Tag: japan

Opening Night: The Cat’s Meow (Ages 6+ Short Film Program)

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THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 27
7PM Film Program
5:30PM Happy Hour

SATURDAY, MARCH 7 – 11AM

Ages 6–8, and cat lovers of all ages

** Presented in partnership with NEKO Cat Cafe **

This feline-focused (and allergy-free!) animation program is filled with cuddly cats and their adorable antics. Kitties truly make the world go ‘round in this celebration of glorious stop-motion, painted, hand-drawn and CG animation from ten cat-loving countries.

67 min.

Content advisory: “The Quintet of the Sunset,” a stop-motion film made with great humor and skill, tackles the subject of mortality in a tenderhearted way.

** Filmmaker María Teresa Salcedo Montero in attendance (Wild Lea)! Her presence is made possible by Proimagenes Colombia and Universidad Manuela Beltrán.**

5:30 Happy Hour:

Kids and families are invited to mingle and munch in the lobby leading up to the screening; we’ll be crafting our own cat puppets to play with and snacking on treats from our neighbors at Rhein Haus Restaurant.

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Sun Circle: Films from Japan 思い出の日々 (All Ages Short Film Program)

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Saturday, February 29 – 3:30pm

All ages

These eight animated films, filled with Japanese traditional colors, tell stories of summer days filled with noisy cicada songs, lucky charms, bento boxes and twins. Curated by CFFS intern Marina Amagai.

50 min.

蝉の五月蠅い夏、縁起物、キャラ弁、禅の心や双子ちゃん等様々な日本を感じられる７つのフィルムを集めたプログラムです。
上映時間：50分
日本に興味がある全ての人々におススメです。
**全ての映画は英語字幕付きもしくは、セリフなしでお楽しみいただけます。

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Icing on the Cake (Ages 2+ Short Film Program)

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Saturday, February 29 – 11:00
On-Site at Northwest Film Forum
(1515 12th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122)

Sunday, March 8 – 3:00pm
Off-Site at Rainier Arts Center
(3515 S Alaska St., Seattle, WA 98118)

Ages 2+

These gentle, colorful animated films — filled with curious animals and adventurous kids — are all about singing, growing up, flying high and celebrating the magic of life, in all its lovely rainbow colors.

74 min.

** On Sunday, March 8, join Children’s Film Festival Seattle off-site at Rainier Arts Center (3515 S. Alaska St.) for a full day of colorful Closing Day festivities! **

** The March 8th screening will be sliding scale: $5-$15. Those who can afford to pay at higher price point are encouraged to do so, to create more accessibility for those who might not. **

Celebrating the festival’s globally-minded programs in one of Seattle’s most diverse neighborhoods, the morning will kick off with your choice of “Om Nom Nom” or “Lift-off” – two programs that combine breakfast and a film screening – and then continue throughout the day with films for all ages, intergenerational hands-on workshops, and an awards ceremony!

Finally, the entire festival closes out with a live performance by youth from the School of Spectrum Dance Theater, who will choreograph a routine exclusively in response to the evening’s feature film, Moving Stories! Moving Stories follows youth from around the world to showcase the transformative power and universal language of dance.


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Caleidoscope (Ages 2+ Short Film Program)

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Sunday, March 1 – 11:00am

Ages 2+

These animated films are bursting with colors, textures, music and life. You’ll run through a rainbow with a pack of dogs, swim with tadpoles, fly with a flock of bright birds, race through a forest with critters of all kinds and even see the colorful insides of a dinosaur’s belly! Along the way, there are gentle lessons about how to stay true to yourself and your friends and embrace the ways you are special and different.

69 min.

** Filmmaker Jorge Alberto Vega Rivera, Producer Angela Maria Castro Revelo (“The Cubicbird”) in attendance! **

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Opening Night: Castle in the Sky (CFFS 2018)

Thursday, Jan 25, 2018 @ 7 PM

(Hayao Miyazaki, Japan, animation, 1986, 124 min, in English)
For ages 6+

Gala Opening Night, sponsored by The Boeing Company and co-presented with Seattle International Film Festival, at the Egyptian Theatre

Doors open at 6:30pm for red carpet photos! Come as your favorite character from a Miyazaki film, there will be a costume contest with special prizes!

From the legendary Studio Ghibli and director Hayao Miyazaki comes a rollicking adventure about a young girl with a mysterious crystal pendant who falls out of the sky and into the arms and life of young Pazu. Together they search for a floating island, the site of a long-dead civilization promising enormous wealth and power to those who can unlock its secrets. But greedy pirates, spies, and the army are also all in hot pursuit! As one of Studio Ghibli’s earliest films, and the first to be released officially under the studio’s banner, “Castle in the Sky” quickly established the studio’s reputation for strong heroines, unforgettable storytelling and beautiful artwork. The English-dubbed cast includes the vocal talents of Anna Paquin, James Van Der Beek, Cloris Leachman, Mark Hamill, Mandy Patinkin, Jim Cummings and more.

Please note that this special event is being held at the Egyptian Theater, 805 E. Pine Street

 

 

WATCH THE TRAILER:

Journeys, Genders and Identity (Shorts Program)

Saturday, January 26 – 11:30am

Ages 11+

This program celebrates beautiful and complex stories of identity and diversity — just like you, the people you will meet in this program are one of kind, finding their way towards their authentic selves, rejecting stereotypes and reaching out to others who respect and affirm their journeys.

68 min.

* Co-presented with Three Dollar Bill Cinema! *

Content advisory: Animated characters in “Flash Flood” do not wear clothes, but their bodies do not signal any gender characteristics. In Little Heroes two Israeli boys discuss terrorism, in a simplistic way, through the lens of fear that they have learned. In Cat Days a doctor smokes. In Tough there is imagery of a gun while a daughter hears her mother’s memory of serving in an army.

 

 

Short Films in this Program:

People

 
 

(Lucas Hespenheide, US, 2017, animation, 1 min, English) Seattle premiere!

An introspective look at the differences between people, and learning to love who you are.

Aidan and Albert Sykes

 
 

(Richard O’Connor, US, 2017, animation, 3 min, English)

9-year-old Aidan Sykes, of Jackson, Mississippi, asks his father, Albert, a few important questions.

Cat Days

 
 

(John Frickey, Japan & Germany, animation, 2018, 11 min, Japanese with English subtitles) Seattle premiere!

What happens when you are told you are cat, but you know you are really a boy?

Flash Flood

 
 

(Ali MacKay, Canada & US, animation, 2107, 6 min, English)

Deep within an animated dream, three transgender people confront a cataclysmic flood.

Trailer >

199 Little Heroes: Newo from Israel

 
 

(Sigrid Klausmann-Sittler, Germany, live action documentary, 2018, 15 min, Hebrew with English subtitles) North American premiere!

A boy in Israel loves ballet, and finds friends and family who support him.

The Importance of Finding the Other

 

(Marcy Lyn Frutchey, US, live action, 2017, 9 min, English) Seattle premiere!

A young, biracial girl sets out to discover what it means to be an “other.”

Trailer >

Tough

 
 

(Jennifer Zhang, UK, animation, 2016, 5 min, in Mandarin and English, with English subtitles)

A British-born daughter has grown mature enough to be more curious about her mother’s experiences in China, and understand how differently she grew up.

Trailer >

The Big Picture

 
 

(Pooja Das Sarka, India, live action, 2017, 20 min, English and Hindi with English subtitles) Seattle premiere!

A teenager’s love of Bollywood musicals leads him to question why people believe there are certain things men and women should and shouldn’t do.

Trailer >

 

 

Don’t want to miss a single thing? Can’t blame you! Consider a Festival Pass —

Focus on Japan: Films from the KINEKO Film Festival (Shorts Program)

Sunday, January 27 – 1:00pm
Wednesday, January 30 – 3:00pm
Saturday, February 16 – 3:00pm

(Feb. 9 screening has been rescheduled to Feb. 16 due to inclement weather)

Ages 8+

** Presented in collaboration with KINEKO! **

Enter a magical realm where mysterious beings are half-mortal, half-god, patient animals are the guardians of boys and girls, and friendship is a force as magical as the wind. These animated, all-Japanese-language films are brought to Seattle through our festival’s friendship and cooperation with the creators of the KINEKO International Children’s Film Festival in Tokyo.

64 min.

 

 

Short Films in this Program:

Fox Fears

(Miyo Sato, Japan, animation, 2015, 8 min, Japanese with English subtitles) North American premiere!

On the evening of a village festival, a young boy name Bunroku hears an old woman’s superstitious tale of foxes. The story sparks the boy’s fears, but his mother’s loving words have the power to comfort him.
Grand Prix in Japanese Short Film Category at KINEKO 2016

Trailer >

Matasaburo of the Wind

(Hiroki Yamada, Japan, animation, 2016, 22 min, Japanese with English subtitles)

In the countryside where children and their animal friends attend school together, a girl who has just moved from the city is mistaken for the child of the God of Wind. Her classmates do not immediately accept her, until but one boy reaches out to form a friendship.
Grand Prix in Japanese Short Film Category at KINEKO 2017

Trailer >

Momo and Her Cat

(Yuka Imabayashi, Japan, animation, 2016, 10 min, Japanese with English subtitles) North American premiere!

With love and tenderness, this heartwarming animation shows how a girl’s relationship with her cat guides her into adulthood.

Genbanojo

(Takumi Doyama, Japan, animation, 2017, 24 min, in Japanese with English subtitles) North American premiere!

A popular troupe of traveling entertainers has a mystical secret to their success – they are actually magical foxes in disguise! When a young girl happens to find out the truth, the foxes use their magic in ways they haven’t been able to for centuries.

 

Don’t want to miss a single thing? Can’t blame you! Consider a Festival Pass —

Small but Mighty (Shorts Program)

Sunday, January 27 – 11:00am

Ages 2+

It’s around the world adventure time with vibrant characters who are out to laugh, sing, solve puzzles, eat tasty food and spread their wings and fly. Parents: feel free to whisper subtitles to your little ones during this storybook collection, or just sit back and enjoy the enjoy the music of other languages. The colorful stories here are simple to follow!

59 min.

 

 

Short Films in this Program:

Big Block Singsong: Duck

 
 

(Warren Brown, Canada, animation, 2017, 2 min, English)

Stand back — it’s a quack attack!

Lemon & Elderflower

 
 

(Ilenia Cotardo, UK, animation, 2017, 3 min, nonverbal) Seattle premiere!

Two little hummingbird siblings have tiny wings, but they still find a way to fly!

Trailer >

Goldie

(Emily Brundige, US, animation, 2019, 5 min, English) World premiere!

Goldie is a very big girl, but she discovers that her size has its wonderful advantages.

Spring Bear Song

 
 

(Csaba Gellár, Hungary, animation, 2017, 2 min, Hungarian with English subtitles) North American premiere!

In the springtime, a sleepy bear wakes up to the sunshine of springtime.

Trailer >

Flamingo

 
 

(Julia Ocker, Germany, animation, 2018, 4 min, nonverbal) US premiere!

A feisty little piggy decides to join two beautiful flamingos for a fancy tea party.

Trunky

 
 

(Ekaterina Filippova, Russia, animation, 2017, 7 min, Russian with English subtitles) US premiere!

An little elephant discovers his very long trunk is beautiful and helpful!

Trailer >

The Papernauts

 
 

(Alvaro Ceppi, Chile, animation, 2017, 5 min, nonverbal) US premiere!

Three magical beings keep all the stories in the library inside the books!

The Hungry Little Wolf

 
 

(Arnaud Demuynck, France & Belgium, animation, 2017, 9 min, French with English subtitles) West Coast premiere!

A little wolf learns that he need help from his dad when he goes looking for a meal!

Fluffy Hour: PuiPui & MuuMuu “Always Together”

 
 

(Hiroyuki Mizoguchi, Japan, animation, 2018, 5 min, nonverbal) North American premiere!

Two fluffy fairies live in the fluffy woods. What will they do today?

Pingu in the City, Episode 5

 
 

(Naomi Iwata, Japan, animation, 2017, 7 min, nonverbal) West Coast premiere!

Little Pingu, a famous penguin, has moved to the city in this new Japanese series.

The Bird Wedding

 
 

(Jana Geisler, Germany, animation, 2017, 7 min, German with English subtitles) West Coast premiere!

A famous German folk song comes to life in this animated film about a wedding.

Trailer >

Sloth

 
 

(Julia Ocker, Germany, animation, 2018, 4 min, nonverbal) Seattle premiere!

A sloth wants an ice cream cone, but first, he needs a nap.

 

 

Don’t want to miss a single thing? Can’t blame you! Consider a Festival Pass —