Interest Form for the Newbery Film Festival Workshop

FALL 2025

The 90-Second Newbery Film Festival is an annual nationwide video contest in which young filmmakers create short movies that retell the stories Newbery-winning books in just a few minutes. Films created by kids and teens go on to be screened at movie theatres around the country, including in our hometown of NYC!

This year, the general deadline is January 16, 2026! The Newbery Film Festival is looking for creative, short-form takes on these beloved books, made by kid/teen filmmakers! Our Artistic Director Leo Lion participated in the festival many years ago in his precocious youth, creating "The Giver in 90 Seconds," which after over a decade is his most-viewed video to-date. Needless to say, we are huge fans of 90-Second Newbery.

Our film teacher, Benny Rendell, has offered to hold a short term workshop to help teens create their movie. If you know a teen interested in filmmaking and would be interested in such a workshop, fill out the form below so we can follow up with scheduling options!