Youth Programs & Film Workshops
Northwest Film Forum has year-round filmmaking workshops and summer camps dedicated to helping youth and young adults learn all aspects of film production.
Youth Programs Year Round at Northwest Film Forum
We offer a variety of workshops during the school year and a full program of summer camps. Many programs are done in partnership with local organizations. The 2023 summer filmmaking camps for youth were held between July 10 and August 11.
During Children’s Film Festival Seattle 2023’s slate of youth workshops (Feb. 3–12), we tapped into the timeless magic of shadow puppetry, dug into the surprises of cameraless animation in-person and virtually, and created fantastical prop cakes!
Watch behind-the-scenes documentaries from youth summer programs here (our youngest students), here (middle-schoolers), and here (our high-schoolers).
Upcoming Workshops & Events
Past Workshops
Below are some of Northwest Film Forum’s past and recurring workshop. See a workshop you’d like to see again? Please put in a request for future programming!
Children's Film Festival 2023
Fall Quarter 2022
Summer Camps 2022
- Reel Queer Youth [Hybrid] Summer Camp (2022)
- Summer Camp – Making the Impossible: Special Effects (Ages 11-14)
- Summer Camp – Imagination Animation Session 1 (Ages 8-12)
- Summer Camp – Imagination Animation Session 2 (Ages 8-12)
- Summer Camp – Community Storytelling [In-Person] Project
- Summer Camp – Magical Character Creation (Ages 11-14)
Winter Quarter 2022
- CFFS 2022 – An Exploration of Shadow Puppetry [In-Person] Workshop
- CFFS 2022 – Ink & Tape: An All Ages Cameraless Film Workshop [Virtual + In-Person]
- CFFS 2022 – How to Make a Documentary: From Soup to Nuts w/ Sally Rubin [In-Person] Workshop
- CFFS 2022 – Creative Storytelling with Sockz Theater [ Online]
Summer Camps 2021
- In-Person Summer Camp – Making the Impossible: Special Effects
- Virtual Summer Camp – Imagination Animation (Ages 8-12) June
- Virtual Summer Camp – Imagination Animation (Ages 11-14) July
- Virtual Summer Camp – Making the Impossible: Special Effects (Ages 8-12)
- In-Person Summer Camp – Imagine Design and Build Camp at SeaTac Community Center
- Virtual Summer Camp – Reel Queer Youth
Summer Camps 2020
Winter Quarter 2020
- Free Youth Edit Lab Hours
- Editing Workflows in Premiere (Winter Production Intensives)
- After Effects Essentials (Winter Production Intensives)
- Camera Operation and Techniques (Winter Production Intensives)
- Lighting for Film and Media (Winter Production Intensives)
- Sounds Good: Production Sound (Winter Production Intensives)
- Producing for Film and Media (Winter Production Intensives)
- Scriptwriting and Storyboarding (Winter Production Intensives)
2019 Workshops and Camps
- Takeaways — Foley Sound
- Takeaways — Animated Portraits
- Present Your Best Selfie!
- Reel Boyz Film Camp
- Imagination Animation
- Gender Representation Film Camp
- Indie Filmmaking Summer Camp
- Demystifying Film Festivals for Emerging Filmmakers
- Ready to Roll: Youth Filmmakers at Northwest Film Forum
- Takeaways: Trailer Editing
- Takeaways: Animating with Adobe After Effects
- Coyote Camp — Youth Filmmaking
- Cadence 2019 — Making Video Poetry
- Takeaways: Documentary Storytelling
- 360 Filmmaking: Behind the Scenes of the Festival
- Friendly Rhythms of the Planet (1/27) — with visiting filmmaker Tatiana Skorlupkina
- Friendly Rhythms of the Planet (1/26) — with visiting filmmaker Tatiana Skorlupkina
- Puppet Making with Clyde Peterson