Slick Rock Student Film Festival
On May 9, 2025, the 21st Annual Slick Rock Film Festival was held at the Visalia Fox Theatre. This yar we had over 430 film submissions from 49 schools across the Central Valley.
The Slick Rock Student Film Festival is Central California's premier film competition for middle and high school students in Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, and Tulare counties. It is a program of the Tulare County Office of Education with major support from the Tulare County Suicide Prevention Task Force.
Slick Rock challenges students to meet industry standards in the technical aspects of film production. The competition is divided into two levels: middle school and high school. Each level offers a variety of film genres for participation.
For more information, contact Slick Rock staff at slickrock@tcoe.org.
Important 2026 Slick Rock Student Film Festival dates:
Film Festival: TBA
The Slick Rock Student Film Festival was launched in 2004 by Visalia Unified School District. The Festival was initially created to improve student writing. In 2003, a federal grant facilitated by Congressman Devin Nunes, was awarded to the district to address poor test scores in writing. Part of the money was applied to helping students write scripts and learn the language of film to tell interesting well-written stories. Although the federal funding ended in 2005, the Festival had gained support from many community and technology partners allowing it to continue and expanded from Tulare County to the entire Central Valley. Since 2013, the Tulare County Office of Education has proudly carried on the tradition, administering the festival under the direction of the CHARACTER COUNTS! Program.
The Slick Rock Student Film Festival engages students in a positive and rewarding activity. By fostering their creativity, Slick Rock produces the skills students will need to compete in a global economy. The project-based competition requires students to produce a video in a variety of genres for real-world audiences, leading them to interact with the local community.
California State Standards
In 2019, the California State Board of Education adopted new Arts content standards for students in pre-kindergarten through grade 12. The California Arts Standards (CAS) include the five Arts disciplines: Dance, Media Arts, Music, Theatre, and Visual Arts.
The standards are organized around four artistic processes (creating, preforming/presenting/producing, responding, and connecting).
The artistic processes are divided into eleven anchor standards that repeat through each arts discipline and all across all grade levels. The artistic processes are defined as follows:
• Creating (all arts disciplines) - Conceiving and developing new artistic ideas and work.
• Performing (dance, music, theatre) - Realizing artistic ideas and work through interpretation and presentation.
• Presenting (visual arts) - Interpreting and sharing artistic work.
• Producing (media arts) - Realizing and presenting artistic ideas and work.
• Responding (all arts disciplines) - Understanding and evaluating how the arts convey meaning.
• Connecting (all arts disciplines) - Relating artistic ideas and work with personal meaning and external context.