International Short Films Festival for Children and Families
Returning for a third year, the Parrish Art Museum will once again be collaborating with the New York International Children’s Film Festival to host a program that will feature short international films for young people and families.
The event will run from 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, August 1, when three sessions during the course of the day will screen over 35 films for audience members of different age groups. The short cinemas will be shown in the Parrish Art Museum’s Lichtenstein Theater.
The first session, Shorts for Tots, will be directed to an age group of 3 to 6 years old. It will run from 11 a.m. to noon.
The second section be presented is titled Short Films One. Appropriate for children between the ages of 5 to 10, it will start at 1 p.m. and go until 2:15 p.m.
Short Films Two is the third, and last, session of the day. It will run from 3 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. and is meant for children ages 8 to 14.
The participating filmmakers come from all over the globe, representing a variety of countries. This includes the United States, United Kingdom, France, Australia, Germany, Russia, Japan, Nicaragua, Belgium, Mexico, Norway, South Korea, Finland, Croatia, Canada, Ukraine, the Czech Republic, and the Netherlands.
Two Oscar-nominated shorts will be screened at the event.
The first, Me and My Moulton by Torill Kove (Canadian-Norwegian, 2014, 14 min.), is about a young girl who longs for her family to be like other Norwegian families of the 1960s.
The second, Single Life by Joris Oprins, Marieke Blaauw, and Job Roggeveen (Netherlands, 2014, 2 min.) tells the tale of a young girl who play a mysterious vinyl single and suddenly receives the ability to travel through her life.
The other shorts will cover themes that range from music, and animal stories to children’s adventures. Imagination by Catherine Chepik (Ukraine, 2013, 9 min.) is one of several films that is art-based. The short is about a young girl who discovers wild worlds made of clay, plasticine, and paper when she is playing in her room.
Fantasy will also be used in some of the films to tell stories about significant historical figures. One such film will be The Little Cousteau by Jakub Kouril (Czech Republic, 2014, 8 min.). It will follow the story of a boy who escapes his snow-covered city through dreams of deep sea adventures similar to his hero, the legendary Jacques Cousteau.
Topics of a more serious nature will also be dealt with in creative ways. I’ll Stop Crying If You Stop Crying, by Andy Glynne (United Kingdom, 2012, 4.5 min.) will relate the story of a ten-year old Hamid, who maturely reflects upon his experience fleeing from Eritrea to the United Kingdom with his mother when he was only seven.
The films will all be in English or have English subtitles.
Jennifer Duque, Family and Children’s Programs Director, said, “The NYICFF is the Best of the Best for Children’s entertainment.” She continued, “These inspiring shorts illuminate the creative process of animated and documentary filmmaking with enjoyable, high quality films for families.”
There is a $10 fee for the entire day of films. Entry is free for members, children and students. The price includes admission into the museum.
For additional information visit: parrishart.org.