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It's Symposium Week!

We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! The annual Teacher and Student Symposiums bring excitement every year about the creativity student filmmakers will be sharing in their festival entries this year, and we hope another two great days of learning and collaboration are in store. More information on our symposiums, special membership packages, 2021 Michigan Student Film Festival, and more below.

Pandemics, Shutdowns, Remote Learning: Creative Dead-End or Launchpad?

2020 certainly has not followed an orderly plan and we know our member schools and student filmmakers have been experiencing extraordinary challenges, though hopefully none of the broken shark variety. Spielberg's plight is a good reminder that filmmakers deal with malfunctions, obstacles, and broken plans every day, and are well-equipped to turn those barriers into creative triumphs. We hope you have been experiencing such success with your own projects.

Being stuck at home can feel confining, but this video on creating commercials at home is a great lesson that the most important part of your film isn't gear or location or even script...it's you!

We're with everyone else in hoping this will all be over soon and we'll be able to get back to normal, whatever the new normal for life (and the film industry) will be. Here's an interesting article on what the future of filmmaking could look like, and how the pandemic may have accelerated some of these changes.

From the Michigan Student Film Festival Archive:

Our dip into the Michigan Student Film Festival archive this week takes us back to 2018 for "Interlinked" from Drew Hartley, Chase Arnett, Chlor Holderbaum, Taylor Minto, and Cameron Hartley of the Genesee Career Institute. The film was recognized as the Best Narrative and received a $500 cash prize from our friends at the Maple Theatre (and it even looks a bit prescient now with the main character's strict adherence to social distancing guidelines!). It's a great example of the kind of quality work our student filmmakers produce year after year.

We hope to see you soon!

DAFT’s Annual Media Teacher Symposium is online only December 4th in partnership with Motion Picture Institute (MPI). Due to state COVID safety recommendations, teachers will participate online via Zoom with some sessions conducted live from MPI. It runs from 8 AM - 4 PM with plenty of breaks in-between. Teachers can earn 5.5 State of Michigan Continuing Education Credit Hours (SCECHs). Learn about free waivers for attending the Symposium on the DAFT Membership page. To register and see a list of sessions and presenters click here.

DAFT’s Annual Media Student Symposium is December 11th in partnership with Motion Picture Institute (MPI). Students may participate online via Zoom or on-campus at the Motion Picture Institute (limited seats available due to COVID protocol). Learn about free waivers for attending the Symposium on the DAFT Membership page. To register and see a list of sessions and presenters click here.

DAFT is now accepting entries to the 53rd Michigan Student Film Festival. Click here for detailed information on how to enter. The entry deadline is March 11, 2021. With student work being done outside of the classroom this year due to COVID, the Festival is open to a variety of projects that may focus on subjects such as biographical stories, news/weather, food, science or nature, healthy living, virtual tours, zoom recordings, book reports and so much more. To be able to receive free entry coupons, check out the DAFT Membership page.

Check out the savings your schools can get by becoming a 2021 member of DAFT. Click here for details! Your membership in DAFT helps young people (and adults) throughout Michigan lead creative, productive lives.

Our annual Michigan Student Film Festival Poster Design competition is back! Check out all of the details in advance of the February 1, 2021 deadline. Cash prizes available!