Best of New York International Children’s Film Festival
Co-Presented with the Houston Public Library
Saturday, December 15, 3PM
Location: Children’s Reading Room at Julia Ideson Library, 550 McKinney
Free Admission
Enjoy a colorful collection of short films from around the world, hand-picked as audience and jury favorites from the 2012 New York International Children’s Film Festival. Kids and kids at heart will love this collection of short films that include a film about a quirky, black and white paper cut-out car race, a film about two cute-as-buttons Japanese puppets traveling to Abbey Road to find inspiration and shoot the video for their ukulele cover version of “Twist and Shout,” and a sweet film adapted from the enormously popular Gruffalo picture books by British author Julia Donaldson. Before the screening, the Houston Public Library will host a special reading of “Gruffalo” to set the mood. This collection of films and activities is suited for audiences, ages 4 and up.
The screening will take place in the Julia Ideson Library. Parking is available on the street or in the Library Garage, which is an underground garage accessible from the Lamar side of the Library, and costs $2 per hour.
Films featured in the program include:
B/W Races
Italy
Animtion, Jacopo Martinoni, 2010, 2.5 min
A quirky, black and white paper cut-out animation about a car race – in which a rogue black driver who runs others off the track gets his comeuppance. Home-made sound-effects add to the lo-fi fun. Vroooom.
Balloon Moon
Portugal
Animation, Jose Miguel Ribeiro, 2010, 5 min
With sumptuous colors and artful stop motion animation, a cardboard boy and his ladybug friend set sail into a deep blue moonlit sea and have a dream adventure.
Behind
Canada
Animation, Ga Young Back, 2011, 3 min
After a trying and scary day, a little girl feels all alone – until she realizes that her best friend has been with her and taking care of her the whole time.
Diversity
USA
Animation, Anthony Dusko, 2010, 1 min
This instructive cartoon teaches important lessons of life, like how to do the happy dance.
Ernesto
UK
Animation, Corinne Ladeinde, 2011, 7 min
Seven-year-old Ernesto feels left out when he realizes he's the only kid in school who hasn’t lost any baby teeth. Ernesto resorts to drastic measures to get rid of them; his teeth however, have other plans...
The Gruffalo's Child
UK
Animation, Johannes Weiland/Uwe Heidschotter, 2011, 26 min
One wild and windy night, the Gruffalo's child ignores her father's warning and tiptoes out into the snow in search of the Big Bad Mouse. This follow-up to the Oscar-nominated original is adapted from the enormously popular Gruffalo picture books by British author Julia Donaldson.
Gulp
UK
Animation, Sumo Science, 2011, 2 min
Aardman Animations and Sumo Science follow up last year’s wonderful diminutive Dot (which set the world record for smallest animated character) by notching it up a few orders of magnitude. Shot on an expansive seaside location, they set a new record for the world’s largest stop motion set, in this story of a fisherman who gets swallowed by a whale.
Keenan at Sea
USA
Animation, David Cowles/Jeremy Galante, 2010, 2 min
This adorable, hummable tune from NY acoustic pop group The Girls is the theme song for the 2012 festival! “A salty sea and a boat for three as we sail past the coral reef… we wave goodbye to the sandy beach far away… la la la la!”
Metro
USA
Animation, Jake Wyatt, 2011, 5 min
A young girl chases a mysterious fox through a secret door and into a subterranean wonderland to retrieve her stolen train ticket.
Twist & Shout
Japan
Animation, Yosuke Kihara, 2010, 3 min
Two cute-as-buttons Japanese puppets travel to Abbey Road to find inspiration and shoot the video for their ukulele cover version of “Twist and Shout.”
Who is Not Sleeping?
Sweden
Animation, Jessica Lauren, 2010, 4 min
Rabbit is sleeping over at Teddy Pig's house. It's going to be lots of fun! They are playing and drinking hot chocolate, but when the lights go out something doesn't feel quite right.
About The Julia Ideson Library
The Julia Ideson Library is an ornate Spanish Renaissance Revival-style structure in Downtown Houston that opened in 1926 as the city’s central library, and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The restored library re-opened to the general public on December 5, 2011. Although no longer the central library, the Julia Ideson Library remains a rich literary and historic resource center with plenty of special programs open to the public. In addition to being the permanent home of the Houston Metropolitan Research Center and staff members of the Houston Public Library and Houston Public Library Foundation, Houstonians and visitors alike will enjoy the new Exhibit Hall that will host rotating shows of items from the HMRC's collection and visiting exhibits, and the magnificent Reading Room.
About The New York International Film Festival
NYICFF was founded in 1997 to promote intelligent, passionate, provocative cinematic works for ages 3-18 and to help define a more compelling film for kids. Since its launch, the event has grown to become the largest festival for children and teens in North America. Each year the festival presents 100 animated, live action and experimental shorts and features from around the world plus gala premieres, retrospectives, filmmaker Q&As, workshops, audience voting, and the NYICFF Awards Ceremony. But the festival has become much more than just an annual event; NYICFF now offers year-round film programming, a touring festival, an online festival, and film production workshops for children ages 6-16.