Edinburgh International Festival today launched Festival Backstage, a behind-the-scenes mini site for Festival 2012 which offers a backstage glimpse of what goes into putting the Festival together, with videos and interviews with artists, staff members and fans made by young local filmmakers. The first film is about Julien Thibault, a young dancer from French company Ballet Preljocaj, who takes a break from rehearsals to talk about the challenges and the excitement of being a professional dancer. Watch the video at http://eif.co.uk/festivalbackstage

This year, in partnership with Standard Life and Napier University, they are running a competition offering one lucky young person aged between 12 and 17 the opportunity to join the Standard Life Festival Backstage production team for a day during the height of the Festival. They are looking for budding film makers or presenters to make a short film reporting on their passion for or experience of something cultural – it could be anything from a weekly dance class, or their talented brother or sister, to a recent trip to the theatre. A selection of the films will be hosted on their digital channels and a panel of experts will choose a winner to join the crew during the Festival, as well as winning tickets to a Festival show.

Entrants to the competition must be between 12 and 17. To enter upload a video (maximum length of 2 minutes) to YouTube and send the link to backstagecompetition@eif.co.uk. The deadline for entries is 12noon on 29 June 2012. A shortlist will be announced on 9 July, with the winner announced on 13 July. For more information visit http://eif.co.uk/backstagecompetition