Send East Van Teens to NYC Film Fest!

Remember the first time you were recognized for something truly important to you? Remember your feeling of pride and sense of self-worth? It probably changed how you thought about yourself and your talents. It probably made you dream bigger and work harder.

This October, an incredible group of teen filmmakers from Templeton Secondary School’s Afterschool Film Program in East Vancouver have an opportunity to be recognized in New York City at one of the largest and best-regarded student film festivals in the world, The All American Highschool Film Festival. Their films have been selected to screen in Times Square alongside work from the most talented young filmmakers from across the globe.

There were over 2500 submissions from across 40 countries. 10 of our films were accepted to screen this year at the festival, representing the work of over 100 students! This achievement is even more exciting when you consider that the talented students who created these films include young women, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and racialized youth. This is a testament to the film program’s efforts to actively challenge the status quo of mainstream media and encourage young people to create stories that allow them to imagine the world as they want it to be. Check out this Vancouver Sun article to learn more about the Templeton Secondary Film Program!

This festival is an important milestone for our program and its students. It's our first school-based out-of-country field trip since 2020 and this year marks the largest number of films we have ever had accepted to this festival. It’s our strongest work and we are really proud of it.

We have a very limited time to fundraise for the trip so we’re hoping you can help. Our goal is to fundraise $20,000. We are hoping to bring 22 current students and recent grads. Any amount helps! A donation of:

· $750 will subsidize the cost of one student’s airline ticket

· $450 will pay for the hotel stay for one teen

· $200 will help a student sample New York’s best pizza and cover meal costs

· $180 will pay for one student’s festival participation

· $100 will give an East Van teen the chance to see a Broadway Musical

· $50 will cover the cost of the Museum of Modern Art and the Paley Media Centre

This experience could be life-changing for many of our filmmakers. Please accept our deepest gratitude for any contribution you are able to make! And thanks so much for sharing the link to our fundraising campaign.

You can watch these amazing films – and all the other incredible work from the past 15 years on the Dream Big Productions website or our Vimeo Channel.