Emerging Visions Youth FilmFest is the only festival of its kind in the greater Dayton Region.
At Emerging Visions Youth FilmFest (Previously “The FilmDayton High School Film Festival”), our mission is to empower and celebrate the creative voices of young filmmakers in grades 6 through 12, providing them with a dynamic platform to showcase their unique perspectives and innovative storytelling. As a vibrant extension of FilmDayton, a distinguished regional film commission in Ohio, that advances the art, craft and business of film in the greater Dayton region, we are dedicated to fostering a supportive community that nurtures artistic growth, cultivates cinematic skills, and encourages the exploration of diverse narratives.
What makes this festival unique is the educational opportunity provided to students and teachers through our open judging event. Student are invited to screen their films in front of a panel of professional filmmakers and receive real-time feedback from the panel and their peers. Based on panel’s decision, the winning films will be screened at our Festival, the host theater for the final screening is TBD, and will be based on demand required and capacity needed to facilitate a pleasant viewing experience for filmmakers and guests.
Formerly the SunDog Film Festival which originated in 2003, previously participating schools include Centerville, Greenville, Kettering Fairmont, Hilliard Davidson, Kings, Miami Valley Career Technology Center, Stivers School for the Arts, The Miami Valley School, Upper Arlington, Wilmington, Yellow Springs, Ferguson MS, McKinney MS, and Franklin Jr. High.
The following Categories will be included for the 2025 Festival:
Traditional, Stop-Motion, Computer-Generated, 2D, 3D, Claymation, Motion Graphics, Explainers, Broadcast graphics packages are all accepted.
Submission Requirements: 5 Minutes or less – When submitting a program graphics package or broadcast graphics package please submit a highlight or sizzle reel that shows the package in context of the larger program.
Newsworthy subject that highlights creativity and subjectivity and makes an emotional connection with the viewer. This category also includes any sports features or sports related programming.
Submission Requirements: 5 Minutes or less – If submitting a longer program for consideration, please submit a 5 minute highlight reel that will allow the judging panel to get a strong sense of the longer piece.
Make us smile, make us cringe, make us laugh…
Submission Requirements: 5 Minutes or less
We will accept all forms and styles as long as they are nonfiction and document an aspect of reality.
Submission Requirements: 5 Minutes or less
Share your narrative stories. All forms of narrative films accepted. Bring on the characters and conflicts!
Submission Requirements: 5 Minutes or less
If your film is non-traditional, non-narrative or otherwise hard to define, this is the place for it. Get weird, break the rules and express your style.
Submission Requirements: 5 Minutes or less
Find a song and share its story or essence through visual imagery. All forms of music videos are accepted. Music videos with copyrighted music must have explicit permission).
Submission Requirements: 5 Minutes or less
All forms of Public Service Announcements are accepted.
Submission Requirements: 5 Minutes or less
Create a 2 to 5-minute video podcast that tells a compelling story or explores a specific topic. All submissions must include a video or animated element; single still images or extended still images covering the entire episode will not be accepted. [You may submit a segment from a longer podcast show.]
Accepted podcast formats include: One-On-One Interview, Solo Commentary, Panel (Guest Interview or Discussion), Non-Fiction Narrative Storytelling, Fictional Storytelling, and Hybrid (a combination of these styles).
Submissions should be presented in video format and may incorporate sound effects, interviews, and copyright-free sound bites and music. This is an excellent opportunity to showcase your storytelling skills and engage your audience both visually and audibly. Podcasters can submit as individuals or in groups.
Who says you can’t share a story in a minute or less? Not us. And certainly not your generation. Make every second count in this modern-day movement toward less is more. All story forms and concepts accepted.
Submission Requirements: 1 Minute or less – Credits can exceed the 1 minute story, credits can not exceed 30 seconds
Submission Deadlines
Film Contest Rules & Terms:
Submissions MUST have been produced in the last 18 months (23/24 – 24/25 school years), be a student enrolled in a 6-12th grade educational institution in southwest region of Ohio. Submissions created as part of class assignments are accepted, as well as submissions produced independently outside of class assignments.
Your submission’s total runtime (TRT) must NOT exceed the five minute time limit. Credits are included in your TRT and credit runtime must NOT exceed 30 seconds.
We strongly recommend that you triple check your audio levels and that your audio is NOT limited to one channel (ie: right or left).
Any film that includes main dialogue that is not english must be submitted with english subtitles.
All music and other copyrighted material (images, videos, etc.) used in the films must be properly licensed.
By submitting an Entry, you hereby grant to the Festival a non-exclusive, royalty-free, fully paid up, perpetual, irrevocable, non-exclusive and fully sub-licensable right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, combine with other works, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, edit and display such Entry (in whole or part) including, without limitation, the names and likenesses of any persons or locations embodied therein, and/or to incorporate it in other works in any form, media, or technology now known or later developed. These rights include, without limitation, the right to use the Entry in any and all media including but not limited to the Festival’s and the Festival’s licensee’s social media properties and/or offline media, in perpetuity without compensation, permission or notification to the Entrant or any third party. By submitting an Entry, The Entrant acknowledges that the Festival has no obligation to use or post any Entry submitted. Subject to these Terms, the Entrant retains copyright ownership of the Entry.