San Francisco Art & Film for Teens

Our annual prize for writing on film

Each year San Francisco Art & Film offers the Tarkovsky Prize for the best student essay on a film screened at Cine Club. Cash prizes up to $250 for the 3 highest scoring essays. Submissions for the 2024 Tarkovsky Prize are currently open.

Guidelines for essays on film:

Entries should be submitted as a doc or PDF file to isaiah@artandfilm.org. Any Bay Area high school student can enter and any film shown in Cine Club’s current season is valid as a subject. Entries are closed at this time, but check back in Winter 2025!

Please do not write a review.  This should be an essay that explores what you think the film is about, using details from the film to illustrate your point. The more personal and specific the writing, the better the essay. Film is a visual medium so you’ll want to pay special attention to the imagery used in the film and some of the images that left an impression on you as it relates to your subject.

You do not need to summarize the entire plot, you can presume the reader is familiar with the film. That said, you need to provide enough context for your ideas to bring the reader with you as you make your case.

For examples of what we are looking for, we suggest you read past winning essays listed below:

PAST WINNERS

The 2024 Winners of the Tarkovsky Essay Prize

• 1st prize: Logan Ragland for THREE COLOURS: RED

• 2nd prize: Muhammad Rehman for ORLANDO: A Society’s Review

• 3rd prize: Isabella Mo for INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS

• Honorable Mentions

  • Elfriede Suárez Reichenberger for The Timeless Horror of INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS

The 2023 Winners of the Tarkovsky Essay Prize

• 1st prize: Hannah Wissotzky for Viendo Roja—On VOLVER

• 2nd prize: Elena Sasu for REBELS OF THE NEON GOD: Existing Without Living

• 3rd prize: Catherine Hung for RAN

• Honorable Mentions

  • Marshall Muscat for AN ANGEL AT MY TABLE

  • Marlena Rohde for LA DOLCE VITA

  • Ivona Sutilovic for Suspense in Reed’s THE THIRD MAN

The 2021 Winners of the Tarkovsky Essay Prize

• 1st prize Cheryl Chen for KLOPKA: Existing in the Gray

• 2nd prize: Jessica Schott-Rosenfield for King Vidor’s THE CROWD

• 3rd prize: Katherine Song for LA STRADA: Unfortunately, it Didn’t Make Me Cry

• Honorable Mentions

  • Isabella Wong for LA STRADA: The Tragedy of Human Nature

  • Erica Paschke for Poverty’s Cyclical Melancholy in KILLER OF SHEEP

  • Marvin Chen for Separated by Thousands of Miles in THE FAREWELL

  • William Nakamura for LA HAINE

The 2020 Winners of the Tarkovsky Essay Prize

• 1st prize Sebastian Kaplan (Lowell) for Getting Sentimental Over You: Why CITY LIGHTS Still Triumphs

• 2nd prize: Huckleberry Shelf (Asawa SotA) for Post-War Paranoia and American Privilege in THE THIRD MAN

• 3rd prize: Shiuan Cheng (Lowell) for Portrayal of Humanity in BLADE RUNNER

• Honorable Mentions

  • Tomi Osawa (Lowell) for Fair is Foul, and Foul is Fair — On LADY MACBETH

  • Alex Clare for APOCALYPSE NOW - The Horrors of War

  • Lilo Bergensten Oliv (Lowell) for Isolation and Unfamiliarity in APOCALYPSE NOW

The 2019 Winners of the Tarkovsky Essay Prize

• 1st prize Sebastian Kaplan (Lowell) for Hiding Behind Sunglasses in 8 1/2

• 2nd prize Scully Randlett (Lowell) for The Noise of LE SAMOURAI

• 3rd Prize Sofi Orkin (Ruth Asawa School of the Arts) for Kieslowski’s THREE COLORS: RED

• Honorable Mentions

  • Una Lomax-Emrick (Urban) for The Racket of Consciousness: THREE COLORS: RED

  • Jessica Schott-Rosenfield (Ruth Asawa School of the Arts) for Wong Kar-wai’s FALLEN ANGELS

  • Nicholas Buckwalter (Berkeley) for The Subjectivity of the Human Experience in
    Julian Schnabel’s THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY

The 2018 Winners of the Tarkovsky Essay Prize

• 1st prize Sebastian Kaplan (Lowell) for References and Religion in THERE WILL BE BLOOD

• 2nd prize Nickolas Buckwalter (Berkeley) for The Beauty of Sadness in BLUE

• 3rd Prize Hannah Duane (SotA) for Bergman's PERSONA

• Honorable Mentions

  • Una Lomax-Emrick (Urban) for Fall Apart, Make A Mess: What FRANCES HA Teaches Us

  • Esme Cohen (Lowell) for MOONRISE KINGDOM: Yellow-Tinted Love

  • Stephen Zambon for Paul Thomas Anderson's THERE WILL BE BLOOD

The 2017 Winners of the Tarkovsky Essay Prize

• 1st prize Owen Reese (16) for The Dark Journey of FANNY AND ALEXANDER

• 2nd prize Timmy Rouede (15) for Reed’s THE THIRD MAN

• 3rd Prize Lucas Neumeyer (17) for NASHVILLE

• Honorable Mentions

  • Miles Byrne for LA HAINE - Life in the Banilue

The 2016 Winners of the Tarkovsky Essay Prize

• 1st prize Lucas Neumeyer (17) for THE CONFORMIST

• 2nd prize Alexander Vaheid (18) for BLADE RUNNER

• 3rd Prize Owen Reese (16) for IL POSTO & AMARCORD: Two Views of Growing Up

  Jillian Lim (14) for THE LAST PICTURE SHOW

The 2012 Winners of the Tarkovsky Essay Prize

• 1st prize Abigail Schott Rosenfield (16) for DOWN BY LAW: What Jack and Zack Don’t Have

• 2nd prize Frances Saux (16) for TWO WOMEN

• 3rd Prize Midori Chen (16) for DOWN BY LAW

• Honorable Mentions

  • Bailey Lewis Van (15) for THE CONSTANT GARDENER

The 2011 Winners of the Tarkovsky Essay Prize

• 1st prize Mykel Mogg (15) for Choice in LA DOLCE VITA

• 2nd prize Abigail Schott Rosenfield (15) for Hope in LA DOLCE VITA

• 3rd Prize Midori Chen (15) for Episodes in LA DOLCE VITA

The 2001 Winners of the Tarkovsky Essay Prize

• 1st prize Daniel Kleinman (16) for Clear Symbolism in the Confusing Imagery of ANDREI RUBLEV

• 2nd prize Stella Lochman (15) for Images in Tarkovsky’s ANDREI RUBLEV

• 3rd Prize Alexandra Hontalas-Adams (14) for Symbolism in ANDREI RUBLEV