Chicago International Children's Film Festival
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article or section reads like a news release, or is otherwise written in an overly promotional tone. Please help rewrite this article from a neutral point of view to be less promotional. Where appropriate, blatant advertising may be marked for speedy deletion with {{db-spam}}. |
Founded in 1975, Facets Multi-Media, located at 1517 W. Fullerton Avenue, Chicago, 60614 is the nation’s leading conservator of independent and foreign film and the largest videotheque in the world. In the Cinematheque, Facets screens 300 films a year as well as hosting tributes, retrospectives and premieres of films created by artists across the globe. Facets mission is to present and preserve high quality, multi-cultural cinema for diverse audiences and to offer seminars, classes, and a broad spectrum of educational and cultural programs for adults and children.
The most important of these programs is the Chicago International Children’s Film Festival (CICFF), the largest and longest running children’s film program in North America and the first juried, competitive festival of children’s film in the United States. The CICFF discovers the best in world cinema, featuring over 200 films from 40 countries, and is the only children’s film event to be recognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as an “Academy qualifying” festival. The CICFF advocates positive programming for kids and families: creative, fun, and culturally diverse films that not only tell stories about children and teens but also present things from kids' point of view. CICFF holds year round programs, hosts audiences of 30,000 and wecomes more than 100 directors in attendance each year.
• The CICFF shows more films than any other children’s festival in the world.
• Through the Festival, over 416,000 Chicago-area children have been exposed to positive films and videos from hundreds of filmmakers.
• More than 9000 underserved children attend the Festival free of charge each year and interact directly with filmmakers, actors and educators.
The 25th annual CICFF takes place October 23-November 2, 2008.
Film critic Roger Ebert calls Facets “a temple of great cinema.”
National Children's Media Institute
The National Children’s Media Institute creates cutting edge media education programs that can measurably improve classroom learning. In year-round, curriculum-driven programs children become active, self-motivated participants in their own education. NCMI's unique pedagogies build on children’s natural fascination with media to stimulate an interest in life-long learning and critical thinking. Projects like Media Smart and the Young Chicago Critics show children how they can be directly involved in both media creation and critique.
MediaBridge: Global Exchanges In Youth Filmmaking
MediaBridge is an intensive 5-week screenwriting initiative for youth, ages 15-19, designed to facilitate international dialog and peer-to-peer exchange between young Illinois filmmakers and youth media-makers from around the world. Each July and August an international group of 16 youth filmmakers from six countries collaborate with 16 Illinois youth in a three-part program during which the young people jury films and curate a festival, write screenplays in a university-level scriptwriting course, and participate in the MediaBridge Youth Film Festival.
Young Chicago Critics
Young Chicago Critics gives students the filmmaking experience necessary to write, produce and make their own films, offering them hours of hands-on instruction in filmmaking. Designed for kids with little or no experience in making movies, Young Chicago Critics equips students with the skills and confidence needed to produce a well-told story with moving images, as they work with fellow team members to create their own mini-movie. Three lucky YCC participants ages 12-14 will also go on to attend the acclaimed Giffoni Film Festival in Italy.
Media Smart
Media Smart! is a unique in-school program that presents multi-cultural short films for children as catalysts for improving fundamental skills such as literacy, writing, critical thinking and inference. Carefully constructed, age-appropriate activities help students grasp the multiple learning opportunities in actively viewing and critiquing film.
Dream Screen
Dream Screen is a workshop that teaches children of diverse backgrounds to create their own stories and to animate them using drawn and cutout animation. Students from underserved communities participate in all aspects of video production: writing and storyboarding, drawing, art making, and camera work.
