Winners of the 2026 Student Okanagan Film Festival. Left to right: Michael V. Smith, Astrida Neimanis (accepting on behalf of Clara Kleininger Wanik), Riley Palmer, Erin Scott, Ariel Leung, Ana Vallejo Pérez
A public screening for the annual Student Okanagan Film Festival was held on campus on April 27, 2026.
The festival showcases emerging student filmmakers from high schools and post-secondary institutions around the Okanagan Valley.
“This year’s program was very diverse. We saw a full range of genres and what really stood out were all the video poems, and we selected more video poems than any previous screening,” says Michael V. Smith, co-organizers and judges for the festival.
The 2026 festival Jury members were FCCS faculty members Dan Keyes, Michael V Smith, Myron Campbell, and Jacen Dennis, and the student reps were Gabriela Chan, Samantha Chen & Ana Vallejo Pérez.
“With such a diverse selection, we didn’t have clear categories for awards this year and instead, we chose to award the top 5 films, nominated and voted upon by the jury,” says Myron Campbell, co-organizer and judge. “In general, the quality was so high that we actually ended up with the longest program in the festival’s history, which is a great problem to have.”
Awards were given to:
- My ancestors and my children by Erin Scott
- Deer Song by Riley Palmer
- Thirsty by Clara Kleininger Wanik
- Hidden Light by Ariel Leung
- dreaming, again by Ana Vallejo Pérez
Films selected for the festival were:
- There is a Small One inside me, by Kel Taylor
- Agent Allo, by Kaleb Sproule
- Birds, by Mariana Perez
- Ada and the Creature, by Elvira Walsh
- Thirsty Clara, by Kleininger Wanik
- BREAKDOWN – Music Video, by Lorenzo Rodrigues
- Beach Baby, by Ella Schmor
- Cicada Rhythm, by Erika Lachance
- Deer Song, by Riley Palmer
- Two Worlds Apart by Adam Carter
- Depleted, by Gudmund Rothing
- dreaming, again, by ana vallejo pérez
- Galaxy T.V, by Handro Hougan
- In Motion, by Grant Malcolm
- Léa (et moi), by SophieAnne Lefebvre
- Untitled Star, by Alex Boldt
- my ancestors and my children, by Erin Scott
- Growth, by Stephanie Lu
- Fishy Friends, by Jundan Diao
- To the artist who remembers, by Gabriela Chan
- Shark Bait, by Shayne Hitchens
- Snowday, by Sarah Walter
- The Shadow, by Gigi Yang
- RAW, by Erika Rios Prado
- Hidden Light, by Ariel Leung
Media Studies alumni Brenna Lam Kennedy was also selected to create the branding and graphics and poster design for this year’s festival.
View the full 2026 Student Okanagan Film Festival reel: