Belmont World Film’s 17th Annual Family Festival
"Where Stories Come Alive"
Some of the world’s best films for children & adults, animation workshops & talks...FRI Jan 17, 7:30 & SUN Jan 19, 10:30
Belmont World Film‘s 17th Annual Family Festival, “Where Stories Come Alive,” offers nearly four full days of some of the world’s best films for children and adults, animation workshops and talks with Cinzia Angelini, head story artist on the recently released Abominable (not to mention story artist on The Minions Movie, Despicable Me 3, Spider-Man 2, and more), and The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show Storytime, a live audience participation story time with large puppets featuring two of Eric Carle’s most famous books. Films are screened in English or their native language with subtitles, which will be read aloud through headphones for young readers, and many are being screened in the US for the first time. It might even be your only time to see them in New England.
Each day revolves around a different theme: Saturday is devoted to the animal kingdom, Sunday to short films, and Monday to making peace and friends. Many films are based on international children’s literature and include stories about a young computer hacker, talking dogs, a yeti, an accident-prone dragon, an adventurous snail and whale, an exotic unexplored planet, and more!
*Note that the Regent Theatre is hosting the Festival on Friday night and Sunday Only*
Tickets Available Only Through Belmont World Film:
Shorts programs: $6
Feature length films: $10
The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show Storytime: $15
Workshops: $20
Full festival pass (does not include workshops): $50
Shorts programs with EBT/WIC & ConnectorCare cards: $3
Feature length films with EBT/WIC & ConnectorCare cards: $5
The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show Storytime with EBT/WIC & ConnectorCare cards: $7.50
Members of the military: Free
Click for tickets to the entire festival
Friday, January 17 (Opening Night)
7:30 PM
Hacker
East Coast premiere | Denmark | 97 min. | Danish with subtitles read aloud through headphones | 2019 |
An 8 year-old boy’s mother, a scientist working on a secret project, disappears under mysterious circumstances one night. At age 13, the orphaned boy, who has become an expert computer hacker, discovers that his mother may still be alive. The trail points to high-ranking officials in the Danish Secret Service. Along with his new friend Savannah he sets out on a nerve-racking hunt to chase down the truth about his mother’s disappearance. Age 9+ ($10)
Ticket Link
Sunday, January 19
10:30 AM
THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR SHOW STORYTIME!
Live Event followed by a free photo session with the caterpillar puppet
40 min.
Eric Carle’s iconic, colorful, hand painted, tissue paper collage illustrations and distinctively simple stories come to life during this breathtaking story time featuring lots of audience participation. Created by Jonathan Rockefeller, the show faithfully adapts two of Carle’s best known picture books, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and of course, the star of the event, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, with a variety of puppets. The program also includes a screening of Carle’s 10 Little Rubber Ducks, narrated by Bernadette Peters. Age 2-6 ($15)
Ticket Link
12:15 PM
The Snail and the Whale
US premiere | UK | 27 min. | English | 2019
Shown with Zog
New England premiere | UK | 27 min. | English | 2018
Great stories and rich and imaginative animation are the hallmarks of the award-winning Magic Light Pictures, which regularly brings the much loved picture books by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler (The Gruffalo) to life. Age 3-9 ($6)
Dame Diana Rigg, Oscar winner Sally Hawkins, and comedian Rob Brydon are the voices behind the colorful The Snail and the Whale, the tale of a tiny snail who, longing to see the world, hitches a ride on the tail of a giant humpback whale. Together they go on an amazing journey under the sea, past icebergs and volcanoes, and with sharks, penguins, and all manner of undersea animals. The little snail feels so small in the vastness of the world until the whale ends up beached in a bay.
Featuring the voices of Game of Thrones’ Kit Harrington, Fleabag’s Hugh Skinner, and comedian Tracey Ullman, Zog tells the story of a keen but accident-prone dragon who learns how to fly, roar, breathe fire, and save a princess during his first year at Dragon School.
Ticket Link
1:00-3:00 PM
Learn to Create Storyboards for Animated Films (Regent Underground)
Artist-in-Residence Cinzia Angelini will share her experience as a lead story artist for multiple blockbuster animated films by leading older children through the process of creating storyboards for animated films. Includes all art supplies, but bring your imagination! Age 9+ ($20)
Ticket Link
1:30 PM
Laugh Out Loud with Mo Willems
USA | 60 min. | English
Perhaps no children’s book author is as popular as Mo Willems, who also narrates his books’ animated versions produced by Weston Woods Studios. This program includes: the never-before-seen The Pigeon Has to Go to School, plus Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale, Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed, Leonardo the Terrible Monster, Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs, and Nanette’s Baguette. Age 3-9 ($6).
Ticket Link
2:45 PM
It’s Easy Being Green: Films About Kids Helping the Environment & Other Stories
Followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Lynne Cherry and one of her film subjects!
60 min. | English | USA
A selection of short films about the environment and animals, including: Words Have Power, about a 10 year-old girl who fights to close down a coal burning plant in her neighborhood; Aidan’s Butterflies, about an 11 year-old boy who has been growing milkweed and sheltering and releasing Monarch butterflies since he was 6 years old; Earth Doctor, made by a group of middle school students in Maui in which Earth visits a doctor to diagnose her unusual symptoms; How Animals Hibernate, a science version of Peter and the Wolf; and The Last Straw, about a 9 year-old boy from Vermont who convinces restaurants to “go straw-free” and three Cape Cod girls who take a pledge to “skip the straw. Age 5+ ($6)
Ticket Link
4:00 PM
Mila
Work in progress screening followed by a talk with Director Cinzia Angelini
Mila is a CG animated short film project written and directed by Artist-in-Residence Cinzia Angelini. It is being produced by the largest independent, worldwide virtual studio collaboration ever, consisting of 350 volunteer animation professionals from 35 countries. This innovative collaboration led to invitations for Cinzia to speak at TEDx Trento in 2017 and TEDx Vail in 2018, where she introduced her idea of exploring cultural diversity through the magic of animation. Inspired by her mother’s experiences in Trento, Italy, where Cinzia was born, it is about a little girl whose life takes an unexpected turn during World War II. Mila is a war story not centered on armies, soldiers, generals, and battle plans, but rather civilians, and especially the children. Age 9+ ($6)
Content advisory: allusions to fighting and bombing and scenes of destruction
Ticket Link