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23RD ANNUAL WESTFLIX FILM FESTIVAL FOR CALIFORNIA TEENS

Westflix is a celebration of the best short films produced by high school students throughout California, curated and organized by student festival directors, board members, club members, and faculty advisors at Harvard-Westlake School in Studio City, CA.

SUBMISSIONS NOW OPEN
Submit your short films! Any genre, any story, under 10 minutes.

Regular Deadline: December 1, 2025
Final Deadline: January 1, 2026

Film Festival / Friday March 13, 2026 / Paramount Theater at Paramount Studios / 5555 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038 / 6:00 PM - 10:00 PM

Filmmakers' Workshop / Saturday March 14, 2026 / Harvard-Westlake Upper School 3700 Coldwater Canyon Studio City, CA 91604 / 11:00-2:00 PM 

The program of student short films will be showcased in an evening red carpet screening and awards event at a theater in Los Angeles and followed by a day of film workshops with industry professionals at Harvard-Westlake School, the sponsor of Westflix. Previous venues include ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood, the TCL Chinese Theater, the historic Million Dollar Theater in downtown LA, and the David Geffen Theater at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. Building on our success last year, Westflix will be hosted at the Paramount Theater at Paramount Pictures Studios, and will also be live streamed via HWMedia+!

Westflix is produced by members of the Harvard-Westlake School community and thus holds values of diversity, equity, and inclusion at its core. Each year we work to reach further to include and uplift the voices and stories of a more diverse range of young filmmakers across the state. Westflix is a brave space for creative expression and education that celebrates and recognizes student artists of different identities and backgrounds. In the past, we’ve been proud to showcase films by LGBTQIA+ filmmakers, POC filmmakers, first generation filmmakers, Jewish filmmakers, women filmmakers, first time filmmakers, filmmakers with disabilities, and other students of marginalized communities, who were able to share their own stories via our platform. As arbiters of media, we understand how much representation matters and will continue to expand our scope.

Meet the Westflix Festival 2026 Leadership Team

Director of Operations, Eze Baum '26
Director of Submissions and Judging, Scout Manuel '26
Director of Media and Promotion, Henry Wain '26
Director of Design and Media, Anika Norton '26
Director of Community Outreach, Francesca Varese '26
Board Co-Chairs, Emy Spieker ‘26 and Ryder Felisan '26
Faculty Advisors, Ms. Brannon Rockwell-Charland Cook, Mr. Whitney Lasker, Mx. Reb L Limerick

The Westflix Board is an decision-making and idea-generating body that supports the Festival Directors and completes substantive tasks central to the festival. The Westflix Board, composed of Seniors passionate about video art and filmmaking, is an extension of the leadership team.

The Westflix Club is an enthusiastic group of 10th-12th graders who love film and want to help realize our film festival. Club members attend regular meetings between September and March, judge hundreds of submissions, help behind-the-scenes for promotional videos, and volunteer on the day of the festival.

There are many others who make Westflix possible and we recognize them in our annual program. Thank you to all who financially support our festival so it can be free for submitters and attendees, teachers and mentors who encourage their students to create and submit films, HW faculty/staff who help our organization run smoothly throughout the year, make the event so special each spring, and attend and support the annual festival.