Tag: live action

Team Marco (All Ages)

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Saturday, February 29 – 3:00pm

(Julio Vincent Gambuto, USA, live-action, 2019, 92 min, English)
All ages; best for ages 6+

** Director Julio Vincent Gambuto, Executive Producer Andrew Scrivani, and actor Anthony Patellis, who plays Nonno in the film, in attendance! **

Screen time alert! Marco, 11, is obsessed with his electronics — his iPad, his Xbox, his VR headset – and hardly leaves the house. But when his grandmother dies and his grandfather moves in, Marco’s life is turned upside-down and he’s forced … to go play outside. “Nonno” (Grandpa) introduces him to bocce — the world’s oldest game — and to the neighborhood crew of old Italian men who play daily at the local court. With sport, laughter and love, Marco finds a connection with people in real life and rounds up a team of neighborhood kids to take on his grandfather and his pals.

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Lift-off (Ages 9+ Short Film Program)

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Saturday, March 7 – 11:30am
On-Site at Northwest Film Forum
(1515 12th Ave., Seattle, WA 98122)

Sunday, March 8 – 1:00pm
Off-Site at Rainier Arts Center
(3515 S Alaska St., Seattle, WA 98118)

NOTE: For the March 8th screening of Lift-Off, audiences can purchase tickets for the SCREENING *ONLY*, or join us at 11:30am for BOTH THE BREAKFAST SMORGASBOARD AND SCREENING.

Ages 9+

These stories of adventure will take you to outer space and back, with films showing what it is like to be out on your own, in a world of wild adventure and imagination, making decisions and, ultimately, finding your way back home again.

78 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! **

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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Wild and Free (Ages 8+ Short Film Program)

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Saturday, February 29 – 1:00pm
Saturday, March 7 – 1:30pm

Ages 8+

In these live-action shorts from Europe, South America, India and the USA, you’ll meet kids who navigate all kinds of magical twists and turns in their lives. Time travel with two friends, meet a bike-riding girl who isn’t everything she appears to be and discover how friendships can build a bridge to understanding.

82 min.

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Borders, Boundaries and Home (Shorts Program)

Saturday, January 26 – 5:30pm
Wednesday, January 30 – 3:30pm

Ages 13+

** Co-presented with CAIR-WA! Filmmaker (and Executive Director) Vivian Hua (Searching Skies) in attendance! **

All children have the right to a home, but for the young people in some of these narrative and documentary films, political and religious issues threaten their futures. The films are made by filmmakers in response to worldwide migration issues, and also include a documentary from a dream city, where origins and cultural differences do not matter to a tight-knit group of boys.

77 min.

Content advisory: This program explores tough issues, and stories that do not always have happy or clear endings. There is one mild swear word in Searching Skies, spoken in frustration by an uncle to his nephew who is showing a lack of compassion.

 

Short Films in this Program:

Malá

(Diana Cam Van Nguyen, Czech Republic, animation, 2017, 10 min, in Vietnamese & Czech with English subtitles) West Coast premiere!

A Vietnamese girl grows up in a European town. As she gets used to what it means to be strange and at home at the same time, her family inevitably heads towards a fatal decision. Who will leave and who will stay?

Trailer >

199 Little Heroes: Miral from Palestine

 

(Sigrid Klausmann-Sittler, Germany, live action, 2018, 14 min, Arabic with English subtitles) North American premiere!

Miral is an exuberant girl who has amazing athletic ability. Her life is beautiful and full, in spite of the walls that surround her.

Caracol Cruzando

 
 

(Pamela Chavez, US, animation, 2018, 16 min, Spanish with English subtitles) Seattle premiere!

A Costa Rican girl decides if she will bring her pet turtle across the US border.

Trailer >

 

Searching Skies

 

(Vivian Hua, US, live action, 2017, 9 min, English & Arabic)

When a Syrian refugee family is invited to a Christian family’s Christmas dinner, they are caught between opposing viewpoints for and against them, until an unexpected event suddenly occurs.

Harbourboyz

(Mirjam Marks, The Netherlands, live action, 2018, 15 min, Dutch with English subtitles) Seattle premiere!

For five 11-year-old friends, each with different origins (Turkish, Surinamese, Syrian, Chinese and Dutch), living in a working-class Dutch district, cultural and religious differences do not matter.

Trailer >

Bachir in Wonderland

 
 

(Els Duran & Evelien Vehof, The Netherlands, 2018, 15 min, Arabic & Spanish with English subtitles)

Bachir dreams of swimming in the sea, but he lives in a refugee camps in the middle of a desert. Despite having no passport, he is offered the chance of a lifetime: to go to a summer camp in Spain.

 

 

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

Supa Modo

Friday, February 1 – 7:00pm
Saturday, February 2 – 5:00pm

Likarion Wainaina, Germany & Kenya, 2018, 1h 14m
Ages 11+
(Swahili, Kikuyu and English, with English subtitles)

Kenya’s official Oscar entry for Best Foreign Film!

Sometimes it takes a village to make our dreams come true. Jo, a nine year old, is obsessed with superheroes and dreams of becoming one to overcome her diagnosis of a terminal illness. Unable to force Jo to spend her remaining days in bed, her town community comes together to support her belief in her superpowers. Not all heroes have capes, but Jo sure does, and her powers are more inspiring than any of today’s superhero-based special effects blockbusters. Winner of more than 20 prizes at international film festivals in the past year.

Content advisory: This uplifting film deals with difficult issues, including the impending death of a child. But the film has received acclaim for its hopeful and uplifting message and was recommended for ages 8+ at the Seattle International Film Festival. We believe it is better for older children.

 

 

WATCH THE TRAILER:

 

 

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

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 —