About Adelaide Film Festival Youth

AFF Youth is dedicated to promoting the creative process of making, participating in, and learning from film for South Australia’s young minds. Students were anticipating a school trip to attend the festival and see their films and others up on the big screen, but when Covid-19 restrictions sent the festival online, AFF Youth needed to find a way to make the digital experience as fulfilling as the traditional school trip.
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Opportunity for Engaging South Australia’s Students

AFF Youth was committed to preserving the learning experience for students and partnered with Shift72 to bring the 2021 festival into classrooms across South Australia. Providing an easy-to-use video on demand (VOD) platform, AFF Youth:

• Curated films designed to engage students
• Provided lesson plans and learning materials for teachers to use in the classroom
• Sourced messages and interviews with directors
• Engaged new regions previously unable to attend the festival in person including remote and national
• Gave student filmmakers a bigger audience to showcase their work

“We did have some engagement from a broader audience. We also got engagement from interstate, so schools from Tasmania and NSW participated as well...it gave us an opportunity to promote what we’re doing more broadly and internationally.”
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Gail Kovatseff, Programs, Audience and Industry Development Manager at Adelaide Film Festival
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Looking Forward

Despite the short notice to host their 2021 festival on a digital platform, AFF Youth enjoyed success in engaging new student populations across the country, demonstrating the powerful reach that a digital component to a festival can provide. As Adelaide Film Festival continues to develop their Youth festival and expand their offerings, Shift72 will be an excited partner in bringing the magic and learning opportunities of cinema to the next generation of filmmakers.

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