Vancouver Film School offering $50K in scholarships to Island filmmakers

A representative from the Vancouver Film School is in P.E.I. this weekend during the Charlottetown Film Festival and is looking to hand out up to $50,000 in scholarships to aspiring Island filmmakers.

Christopher Bennett, executive producer at the Vancouver Film School, told Island Morningthe film school's objective is to search high and low for Canada's brightest young filmmakers.

To tell your own story is something young people have a desire to do.- Cheryl Wagner

"In P.E.I., what we're trying to do is uncover storytellers and show them the 12 different programs we offer at VFS and how we could, in one year, get them ready to make a living doing it," he said.

"We need to find them and we need to support them and we want to hear from them."

The film school's Search Scholarship for Canadian students isworth about $500,000 total roughly $50,000 of that is set aside for filmmakersfrom P.E.I.

They began their cross-Canada tour last week in Halifax and it ends in Victoria in December.

'An injection of hope'

Bennett willlaunch the third annual Charlottetown Film Festival Friday night at 6 p.m at the Holman Grand Hotel.

The festival runs until Sunday and is a showcase foremerging Atlantic filmmakers.

It's"the little film festival of big dreams," according to Cheryl Wagner, theexecutive director of the festival.

"To tell your own story is something young people have a desire to do," Wagner said.

"If they can do it visually there's an appeal to that."

Wagner said the film school's scholarship is"injection of hope" for Island filmmakers.

"It's wonderful, it's exciting, to think that there are opportunities beyond the horizon," she said.

Islanders can find out more about the Charlottetown Film Festival and the Vancouver Film School's scholarships online.

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