White House Student Film Festival
The White House Student Film Festival was an annual film festival held by the White House and co-sponsored by the American Film Institute from 2014 to 2016. The festival was announced in November 2013 as part of the Barack Obama administration's initiative to bring "America's classrooms into the 21st century with high-speed internet and cutting-edge educational technology."
The festival has not been held after 2016 following the end of Obama's presidency in January 2017.
2014
During the inaugural festival in 2014, students in Kindergarten through 12th Grade were able to submit short films about "why technology is so important, and how it will change the educational experience for kids in the future." 16 videos were selected to be screened out of over 2,500 submitted videos. Several celebrity guests were in attendance, including Kal Penn, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, and Bill Nye.The 16 video selections were sorted into four categories: Young Visionaries, Future Innovators, World of Tomorrow, and Building Bridges.
2015
The second year of the festival took place at the White House and the Newseum in Washington, DC on March 20 and 21, 2015, with a theme of "the Impact of Giving Back".2016
The event was held on October 2 before the White House's South by South Lawn festival. The theme was "The World I Want to Live In".Selections
2014
;Young VisionariesDiscovery by Tiffany LinThru the Lens of a Tiger by Alicia Oluhara and Jason PerryStay Curious: Technology in the Classroom by Kayla BrietTeleportation Investigation of 2014 by The Extrazzlers - Caroline Proffit, Elizabeth Russell, Natalie Koeritzer, and Lexus WolfBeyond the Crossfire by Gabriel Garcia, Tirsa Mercado, Rachel Walden, and High Tech HighTechnology, Documentary, My Dad, and Me by Shelly Ortiz;Future InnovatorsPIP by Richard White, Nicolas Ramey, and Emil WillmannTechnology and Me by East Silver Spring Elementary 1st GradeArt Tech Collaboration by Highlands and Mill Street Elementary Schools
;World of TomorrowTomorrow's Classroom by Alexander Emerson
- by Full SEAM Ahead – How Technology Rocks the Classroom by Miles Pilchik, Gabrielle Nafie, and the children of SciTech Kids