This article is written by: Abiksha Devaprathapan and Tanishka Ratheeskumar
Lights, camera, and action! The inaugural DDSB Film Festival comes to J. Clarke Richardson on Wednesday May 20th.
The festival brings provides an opportunity for recognition in film, for not only ICT SHSM students, but for students from grade 9 – 12 who love movies! Our students have been working hard in order to make their films pop out and ready to play on May 20th, 2026! Go follow their instagram @ictshsm for more information and updates!
The DDSB Film Festival
The DDSB Film Festival is an opportunity for students across DDSB to showcase their extraordinary talents in the art of film making. With collaboration amongst several peers, labeled as teams, students will have the opportunity to create an original film where they will have to put their skills to the test in order to produce their very own film, similar to an original movie produced by a production company.
Upon completion of their film, they will be allocated a separate file to submit it, to which they will await the final analysis of their films. All together the festival offers enlightenment for student film makers allowing them to gain insight and practical feedback of their films, by professional individuals who are within the industry, teachers, and community members, all of these individuals represent the panel of judges in which the students will be judged by.
Scope and requirements
The film must be between 4 and 6 minutes which also includes opening titles as well as end credits. The content must be original and there should be no copyrighted music, video, or visuals unless it is properly incensed. If students wish to work in a team, it is max 4 people and they must be a DDSB student. Students can also work individually. Actors that are from outside of DDSB have to sign a consent form.
Technical Specifications:
- Resolution: 1920 x 1080 (Full HD)
- Frame Rate: 24fps or 30 fps (Has to be consistent)
- Aspect Ratio 16:9 widescreen
- File Format: MP4 (H.264 codec is preferred)
- Audio: It is Properly mixed and normalized
Credits are mandatory and have to include the names of all of the crews and cast, music credits and a line saying “This film was produced as part of the 2026 Durham District School Board Student Film Festival. All rights reserved.” Consent forms must be filled out by all of the participants, actors and crew. It will be provided digitally or printed and signed later submitted with the film. Using AI (Artificial Intelligence) is strictly prohibited. This is to maintain the integrity of the students’ creativity. The DDSB reserves the right to review and omit inappropriate, offensive or bad things from the film. This includes content with political messaging, discrimination, cultural appropriation, slurs, epithets or any thing that is considered harmful to others. If any of these are in the submitted films, they will not be included in the festival lineup.
The theme of the film festival is “The Unseen”. How this film festival will work is by submitting the film to the Google Classroom that was given. It has to be a zipped file with an mp4 of the film as well as the consent forms. The top 15 – 20 films will be selected for the film festival! The judges will be local filmmakers, alumni, university and even college representatives. There will be no teachers from DDSB. That way it is fair for everyone. Judges are external except staff members of the DDSB.
Moreover, the event will be happening at J. Clarke Richardson Collegiate. Equipment that will be there are projector, screen, sound system, backup laptop. These must be prepared and ready by the host school. Promotional materials like posters designs, social media posts, TV graphics must be provided to schools via the school hosting the event. There will be a Red Carpet photography that will be taking place. The audience will get to vote through a QR code for the “Audience Choice Award”. The guests attending will be able to vote. There will be certificates for all participants, comments and scoring sheets returned to students. There will be newsletter articles, websites, e-mail shout outs and social media recap will be posted. The final deadline was Wednesday, April 22nd, 2026.
Prices given are:
- Best Film
- Best Cinematography
- Best Editing
- Best Sound Design
- Best Performance
- Best Screenplay
- Best Visual Effects
- Emerging Film Maker
- Audience Choice
The winners will be recognized at the Festival Screening Event as well as in school/district media.
ALL INFORMATION GIVEN ARE FROM THE SCOPE AND REQUIREMENTS BOOKLET GIVEN TO THE WRITERS OF THIS ARTICLE
An amazing opportunity for Students!
The DDSB film festival opens a gateway to the world of creative work, collaboration, and first hand experience working in the set of a professional manner, almost as if they were standing right within a widely known production studio giving the individuals there their best “creative work”. With an opportunity for students to collaborate with each other to design/create a professional-like movie, the DDSB film festival offers insight and experiences for students to learn along the way, to become successful within the art of film making!
Not only this, but if successful with their entry, students will have the opportunity to see their film on-screen at the festival event. With this, the DDSB film festival ensures all students whether they were successful or not are able to be recognized for their contributions and outstanding work regarding the art of film.
Student Creativity
Collectively, many individuals have expressed how empowered they felt by seeing students all across the DDSB collaborate with each other to create films that fostered a sense of creativity. Each student put their productional skills to the test, and some even challenged themselves further, and were able to produce work above their skill level. The DDSB film festival encourages students to express themselves through creativity and determination, which highlights how great of an experience it truly is.
