CineYouth
CineYouth is the Chicago International Film Festival’s yearly film festival that showcases short films made by filmmakers 22 years old and younger from around the world. CineYouth encourages the talent of young filmmakers and supports diverse youth voices by providing opportunities to have their work showcased, to learn about filmmaking from industry experts, and network with their peers. CineYouth 2022 will offer both in person and online film screenings, filmmaking workshops, live Q&A’s, and more! All events at CineYouth are FREE and open to the public.
Select award-winning CineYouth films will be screened at the 58th Chicago International Film Festival at the CineYouth “Best of the Fest” screening in October 2022.
CineYouth Festival 2022
Submissions are now open for CineYouth 2022!
CineYouth 2022 will be held in Chicago April 22-24, 2022, and will include screenings of Officially Selected films, hands-on workshops and special events.
Submission Guidelines
Deadlines
- Early Bird Deadline: January 21, 2022
- Regular Deadline: February 18, 2022
- Final Deadline: March 4, 2022
Eligibility
- Filmmakers must be 22 years old or younger at the time of the film’s completion. (Can currently be 23 if the film was finished while 22.)
- Films must be 15 minutes or less.
- All entries must be submitted through FilmFreeway.
- We accept the following genres: drama, comedy, animation, horror, thriller, music video and experimental.
Questions? Email: cineyouth@chicagofilmfestival.com
Submit Now
For full submission details and to submit your film for consideration, please use the FilmFreeway link below:
Our Commitment to Diversity
As a step towards a more inclusive and accessible festival that addresses the systemic inequity and underrepresentation in film, CineYouth is offering a 50% discount to all films submitted by BIPOC filmmakers, as well as filmmakers with disabilities and/or films featuring performers with disabilities using the following codes:
BIPOCVOICES2022
DISABILITYVOICES2022
Additional discount and waiver requests are considered by CineYouth on a case-by-case basis. To make a request, please fill out this short form
CineYouth Intership
Join the CineYouth Programming Team with this hands-on internship that provides experience managing and assisting with operations related to the CineYouth Festival! Learn more…
Get the latest CineYouth news!
Make sure you don’t miss any CineYouth events or deadlines. Sign up for our CineYouth mailing list and never be out of the loop.
CineYouth Festival 2021
CineYouth 2021 streamed globally for a week-long virtual event from May 6-13, 2021. CineYouth 2021 presented 14 international short film programs of films as well as panel discussions, live filmmaker Q&As, and more.
2021 CineYouth Award Winners Download the CineYouth Program Book
2021 Short Film Programs
Playtime: Animation
Bats, birds, dogs, rams, monsters, and even mushrooms get their stories told in this wide array of animated delights from around the world.
Lights, Camera, Lock Down
COVID-19 may have locked everything down, but it couldn’t stop the creative and journalistic energy of these filmmakers who provide a fresh look at our tumultuous now.
A Personal Climate Crisis
The climate crisis takes a personal toll in these five films which investigate humanity’s relationship to nature through dystopian (but not so distant) futures, the effects of commerce, and pressures on individual growth.
Pathfinders
When it feels like the world has failed to provide us with an adequate instruction manual for life, we sometimes need to forge our own path to understand our place in the universe.
Speak, Memory: Documentary
Memory and history inform the future in these six documentaries that consider the legacy of language, the power of collective identity, and the ripple effects of incarceration and climate change.
It’s All Relative: Siblings
Bonds are tested and renewed in these heartfelt stories of sibling rivalry and solidarity, revealing the ways brothers and sisters shape each other’s identity.
Up Past Bedtime: Horror
True crime, creature features, and descents into the darkest depths of the mind are the jumping off points for these exciting and bold genre exercises.
Hi, Mom!
Mother’s Day is just around the corner, so make sure you don’t forget (1) to get a card and (2) share with Mom these beautiful films that reveal the powerful influence matriarchs have over our lives.
Jam Session: Music
Bandmates and artists find their music and personal lives blend together in these visually arresting films, featuring energetic music videos to reflective dramas and absurdist comedies.
A New Outlook: LGBTQ+
Self-love triumphs in these six short films as the filmmakers come of age and come to understand their own identities.
You Havin’ a Laugh?: Comedy
Come have a hearty chuckle with these goofy shorts where heroes are pushed to their limits in the fight to keep parrots missing and claim the last piece of pie.
Give Me Strength
Provocative and emotional, these shorts empower survivors as they reflect and recover from personal traumas, beautifully detailing the challenges involved in resilience.
Project a World: Experimental
Experience the radically inventive approaches to imagemaking from these young visionaries, who create a cinematic language all their own.
The Cinemas of Chicago
Our city has proven once again to be fertile ground for filmmakers to find sources of creative self-expression, and these shorts a mere sample of what the future holds for Chicago cinema.
About the CineYouth Festival
Created in 2005, Cinema/Chicago’s CineYouth Festival is designed to encourage youth filmmakers in their creative endeavors. CineYouth provides opportunities for young filmmakers to articulate themselves artistically, and have their voice heard. Held annually in Chicago, CineYouth is a festival celebrating and fostering the creativity of filmmakers 22 years old and younger by screening officially selected work and encouraging their creative endeavors with workshops, discussions, and panels. CineYouth encourages the talent of young filmmakers and supports diverse youth voices by providing opportunities to have their work showcased, to learn from industry experts, and to network with peers.
2021 CineYouth Supporters
Want to help support the next generation of filmmakers? Become a CineYouth Sponsor today…
Sponsors
Additional Support
Event Partner
Official Agency
2019 Donors
Brian Dailey • Adrienne Davis • Corbin Horn • Tom Kehoe • Rick Nicita • Cynthia Olson • Judy Pollock
Joe Swanberg • Kathleen Turner • Paula Wagner • Mamie J Walton
212 W Van Buren St., Suite 400
