Extremely Young Film Festival 2
Presented by Whole Foods Market
Friday, May 29, 6PM
Location: Brown Auditorium, Museum of Fine Arts Houston
Free Admission
Aurora Picture Show is pleased to announce the selections for the Second Annual Extremely Young Film Festival presented by Whole Foods Market. With a whopping 350 entries from around the world, the selections represent the future of moving image art and are sure to inspire young filmmakers and artists. Hosted by the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, the festival showcases the talents of more than 20 youth filmmakers on Friday, May 29 in the Brown Auditorium Theater at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (1001 Bissonnet).
Born out of the spirit of Aurora Picture Show's Extremely Shorts Film Festival, which features film and video under three minutes long, Extremely Young Film Festival puts the spotlight on films under three minutes long from makers 17 years old and under. Celebrating their artistic, creative and technical strengths and interpretations of the world in which they live, these voices are the future of media expression.
Aurora is pleased to welcome Anahita Ghazvinizadeh, a filmmaker and current Core Fellow at the MFAH's Glassell School of Art, as the Juror for this year's festival. Of the selection process, Ghazvinizadeh said, "It was moving to watch young activists who use the medium of video as part of their practice of sharing information and contributing to different communities... It was an absolutely amazing experience for me, as a filmmaker who makes works for and about children, to get a new sense of what children and youth cinema could really mean!" At the screening, we will reveal our Juror's top choice from each category, Youth and Teen, and votes will be taken for Audience Choice Awards in each category as well. Four prizes courtesy of Whole Foods Market will be given out to both the Audience and Juror selections in each age category.
A total of 25 films were selected representing 6 states, including one Houston filmmaker, in addition to films from Spain, Moldova, United Kingdom and Canada.
The following films are official selections of the Extremely Young Film Festival:
YOUTH (Ages 12 and under):
West Child Story, 2:30m (Spain) by State School Santa Teresa Berta Coller
"A love story like Romeo and Juliet, like American Tony and Maria from Puerto Rico, seen through the eyes of children who fall in love despite the race and physical problems... Will it change the final with regard to the adult version?"
Modern Times. Temps Moderns, 3:00m (Spain) by Pablo Vergara
"It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity."
Children of the World, 1:20m (India) by Students of Ecole Mondiale World School, Mumbai
Children of the World is a short animated film based on Child Rights. The film is a narrative of a child who lives a happy childhood but is also aware of the many who are not as privileged. Collaboratively created by Grade V Students of Ecole Mondiale World School, Mumbai, where each student individually animated one shot from the film.
The Hotel, 3:00m (Moldova) by Maria Grabovscaia
Animation film made by children 10-12 y.o.
Operation Relocation, 3:00m (USA) by Reed McFeely
Two blobs save planet Thrae with a rocket ship and a long piece of rope.
I'm In Love With High Heels, 1:30m (USA) by Ethan Herschel Liss
Are high heels just for girls? According to Nate they are not. Nate falls in love with a pair of high heels and never takes them off but when his mom finds out, things go wrong.
One Nation, 3:00 (USA) by Anthony Hobbs
A boy name Steven and his 5 friends (Jeffrey, Spice, Hope, Rose, and Brianna) are kids who decide that they need to give back to the members of the army returning home after fighting for freedom.
TEEN (Ages 13 to 17):
Generations, 2:32m (USA) by Janette Lu
A brother struggles to connect
The Watcher, 3:30m (USA) by Summer Fox
A young girl feels like she is being watched by a mysterious ghostly figure.
Snapped, 3:00m (USA) by Jun Hyung Park, Skyler Brigmann
The stalker found your house.
Stage Fright, 2:00m, (USA) by Alex Gilmour
A magician is terrorized by a sweatshirt wizard.
9.99, 1:00m (USA) by Abbey Sacks
An experimental film about consumerism.
Interlochen Students on Latin American Art, 3:00m (USA) by Abbey Sacks
A short documentary about Interlochen students.
#HTXFAF: The Story of Free Art Friday, 2:36m (USA) by Audrey Mills*
A short documentary about the Free Art Friday movement in Houston, Texas
Mr. Melborn, 1:00m (USA) by Alexia Salingaros
Mr. Melborn is a short lego animation put to music which conveys the story of a man living in 18th century London.
The Rescue, 2:50m (UK) by George Watkins
A fisherman is stranded at sea, his only hope of survival, the coastguard, are on their way, but will they get there in time?
Mind Galaxies, 1:35m (UK) by Kaia Walmisley
A girl gets trapped inside the thought process of her own mind
Friends?, 3:00m (USA) by Elijah Seneker
A middle aged man is confronted by a disturbed young girl with wild accusations about their friendship. Sometimes friends aren't who you think they are.
Playtime, 1:05m (Canada) by Ava Young
A short film documenting the peaceful yet sorrow feeling my local park has in the winter.
The Lunch Table, 2:00m (USA) by Cristina Trabada
A look into the personalities that make up a lunch table in High School through the eyes of a teenage girl.
Elsewhere, 2:00m (USA) by Joanna Small
Sisterly love in the morning
Open Door, 3:00m (USA) by Vanilla K. Parthiban
Two sisters go to the forbidden world with an iPhone.
Robot and Bird, 2:05m (UK) by Into Film
This is a story about a robot that is controlled by an evil genius bent on destroying the world until they meet a bird. When the robot hears the bird's song, he realizes they have something in common and he can't destroy it. The robot must take action to stop the evil genius destroying anymore of the world.
Full Circle, 1:52m (USA) by Tiffany Lin
Follow the journey of a plastic bag as it travels from the beach out into the open ocean.
The Emotional Dimensions of the James River, 3:00m (USA) by Michelle Marquez**
This experimental film provides an emotional roller coaster experience that was musically and visually designed based on a neuroscience research project that correlates a mathematical parameter (fractal dimension) of sounds and images with the selective triggering of emotional states. Enlighten yourself by looking at the world from your personal point of view while dreaming inside your curiosity. Michelle Marquez, a fifteen-year-old scientist and artist, conceptualized, produced and directed this short experimental film in collaboration with Patrick Gregory and music of Lincoln Mitchell. She aims to challenge the traditional division and separation between Science and Art.
* indicates Houston filmmaker
**Official Selection for Extremely Shorts 18The following weekend, Aurora Picture Show will present its sibling event, the Extremely Shorts Film Festival. Honoring adventurous films and videos that are three-minutes or shorter, the festival will be screened at Aurora Picture Show (2442 Bartlett Street, Houston, TX) from June 5-6, 2015. The Extremely Shorts Film Festival and and the Extremely Young Film Festival are both presented by Whole Foods Market.
ABOUT JUROR ANAHITA GHAZVINIZADEH
Anahita Ghazvinizadeh got her BFA in film from Tehran University of Art and her MFA in studio arts from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In 2011, she started to work on a trilogy of short films with children as main characters. When the Kid was a Kid (2011, Iran) and Needle (2013, US) are the first two finished pieces and they have been awarded and screened internationally. Needle received the Cinéfondation First Prize in Cannes Film Festival and Silver Hugo from Chicago International Film Festival among other awards. Anahita was selected as one of the 25 New Faces of Independent Cinema in 2013 by the Filmmaker Magazine. She was a writing fellow at the Sundance Screenwriters' Lab in January 2013, and she is also the co-writer of the acclaimed feature film, Mourning (2011, Iran). Anahita has served as a jury member for the Chicago International Children's Film Festival. Childhood and parenthood, family theater, and exploring notions of growth and gender identity are the main themes of her work. She is currently an artist-in-residence at the Core program, Museum of Fine Arts Houston.