The ninth annual Student Shorts Film Competition at 3 p.m. will feature short films created by Michigan students in grades six through 12. This program is free and open to the community.

Then, the second annual Sanctuary Selections Film Competition will take place from 6 to 10 p.m. Five films will be shown during the evening, followed by a live question-and-answer session with each filmmaker. At the end of the program, the winning film will be announced and awarded the $5,000 cash prize to help fund future projects. This event will include hors d’oeuvres, film screenings, live discussions, a cash bar, and the final award presentation. The cost for this program is $20, with tickets available at thunderbayfriends.org.

Student Shorts

“The Student Shorts film competition is a youth film competition celebrating stories of conservation, exploration, and inspiration within the Great Lakes,” said Daniel Moffatt, education specialist for Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary. “It’s an opportunity to provide youth with a platform for storytelling, and for youth to create or develop a story of their own, and communicate that message. And, I really think that’s a benefit both to them, and their community.”

Courtesy Photo The above photo of two people on paddleboards illustrates the film, “Watermarks,” by Rishi Sethi, which will be one of the five films shown in the Sanctuary Selections Film Competition from 6 to 10 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 25 at the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center in Alpena.

Eight films, each three minutes or less, will be featured in the Student Shorts program, with those youth filmmakers coming from all over the state of Michigan. Moffatt said there were no submissions from Alpena this year.

“Last year, we only had four entries, so we’ve doubled our entries, and we’re thrilled about that,” Moffatt said. “In time, I think we’ll see a little bit more local participation.”

He said the idea of the Student Shorts competition is to foster creativity among youth.

“The purpose is to encourage and support artistic expression through film, about living life in the Great Lakes region,” Moffatt said.

Winning students will receive cash prizes, thanks to the generosity of the Friends of Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary, and The Sunset Project.

“First place will walk away with $500,” Moffatt said. “Second place, $250, and third place, $150.”

Following the Student Shorts program, a free filmmakers panel will be held at 4 p.m., open to the public.

“What we’re hoping to do is create a space where those professional filmmakers might be here to watch the youth filmmakers’ competition, and then, the two of those groups could collaborate or mingle to talk as filmmakers about telling stories and editing film and getting your message across through film,” Moffatt added.

Sanctuary Selections

The 2025 Sanctuary Selections theme is “The Great Lakes Region: Stories of Discovery, Experience, and Connection.” The competition is a unique opportunity for filmmakers based in the Great Lakes region to showcase their work, with a chance to win $5,000.

The Sunset Project collaborated with the Fresh Coast Film Festival in Marquette to get entries this year. The Sunset Project is a nonprofit founded in 2021 by three lifelong friends committed to investing in the betterment of Northeast Michigan through creative-based and mental health programs.

“Sanctuary Selections is part of The Sunset Project’s FOCUS45 program,” said Nick Poli, creative director for The Sunset Project. “The FOCUS45 program focuses on developing, implementing, and supporting creative-based projects that help make the region a better place.”

“Sanctuary Selections launched last year, in partnership with the Thunder Bay International Film Festival,” said Gavin MacDonald, executive director of The Sunset Project. “It was super successful. I think we sold out the night of the screening ­– both screening rooms, which was wonderful … We hope that happens again this year.”

MacDonald said they streamlined their application process this year, which resulted in fewer submissions, but the submissions that came in were well-qualified and of high quality.

Twenty films were submitted from filmmakers in the Great Lakes region, which includes eight states and one Canadian province, surrounding the Great Lakes.

“We had a panel of six professional judges that took those 20 submissions down to the top five,” MacDonald said. “In this year’s top five, every single one was also featured in the Fresh Coast Film Festival.”

He noted that a representative from each film will be in attendance at the screening event.

“A big part of Sanctuary Selections is a filmmaker from the film, or a film representative, must be in attendance at this film festival in order to be eligible for the cash prize,” MacDonald said.

He said those filmmakers will be able to answer questions from audience members following the screening of their films.

“The films that are featured are really adjacent to what is included in the Thunder Bay International Film Festival, but it provides a little bit more of a regional focus,” Poli said. “We make it so that the theme can be really broad and include really great storytelling” within the Great Lakes region.

“So, you have films that speak about the outdoors, you have films that speak about the people that live in those areas, and it doesn’t have that direct connection to the water, which offers a little bit more variety,” Poli said. “It’s a really nice connecting point between what is being done at the Fresh Coast Film Festival up in Marquette, and what’s going on here in Northeast Michigan.”

MacDonald said most of the Sanctuary Selections films are in the 14- to 17-minute range.

“It’s generally, just a great opportunity to come and connect with people,” Poli added.

There will be time from 6 to 7 p.m. to mingle with filmmakers prior to the film screenings. Following the event, filmmakers and attendees are invited to an afterparty at the Black Sheep Pub in downtown Alpena.

Sanctuary Selections films and brief descriptions are listed below.

“The Spirits of the Nahma Inn” is a 17-minute film by Eric Machiela of Michigan.

“Ghost towns in the Upper Peninsula aren’t simply abandoned communities,” a film description reads. “Some of them are still very much alive. Told from the perspective of the Nahma Inn employees, they recount the spooky and unexplainable happenings that occur on a regular basis.”

“To Be A Good Home” is a 15-minute film by Evan Flow of Minnesota.

“‘To Be A Good Home’ follows three women who farm and steward land in northern Minnesota,” the description explains. “Kaitlyn is a descendant of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, tending her plot at the place of the gardens, Gitigaaning. Starr is an urban farmer, feeding her community near the shores of Lake Superior, Gichigami. Hannah is a regenerative farmer and rancher, caring for her herd and building the soil with them along Medicine Creek.”

“Kiko” is a 16-minute film by Aaron Peterson, Darryn Schulte, and Daniel Wanschura from Michigan.

“Kiko Silvelet is the Keweenaw’s favorite Brazilian Yooper,” the film description states. “He rides elite endurance events on his beloved BMX bike, plays accordion, makes a little trouble, and tells truths we all probably need to hear.”

“All Too Clear: A Journey into the Great Lakes” is a 20-minute film by Yvonne Drebert and Zach Melnick, a husband-and-wife team from Ontario, Canada.

“Cutting-edge underwater drones explore how quadrillions of tiny invasive quagga mussels are re-engineering the ecosystem of the Great Lakes at a scale not seen since the glaciers,” a film description notes. “Part scientific exploration, part natural history adventure, the film shines a spotlight on freshwater wildlife and environments like never before.”

“Watermarks” is a 14-minute film by Rishi Sethi of Pennsylvania.

“‘Watermarks’ shows how one person’s dedication and passion for paddling, river surfing, filmmaking, and conservation can have a ripple effect, inspiring others to take action and make a difference in their communities,” reads a description of the film. “The story is centered on a program called First Waves, which provides under-resourced youth with the chance to enjoy and protect their local waterways.”

This project is proudly supported in part by the Michigan Arts and Culture Council and Michigan Humanities, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

The Thunder Bay International Film Festival starts Jan. 22 in Rogers City, heads to Harrisville on Jan. 23, and continues through Jan. 26 at the Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center in Alpena. For tickets, film descriptions, and to view the schedule, visit thunderbayfriends.org.

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