After a very successful first year, the Victoria Film Festival is happy to announce the return of FilmCAN to Victoria's middle- and secondary-school students – but it doesn't stop there as this year the Festival expands the program to include all of Vancouver Island’s schools.

FilmCAN is an exciting online film competition that invites budding young filmmakers from schools on the island to make a short film on any subject and in any genre of their choosing. There are two categories: Grades 9-12 and Grades 8 & under. The winning films will be screened before a feature film at the 2011 Victoria Film Festival held February 4-13.

Last years winners Christina Robillard (junior category) and Emma-Lynn Whitman (senior category) were both delighted in the opportunity of having their films at the Victoria Film Festival. “When you’ve found something that you enjoy doing and people offer you the opportunity to share it with others, you can’t help but love every minute of it” noted Whitman, “I couldn’t stop smiling throughout the showing and a good forty-eight hours after!” she adds. Robillard found the whole process to be an invaluable educational experience. “I got to learn a lot about making films” she noted “winning FilmCAN really helped inspire me to continue making videos.”

Both winners also received prizes to help with their future film projects. Whitman received a fully loaded iMac with Final Cut Express courtesy of Soho Computers. “That machine is fantastic!” exudes Whitman “it definitely helped me improve my filmmaking.” Robillard won an HD Sony Camcorder courtesy of Sony Style Canada. The camera has helped Robillard on her new film projects where she has been applying her new lighting and cinematography skills that she developed while participating in last year’s competition.

The Victoria Film Festival also has a mentor program for all students in the competition that encourages the participants to ask any questions that may arise while making their films. Festival Director, Kathy Kay remarks that the aim of the mentoring program “is to provide information the students need so that they can completely express themselves through media art as well as motivate them to technically create the best work possible.” Kay adds that the FilmCAN website has posted several useful article links for budding filmmakers that highlight useful film basics including Make Your Own Steadycam For Just $14. Furthermore, FilmCAN’s Vimeo website has created a growing online film community where students can share ideas and network for future projects. Last year over 6,000 people viewed the student work.

For more information on FilmCAN visit the festival website at: http://victoriafilmfestival.com/home/year-round/filmcan.html