It’s the most wonderful time of the year!
Now in its eleventh year, the Los Angeles International Children’s Film Festival is back at LACMA! Presenting more than 100 films from around the globe—full-length and short animation, live action, and documentary films—the festival is organized for different age groups, from toddlers through teenagers. There’s literally something for everyone! On Saturday and Sunday, December 12 and 13, LACMA, in collaboration with the Los Angeles International Children’s Film Festival, is treating you and your family to a treasure trove of family-friendly winners. All film screenings are free and open to the public.
This year, we are debuting a number of fun new festival categories. Family Made! Short Films for All Ages features short films made by the best teams out there: families. Creating a film as a family can be a challenging endeavor: How do you conduct casting for a family film? How did all of those early call times work out?
Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl, our Saturday feature-length film, follows an awkward high-school senior (Thomas Mann) and a gravely ill classmate (Olivia Cooke) as they surprise themselves by becoming inseparable friends. Stay tuned after this screening for a special Q&A and trivia session.
On Sunday, take your pick from two feature length films. Disney Pixar’s Inside Out is a beautifully uplifting story about a young girl named Riley who is uprooted from her beloved Midwest life and moved to bustling San Francisco. Her emotions—Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust, and Sadness— argue over how best to navigate a new city, house, and school. Enjoy Disney’s new short film Lava directly before Inside Out begins. Shimajiro and the Mother Tree, a new animation out of Japan, was designed to be a child's first movie experience, and combines sing-alongs, puppet animation, traditional anime, and dance movements! Each child is given a cardboard megaphone that they are encouraged to use at various times by the story’s characters to cheer them on or shout a particular phrase.
Magic and Mystery: Short Films for Ages 6–12 is a selection of beautifully wondrous short films for the person in your life that appreciates their daily dose of the extraordinary. Chances are that you know someone who loves to laugh. Be sure to grab your seats for LOL: Funny Short Films for All Ages and pack tissues for all those happy tears!
Superhero Showdown celebrates all of the many ways that super stars appear in our everyday lives; tag along in their adventures during this exciting hour of short films. Are you a teenager who has always dreamed of making a movie? Be sure to catch By Teens, For Teens to see the cinematic masterpieces being made teens from Australia to the U.K.
Don’t miss this year’s Best of the Festival to see staff favorites or our special screening of Carlos Andre Stevens’s newest treasure, The Alchemist’s Letter.
If you could make a movie, what would it be like? While you’re here, be sure to drop by filmmaker Kate Marks’s movie poster workshop under the festival tent for the opportunity to design the movie poster of your dreams. Are you the film’s star? Is it set in the far past or near future?
Visit us on the Los Angeles Times Central Court and pick up a program, sign up for our free kids’ membership, and participate in a fun movie workshop.
Please note that this is not a film department event. If you have any questions about the Los Angeles International Children’s Film Festival, please contact Angela Hall at ahall@lacma.org.