Expanding Opportunities for Diverse Students:
Meet Mark Leschinsky,
Founder and Executive Director, Student World Impact Film Festival
Mark Leschinsky is an award-winning filmmaker and Founder & Executive Director of the Student World Impact Film Festival (SWIFF), the first student-run film festival providing a platform for more than 12,100 aspiring filmmakers in 120 countries. Mark has partnered with Amazon Prime Video and raised grants from Google and Microsoft on a mission to empower youth artists.
What is your personal/professional story?
I am a 17-year-old social-impact filmmaker and founder of the Student World Impact Film Festival (SWIFF), the first student-run film festival providing a platform for more than 12,100 aspiring filmmakers in 120 countries. I have partnered with Amazon Prime Video and raised more than $110,000 from Google and Microsoft on a mission to empower youth artists. I am a first-generation Ukrainian-American, and I am dedicated to providing a space for young storytellers to feel heard and supported by a community of peers. The first festival that took place in November 2022 showcased 3,115 films (121 countries). From this successful foundation, the June 2023 festival showcased 13,890 films.
According to 410 responses, 98.6% of SWIFF participants agree that “the absence of submission fees at SWIFF provided a greater opportunity to showcase [their] work compared to festivals that charge fees.”
- 1 in 4 participants reported that SWIFF was their first festival, meaning SWIFF provided 3,025 storytellers with their very first opportunity to crack into the film festival circuit
- 357,848 people (163 countries) viewed SWIFF.org educational filmmaking articles
- 806 volunteers and student jury members empowered to join the team
- 10,004 participants attended SWIFF 2023
- 563 reviews, averaging 4.8 stars
- 1 film distributed globally through SWIFF’s partnership with Amazon Prime Video
What key moments in your life led you to where you are today?
As long as I can remember, I have been mesmerized by the magic of storytelling. At age 11, I created my first film, “The Lighthouse” (2017). It highlighted my teacher who guided his students to success, just as a lighthouse guides ships in the darkness. Creating it with only a cell phone, I was overjoyed when it was accepted to festivals. In the following years, I created three additional films focused on education and social impact. Today, I am proud that my films have been accepted into 67 film festivals internationally.
After five years of being immersed in the film festival circuit, I made an important observation: the potentially career-launching film festival circuit is, unfortunately, inaccessible to many aspiring artists. Why? Simply put, submission fees. Traditional film festivals charge submission fees—that is the established business model of the industry. But for a budding artist, submission fees limit access to the festival circuit—a potentially career-launching opportunity. When I was submitting my films, submission fees of $20, $50, and even $75 per festival began to snowball, and I was left with a bill that I couldn’t afford to pay as a high school student. I felt quashed. The festivals I wanted to be part of the most had to be left out because I could not afford their fees. Only with exhaustive research for the lowest-fee festivals, I got my film submitted. But this experience gave me a keener appreciation for the thousands of young storytellers across our globe who likely face the same challenge. At that time, I began to realize the severity of the issue: access to a platform to share stories (a film festival) was disproportionately limited to those with financial means. To help my peers, I founded the Student World Impact Film Festival (SWIFF): a novel nonprofit festival that waives submission fees and prioritizes marginalized voices.
Where does your passion to serve come from?
I believe that the power of storytelling is incredible. Stories have the power to transform perspectives, connect people, and inspire change. However, as a Ukrainian filmmaker, I have learned that not all storytellers have equal opportunities to share their voices. Young and low-income filmmakers are hindered by submission fees at film festivals, and often, young BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) filmmakers struggle with limited resources and discrimination due to race, ethnicity, gender, and other marginalized identities.
To address these inequalities, I created the Student World Impact Film Festival (SWIFF), a global film festival that celebrates the power of film to create positive change by showcasing student voices from marginalized communities. SWIFF celebrates diverse films with impactful messages from young storytellers by streaming films live to global audiences during the festival.
Ultimately, the most significant impact brought to the global student filmmaker community is SWIFF's dedication to breaking down barriers, providing a platform for diverse voices, and fostering belonging for young artists.
2022-23 SWIFF Impact Report: https://lightfilmfest.org/impact-report
Watch SWIFF Student Films: https://www.lightfilmfest.org/festival/watch-films
How can GlobalMindED help you reach your goals?
GlobalMindED’s commitment to promoting diversity could catalyze the visibility of the Student World Impact Film Festival (SWIFF) to help more young artists around the world. By showcasing SWIFF's commitment to amplifying marginalized voices through storytelling, GlobalMindED would extend our reach to a wider audience of filmmakers, educators, and advocates. This exposure would empower SWIFF to attract and nurture more underrepresented talent, fostering a vibrant community of storytellers. The GlobalMindED platform would serve as a beacon by inspiring marginalized filmmakers eager to share their art to learn about SWIFF.
