OK, Inc.’s Friends4Friends (F4F) Film Festival is an Oscar-like, red carpet event held annually at the historic DeYor Performing Arts Center in Northeast Ohio. The F4F Film Festival features student created short films, live original music performances, and an awards ceremony.
The F4F Short Films are created by local Peer Leadership Councils, made up of middle and high school students. Youth involved in the Peer Leadership Councils determine the risk behavior that adversely affects youth in their school, develop a script, act out the script, film their production, and write an original song. Creating these short films gives youth the opportunity to become leaders—change agents in their schools and communities.
The F4F Short Films are vignettes or short stories that dramatize real-life scenarios depicting youth watching their friends experience a crisis involving a risk behavior such as sexual pressure or sexting. The youth in the short story has the choice to be a bystander and do nothing, or intervene and help a friend.
The F4F Short Films are all launched simultaneously on YouTube ten days prior to the F4F Film Festival. One Like on YouTube equals a vote. The F4F Short Film with the most Likes at the end of the ten days receives the Best Film award.
