Quiet on the Set! Film Festival

brought to you by Wharton Studio Museum

WSM proudly presents Quiet on the Set!  Film Festival 2022. This silent short film competition for Southern Tier youth is a terrific opportunity to engage with the art of filmmaking and showcase your creativity and imagination. Tell a story you want to tell through film — make a movie!

How To Enter

YOU MUST REGISTER to submit a film to Quiet on the Set! Film Festival. 

Please read all submission guidelines before creating your film.

2022 Registration Deadline:
Monday, May 2

2022 Submission Deadline:
Sunday, May 22 @ 12 midnight

Submission Guidelines

Your film must meet these requirements to be accepted:

  • Students aged 11-18 are eligible to enter, and can submit a film as an individual or as a group
  •  1-3 minutes in length
  • Must be silent:
    • NO spoken dialogue, intertitles okay
    • Title card required
    • Credits required
    • Music soundtrack & instrumental sound effects are okay, but must be original or in the public domain
  • Films can be black & white, feature color, and be animated
  • NO explicit content

2022 Screening & Awards Ceremony

Saturday, June 4 @ 4 p.m.

Films will be reviewed by a jury of local educators and arts professionals, and the winners will be revealed at the Screening & Awards Ceremony. Prizes and trophies will be awarded to the top 3 films, along with honorable mentions.

We hope to launch the festival's inaugural year with an in-person screening & awards ceremony that is free and open to the public, but remain open to the possibility that it will take place virtually. Therefore, all information is subject to change in accordance with public health and safety guidelines from venues and New York state. Check back for updates!

History

WSM is thrilled to present a new short silent film festival for youth — 2022 is our inaugural year! Our first time around, we co-hosted a student film festival at Cinemapolis in 2017. The festival has been through a few iterations between then and now, though there have been some constants: our desire to encourage and celebrate the imagination of local youth, the interaction between young filmmakers and the juror panel of interested adults from surrounding communities, and the awarding of simple & fun prizes and trophies to the competition's winners!

In 2021 WSM & Ithaca High School collaborated on the virtual soft premiere of Quiet on the Set! exclusively with Ithaca High School Media Arts students. Our filmmakers were approaching the end of an unprecedented school year, one in which their lives differed distinctly from any expectations they might have had, and they had a lot to express. Some of the films were funny, or fantastical, some dealt directly with issues of mental health and boredom or monotony, all of them were wonderful, and we felt honored to watch.

In 2022, we are opening the festival to the Southern Tier and surrounding counties once more. Surely our young people will not have run out of things to say or ideas to bring to life on screen, and we are so proud to launch this annual event and continue to provide a platform for local youth to explore their creativity and interest in media arts, filmmaking, storytelling and more. 

We hope to continue the festival and be able to add to this History section — register now and help us make our dreams a reality!

Thank you to Presenting Sponsor Roy H. Park School of Communications at Ithaca College for their continued support (2017 - Present) 

Past Winners

2021

1st Prize

GRASS ISN'T GREENER ACROSS THE ROAD directed by Isabelle Adie

2nd Prize

DINNER TIME directed by Suraphael Barton

3rd Prize

TO GRANDMA'S HOUSE WE GO? directed by Kieran Shulman and Lili Rotondi.

Honorable Mentions

304 directed by Alexandra St. Pierre-Nguyen
BETRAYAL directed by Marlin Hamm.

Contact

Email: quietontheset@whartonstudiomuseum.org
YoutubeView films from past festivals! 

 

Get Involved

We would love to hear from you! 

If you are a teacher, educator, or other organizer who would like to collaborate with us on the festival. Teachers have made past festivals a class project or elective extra credit. This symbiosis brings us more submissions while celebrating and showcasing student work in a unique, exciting way that encourages student creativity and exceeds simply receiving a grade.

If you are a local arts or education organization, such as a library, and you would like to be added to our list and receive future festival announcements.

If you would like to discuss volunteering for or creating an internship with the festival.