Telling our story.
The Detroit Can Film Festival strives to empower youth voices to get a better understanding of what’s really important to young people in our region.
Established in 2019, DCFF is an opportunity for youth in Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb Counties to create 15 second films on the festival theme and compete for cash prizes and scholarships. Each year, the theme is selected by festival founders to reflect important social issues in hopes of empowering youth to use their creativity to share their perspectives with the community through our festival.
2023 Festival Theme
In our conversations with young people leading up to deciding on a theme, we brought up potential topics, and at the end opened the floor for our former winners to tell us what they thought we should address. Once again, we learned not to underestimate young people or choose topics on their behalf rather than listening to them. The very relevant, and unexpected topic they brought up was our current economy and the effect it has on their lives.
Access to wealth remains uncertain, with inflation and rising cost of life, this year’s theme wants to know how you are approaching your financial future. For 2023, we would like submissions on the theme My Money/My Future.
2023 Festival Date
The DCFF 2022 festival will take place November 16, 2023 at the Marlene Boll Theatre at the Boll Family YMCA.
2023 Prizes
A first round of judging will determine festival finalists, all of which will be screened at the festival event. Final judging will take place at the festival by a panel comprised of volunteers with backgrounds in media arts. The panel will select one grand prize winner and a runner up. The audience award will be decided by popular vote.
- Festival Grand Prize – $500
- Festival Runner Up – $150
- Audience Award – $150
How To Submit a Film
Submission criteria/contest rules:
- Must be less than 15.9 seconds in length
- Must address festival theme
- Can be produced using any available technology that can be shared digitally (phone, tablet, digital camera, etc.)
- Participating young people must live and/or attend school in Wayne, Oakland, or Macomb counties
- Applicants must be between 13-18 years old
- Videos must be submitted by festival deadline of October 27, 2023 at 5:00 pm
- Participating young people must provide current, valid parent/guardian contact information on submission form or submission will be void
- Videos must be the applicant’s original work and may not contain copyrighted music, video, or photos the applicant doesn’t own
- Applicants may enter as many videos as they like
- There is no fee to apply
If you have questions about the the festival, please contact Margaret Edwartowski at Y Arts Detroit at medwartowski@ymcadetroit.org or (313) 223-2743.