Belmont World Film's 17th Annual Family Festival

Belmont World Film’s 17th Annual Family Festival, “Where Stories Come Alive,” provides the opportunity to see some of the world’s best current films for children age 2-12 and to participate in animation workshops at the Regent Theatre (7 Medford Street, Arlington), Studio Cinema (376 Trapelo Road, Belmont), Brattle Theatre (40 Brattle Street, Cambridge), and Belmont Media Center (9 Lexington Street). The festival includes 13 film programs with nearly 40 animated, live action, and documentary films–many based on children’s books and several making their North American or US premieres– in English and other languages (with English subtitles read aloud through headphones for younger children or those with difficulty reading) from Belgium, China, Denmark, France, Latvia, Mongolia, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK, and the US.

Highlights include:

–The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show Storytime followed by a photo session with the caterpillar, in which Eric Carle’s iconic, colorful, hand-painted, tissue paper collage illustrations and distinctively simple stories breathakingly come to life in a storytime featuring larger than life puppets and lots of audience participation. Created by Jonathan Rockefeller, the show faithfully adapts two of Eric Carle’s best known picture books, The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? with a variety of puppets (Age 2-6)

-Two animation workshops, Learn to Draw the Minions (age 5+)  and Learn to Make Storyboards for Animated Films (age 9+) with Artist-in-Residence Cinzia Angelini, who was head story artist for The Minions Movie, and whose other work includes head story artist on the recently released Abominable, Despicable Me 3, Spider-Man 2, The Grinch, Balto, Prince of Egypt, Eldorado, Spirit, Sinbad, Open Season, Meet the Robinsons, and Bolt.

-An entire program of short animated films about the ideals and people connected to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., based on picture books, including: Martin’s Big Words;  March On! The Day My Brother Martin Changed the World by his sister Christine; Rosa about Rosa Parks; The Case for Loving, about an interracial couple from Virginia, Mildred and Richard Loving, who fought the state’s law banning interracial marriage all the way to the Supreme Court; and Hidden Figures: The Story of Four Black Women and the Space Race, narrated by Oscar winner Octavia Spencer.

– Laugh Out Loud with Mo Willems, an entire program of short animated films based on some of the well-known author’s most well-known picture books, including the never-before-seen The Pigeon Has to Go to School.

–It’s Easy Being Green: Films about Kids Helping the Environment & Other Stories, a selection of short films featuring kids taking action about the environment followed by a Q&A with one of the kids.

-North American, US, and New England premieres of some of the top films from around the world, including: Terra Willy: Unexplored Planet, a cross between WALL-E and Fantasia that takes place on a wild and unexplored planet covered in exotic and colorful fauna and flora; The Snail and the Whale and Zog, based on the books by Julia Donaldson (The Gruffalo) and featuring the voices of Dame Diana Rigg, Oscar winner Sally Hawkins, comedian Tracey Ullman, Game of Thrones’s Kit Harington,” to name a few; Jacob, Mimmi and the Talking Dogs, an animated version of the Latvian book “Dog Town;” and Hacker, about a 13 year-old boy who saves his mother from the Danish Secret Service thanks to his computer hacking.

– A special screening of Abominable featuring a talk and storyboard demonstration with the film’s head story artist, Cinzia Angelini, as well as a work-in-progress screening of her short film Mila that aims to celebrate cultural diversity through the magic of animation.

-A benefit screening of the Belgian/Dutch co-production of Binti, about a spunky and charming 12 year-old girl who dreams of becoming a famous vlogger like her idol, but when the police raid her home and try to deport her and her dad to the Congo, they are forced to flee. Binti befriends a young environmentalist named Elias, and together they use their complementary skills and personalities to create a plan to keep them in Belgium (with proceeds benefiting the Refugee & Immigrant Assistance Center).