The First Annual Miami International Children’s Film Festival.
When I lived in Abu Dhabi and worked in Dubai, I was a regular at film festivals in both cities and in Doha, so when I moved to Miami in March, I started looking for what was available here. I didn’t expect to find seven art cinemas within 30 minutes drive from my apartment.
The Coral Gables Cinema was my first discovery. I became a member, volunteered my services in marketing and fundraising, and learned the Cinema would be holding Miami’s first International Children’s Film Festival in October. That sounded interesting, and I joined the organizing committee.
This first year we limited the festival to three days from Friday–Sunday, Oct. 25-27. On Friday – a working day in the US -school groups from elementary and middle schools came to screenings with their teachers. The official opening party and screening were held Friday evening.
Saturday was the longest day with a children’s carnival in the plaza outside the theater including donated hamburgers, chicken wings, soft drinks, and chocolate pops as well as a face painter, a balloon man, and a banjo player. Screenings began at 10 am, and the last film of the day started at 7:30 pm.
On Saturday and Sunday some children registered for a stop-motion animation workshop, three hours for children 6-12 Saturday and four hours for those 13-16 Sunday.
On Sunday the carnival and screenings again started at 10:00 am with the last film of the Festival shown at 6 pm to make it easier for parents since Monday would be the start of the school and work week.
Because the Festival was organized in partnership with the New York International Children’s Film Festival held every March since 1997, most of the eight full-length features shown in Miami came from among the 100 films shown there.
As the unofficial capital for the Caribbean and South America in the US, Miami is a city where Spanish is spoken almost as much as English, sometimes more. The emphasis for this Festival as for much in Miami was on Spanish and Portuguese culture. No films from the Middle East were included.
The film on opening night was Anina, directed by the Uruguayan graphic artist Alberto Soderguit who presented the film and answered questions afterwards. He was also around for the second screening of Anina on Sunday afternoon.
Like almost all the features shown, Anina is an animated film, the story of a girl who hates her name, Anina Yatay Salas, because it is a palindrome.
The only feature with actors, Cinderella Moon – a China-US co-production filmed in China – retells the Cinderella story in a new way. I think it was the best film of the festival, but most were very good.
The festival closed with Wolf Children from Japan directed by Mamoru Hosoda. It is about a college student who marries a classmate that turns out to be half wolf – like Taylor Lautner in the Twilight films.
Like any startup, the first Miami International Children’s Film Festival wasn’t perfect, although the children and adults who attended clearly enjoyed themselves. Some children were too young to read the subtitles; parents had to whisper subtitles to the children, but no one seemed to mind.
By Alma Kadragic
