brown launched his career as filmmaker and activist after writing, directing, narrating, shooting and editing his first feature documentary film Unacceptable Levels.
