FILMS
WITHOUT
BORDERS

Project Spark Studio’s Films Without Borders program provides US-based PSS students the opportunity to remotely collaborate with international youth on animated short films. The purpose of Films Without Borders is to bring countries together by creating global films that are animated by kids for kids. Films Without Borders is thoroughly integrated into the PSS curriculum. Each PSS course teaches students all facets of filmmaking, while simultaneously allowing them to create animated elements that will directly contribute to a Films Without Borders short film.

To date, PSS has collaborated on animated short films with Ireland, Britain, Iceland, and Sweden. PSS currently has three more films in development with France, Nigeria, and Wales. With each project, PSS fosters a safe place where young people of all socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds can use their unique gifts and talents to create an internationally authentic film.

The Films Without Borders process begins when PSS students choose a nation with which they desire to collaborate. PSS instructors then contact a school in the selected country to begin a filmmaking partnership. Over the course of two years, PSS students interact with the youth from that nation through Zoom videoconferencing, learning about their culture, history, and customs to construct a culturally authentic film that takes place in the nation with which they are collaborating.

The creation of a Films Without Borders short film is a 24-month project. International youth virtually participate in the process, consulting creatively on each stage of the movie from inception to completion.

Project Spark Studio Films have won over 50 festival awards and recognitions around the world. Domestic and international PSS students oZen discuss their film after each screening, receiving direct feedback from audiences to help perfect their craft as visual storytellers.