We’re just a little over halfway through the New York International Children’s Film Festival, but there’s still plenty of time to check things out. Thanks to the festival being 100% virtual this year, you can log on any time to watch the huge selection of features, short film programs, premieres, and filmmaker events. Looking for tickets? They’re still available at the NYICFF website. Save $3 off single tickets and $5 off All Access passes with code ABH2021.
NYICFF Live Events
While the screening for Raya and the Last Dragon is sold out, there’s still space available in other upcoming live events.
Curtains Up!
Join the live director & cast Q&A for Curtain’s Up! on 3/13 @ 2pm EST
All energy and opinion, 5th grader William seems excited to burst beyond his constraints, while his classmate Charlotte, a measured thinker, admits that sometimes it’s easier to be scared than happy. But both students adore their theater class and are set to have a transformative final year of elementary school. This award-winning documentary follows a 5th grade class at PS 124 in New York City’s Chinatown as they prepare for a big musical production of “Frozen Kids” and begin to discover their identities. Behind the scenes, nervous excitement and flubbed lines goofiness brushes up against stereotypes, family expectations, and post-graduation uncertainties. Through rehearsing for this American favorite, the young actors grapple with their Asian roots. Will they have to let something go?
Buladó
Join the live director Q&A for Buladó on 3/14 @ 2pm EST
Headstrong Kenza lives with her father Ouira and grandfather Weljo on a beautifully situated plot of land that doubles as a car wrecking yard on the coast of Curaçao. Father and son are opposites: Ouira is a no-nonsense police officer with an eye toward the future, while Weljo finds meaning in the past through the spirituality of his African ancestors and the island’s native inhabitants. Meanwhile, 11-year-old Kenza seeks to find her own place, and identity. Her search takes flight as she gravitates toward the mystical traditions of her grandfather.
Note: This film deals with themes of death and loss
The Mitchells vs. the Machines
Join the live director & head of story Q&A for The Mitchells Vs. The Machines on 3/14 @ 5pm EST
Produced by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (Spider-Man™: Into the Spider-Verse) and directed by Michael Rianda, The Mitchells vs. The Machines is an original animated comedy from Sony Pictures Animation and Netflix about an everyday family’s struggle to relate while technology rises up around the world! When Katie Mitchell (voiced by Abbi Jacobson), a creative outsider, is accepted into the film school of her dreams, her plans to meet “her people” at college are upended when her nature-loving dad Rick (voiced by Danny McBride) determines the whole family should drive Katie to school together and bond as a family one last time.