Light House Studio
We equip young people with the skills and confidence to tell their stories and build community through collaborative filmmaking.
Light House Studio
We equip young people with the skills and confidence to tell their stories and build community through collaborative filmmaking.
Light House Studio's Summer Film Academy features hands-on filmmaking workshops for all ages and experience levels. With the guidance of expert teaching artists, students work in small groups to create their own short films over the course of one or two weeks.
As they learn screenwriting, cinematography, and video editing, students also build life skills like collaboration, creativity, planning, and communication. With topics ranging from comedy and science fiction to animation, sound design, there's always something new to explore, and students can build their skills week after week, year after year.
Workshops are broken into elementary (rising 3rd-5th grade), middle school (rising 6th-8th), and high school (rising 9th - college freshman) age levels.
Every workshop concludes with a red carpet screening for family and friends at the Vinegar Hill Theatre. Projects from Summer Film Academy are eligible for our annual Youth Film Festival in September, and many have gone on to success at film festivals around the world. In 2025, Light House films racked up a total of 32 festival acceptances and 24 awards!
Watch some great movies made at Summer Film Academy!
Light House has served the Charlottesville community for over 25 years. It's a place where young people learn to tell their own stories, work together, and build valuable creative and technical skills. It's a place to try making a movie for the very first time, and a place to create something new for your portfolio before applying to college! It's a place to connect with your community and make new friends. Most of all, it's a place to have fun! Join us at our two spaces right off the Downtown Mall for an unforgettable summer.
Tuition assistance is available for all workshops. Fill out the Tuition Assistance Application and wait for a response from our team with further instructions!
Questions about our workshops? See the Summer FAQ or email us at programs@lighthousestudio.org.
Watch behind-the-scenes videos of Summer Film Academy workshops!
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