Aspiring film-makers between the ages of seven and 16 will have the opportunity to take advantage of a number of film production camps being run this summer by the Bermuda International Film Festival.

The camps, which will be taught by instructors Katrina Kawaley-Lathan, Jon Legere (pictured), Vicky Zabriskie and Kalilah Robinson, will be held at between June 30 and August 29 under the umbrella of the BIFF Film Academy educational programme, presented in conjunction with partners Butterfield Bank. All films made in the camps will be screened at the BIFF Kids Children's Film Festival, which runs October 17-19.

Stage One camps for kids 7-9 will be held July 21-25 (Acting Camp IA), August 4-8 (Acting Camp 1B) and August 18-22 (Basics of Storytelling). Stage one camps introduce students to the art of filmmaking. Camps run Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

Stage Two camps for kids 10-13 will be held July 14-18 (Animation), August 11-15 (Acting Camp II) and August 25-29 (Camera). These camps will illustrate what filmmaking, in its many forms, entails and provide a hands-on approach to this art form. Camps run Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

All Stage One and Two camps can be attended individually or in conjunction with others. After-camp care is available from 3-5 p.m. at a cost of $15 per child per day.

A Stage Three Boot Camp for teenagers 14-16 will be held weekdays from June 30-July 11.

Each student will make his or her own film during the 10-day camp. This camp immerses teens in the filmmaking process. Students will perform all filmmaking roles and each student will write and complete his/her own movie. Boot camp runs Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.

Participation in the Stage One and Stage Two camps is limited to 16 participants, while the Stage Three Boot Camp will accept 10 participants.

Katrina Kawaley-Lathan has studied and taught both theatre and dance, and has acted in a variety of Canadian short films. She majored in drama at Queen's University in Canada. She combined her love of theatre and teaching in Australia in 2006, where she completed her teaching certification and performed in Melbourne community theatre. She will teach the acting camps for the second year running.

Jon Legere, who has a degree in video and sound from the State University of New York, worked in the multimedia area in New York, and now runs his own design studio, Lava Visual Boutique and the event company, Volcanic Productions. He will teach the animation camp for the second year running.

Kalilah Robinson is a Bermudian cinematographer who most recently worked on the feature-length documentary film, 'Bermuda Gombeys: Past, Present and Future', which screened at BIFF 2008. She will teach the storytelling and camera camps. She attended Stanford University in California, studying psychology and film theory, before taking a one-year film production course at New York Film Academy. Since leaving school, she has worked on four feature films, two live TV productions and numerous shorts, music videos and commercials.

Vicky Zabriskie was chief instructor at BIFF's summer film camps in 2005 and 2006 as well as sitting on the management committee of the BIFF Kids Film Festival and on the programme committee of BIFF. She earned a Master's degree in film production from Florida State University, and also taught at FSU. She has made numerous short films, some of which were shot and completed in Bermuda, and is now working at Columbia University in New York.

The camps are priced at $250 per week. More information about the camps, and application forms, are available on the BIFF website at www.biff.bm.