For young filmmakers, making a film is only part of the journey. Learning the craft, finding mentors, meeting collaborators, exploring film schools and discovering a path into the industry can be just as important.

That is what Y-CAM is working to provide.

Y-CAM is a Washington, D.C.-based program for young filmmakers and screen artists that combines its annual film festival with filmmaking education, workshops, mentorship, industry access, resources and opportunities for emerging creators.

Its programming reaches beyond simply asking students to submit a finished film. Y-CAM has offered intensive filmmaking and animation programs, opportunities to work with professional mentors, workshops in areas such as screenwriting and production, information about internships and outside programs, and resources designed specifically for young people interested in film and media. Y-CAM also maintains an online community where young filmmakers can connect and exchange resources.

At the center of that community is the Y-CAM Film Festival, which returns to Washington, D.C., in March 2027.

A Festival Where Young Filmmakers Can Learn

The festival is designed to be more than two days of screenings.

Recent Y-CAM programming has included hands-on workshops, conversations with working filmmakers and actors, filmmaker Q&As, career discussions and opportunities to learn about college film, animation, communications and digital arts programs.

At the 2026 festival, for example, students could participate in an Apple workshop on filming with an iPhone, a Film School Paths workshop featuring representatives and students from institutions including USC, MICA, Howard University and Bowie State University, and a screenwriting and creative-writing workshop presented with Writopia Lab. The program also included filmmaker interviews, screenings followed by Q&As, animation programming and a conversation with actor and director JB Blanc.

Y-CAM describes the festival as an opportunity for young filmmakers not only to show their work but also to meet other filmmakers who could become future collaborators and learn directly from people working in film and media.

Learning Continues Beyond the Festival

Y-CAM’s educational efforts continue outside the festival itself.

Its summer programs have included a five-week Filmmaking Program that takes high school students through the production process from concept and script development through shooting, sound, editing and a public screening.

For students interested in animation, Y-CAM has offered a five-week program covering 2D animation, stop-motion and clay animation, with students developing characters and sets, collaborating in small teams and receiving mentorship from working animators.

An Advanced Filmmaking Program has also been developed for students looking to deepen their skills through documentary production, location work, production and editing.

Y-CAM also uses its website to connect young creatives with opportunities beyond its own programs, including writing programs, acting and voice-over training, internships, competitions and other youth arts resources. Its work has also included support for young filmmakers through production grants.

The 2027 Y-CAM Film Festival

What began in 2014 as a single youth event connected with the DC Independent Film Festival has grown into a stand-alone annual gathering for high school filmmakers.

In 2025, Y-CAM screened more than 30 films in competition from filmmakers across the United States and abroad, with approximately two-thirds of the filmmakers attending.

The festival welcomes young screen artists working in:

• Fiction
• Documentary
• Animation
• Music videos
• Art and experimental film

Films entered in competition may be up to 20 minutes long.

Y-CAM particularly encourages selected filmmakers to attend the event in Washington, D.C., making the festival an opportunity to participate in the community rather than simply send in a film and wait for the results.

Meet Filmmakers and Industry Professionals

Y-CAM has also brought accomplished actors, filmmakers and other media professionals into direct conversations with students.

Recent guests have included JB Blanc, known for his voice and directing work on productions including Arcane; actress Ava Acres, whose television credits include American Horror Story, Once Upon a Time and Crazy Ex-Girlfriend; and Cynthia Addai-Robinson, known for Shooter, Chicago Med and her role as Queen Regent Míriel in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.

Students also have opportunities to hear from working industry professionals serving on the festival jury and participating in festival programming.

Young Filmmakers Help Run Y-CAM

One of the more unusual aspects of Y-CAM is that high school students aren’t simply its audience.

Each year, three high school students work with DCIFF staff to help coordinate Y-CAM. That gives young creators an opportunity to participate in the organization and operation of a real film event as well as attend it.

It is, as Y-CAM describes it, a “by the people, for the people” event.

2027 Awards and Submissions

Selected films will be evaluated by industry professionals attending Y-CAM.

Awards are offered for fiction, documentary and animation:

First Place: $500
Second Place: $425
Third Place: $350

Y-CAM requires filmmakers to submit proof of current school status. Films must generally have been completed within three years of submission while the filmmaker is still in high school.

Students who graduated in 2026 may submit work that was completed before they left high school.

Team and ensemble projects are welcome.

If a selected film is already available free online, filmmakers may be asked to remove it temporarily beginning February 1, 2027, through the end of the festival.

More Than a Place to Screen a Film

For a young filmmaker, Y-CAM can begin with submitting a movie—but it doesn’t have to end there.

A student can attend a workshop, learn filmmaking or animation, meet working professionals, explore film-school options, discover internships and other opportunities, meet young creators with similar interests and potentially find future collaborators.

And for filmmakers who already have a completed project, the 2027 festival provides the opportunity to put that work on a screen in Washington, D.C., in front of an audience and industry professionals.

Y-CAM Film Festival 2027
March 6–7, 2027
Washington, D.C.

For festival information, educational programs, resources and archives from previous Y-CAM festivals, visit www.y-cam.org.

For submission questions, contact [email protected].