Cañada College Students Invited to Cannes Film Festival

For the third year in a row, Cañada College students have been invited to the Cannes Film Festival! The film festival is an annual event held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres, including documentaries from all around the world.

Cañada College hosts an annual event called Campus Movie Fest, which provides the students with the tools to create a film and then submit their films to the Cannes Film Festival. This is the third consecutive year that Cañada College has had the privilege to send remarkable students to Cannes, via exclusive invitations. Overall, this is Cañada’s fourth time sending students to the festival. In addition, Cañada College is the only community college in the United States to participate in Campus Movie Fest, a national event which has the ability to offer this incredible opportunity to hard-working students.

This success is a testament to the value of community college. It's also worth noting that, as in the last two years, many of the students invited are women. In animation, women are historically underrepresented, so this is yet another well-deserved victory for this year’s invited animator’s/filmmakers: Adrian Affif, Elizabeth Birdwell, Tabitha Liu, Heather Theroff and Ivy Wooldridge. In addition, this is Ivy’s and Elizabeth's second Cannes invitation. 

Adrian’s film, "I Do Not Fear You," depicts an emotive story of a father and son who must learn to overcome challenges, such as threats and bullies, after moving to America.

Tabitha’s film, “Gacha,” tells the moving story of a young girl, growing into adulthood, who finds something she loves, loses it and recaptures it once more.

Heather’s film, “Don’t Blink,” follows the mysterious story of a detective, his coworker  and his boss working towards solving what they know to be a series of the largest known theft cases their city has ever experienced.  

Ivy Wooldridge’s and Elizabeth Birdwell’s film, “Hidden,” is about two brothers coping with the loss of their father, a government secret agent, in a small town in Oregon. When the boys work up their courage to enter his forbidden workshop, they find a gift from their father.

While it is not required to participate in Campus Movie Fest or the Cannes Film Festival, many of the students invited to the festival are products of the Cañada College Digital Art & Animation Department. This skilled department provides courses taught by faculty with extensive academic, professional and industry experience. Students are guided through the department's project-based courses to develop the knowledge and skills needed to incorporate the principles of visual communication in their work.

The 73rd Annual Cannes Film Festival is scheduled to take place from May 12-23 and,  as you can imagine, the trip to France to attend the Cannes Film Festival can be costly. With this, a donation fund has been established through the San Mateo Community Colleges Foundation for those who would like to contribute toward the students’ journies.