The American Film Institute will take part in the first White House Student Film Festival starting Friday, Variety reports.
The festival will screen short films on technology in education by K-12 students. In all, the committee received more than 2,500 videos and, after a thorough selection, 16 finalists have been invited for screenings in the East Room.
The festival is being jointly organized by the White House and AFI and will be attended by more than 100 students, teachers and parents.
Inaugurating the film festival, President Barack Obama will deliver a speech highlighting his ConnectED program, which aims at transforming education in the United States by connecting nearly all students to next-generation broadband and wireless technology in the next five years.
It will also include a preview of the maiden episode of the television series "Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey" on March 9. This TV series will be simultaneously launched throughout the United States by U.S. Fox Networks, which includes Fox, FX and the National Geographic Channel. The 13-episode series will be broadcast through 220 channels in 181 countries.
Every year, the AFI organizes a documentary film festival, AFI Docs, which is screened at different places in Washington, including the AFI Silver Theater. This year, AFI Docs will be held from June 18-22.
"AFI is proud and honored to support the White House in its celebration of tomorrow's storytellers," AFI President and CEO Bob Gazzale said. "Here they have shown that film and technology will help lead the nation forward - an enduring reminder that movies matter."
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