Sundance Kids: The film festival isn’t just for adults anymore

Last year 12-year-old Maya Johnson was thrilled to attend the Sundance Film Festival with her mother. Normally that would be a little young to watch most of the Sundance movies. But Maya was part of the first several audiences who watched the new Sundance Kids offerings: movies geared toward children and youth. Maya and her mom saw the animated film “Ernest & Celestine,” about a bear and a mouse that embark on an unlikely friendship.

“I thought it was really inventive,” Maya says. “I just thought the animation was really interesting – and how they used the similarities between the two different [animal] societies and kind of blended them together. It was making a statement in a very kid’s way. I liked it a lot.”

So did many other children, it seems. Last year’s experimental Sundance Kids section was a hit. With sold-out screenings and enthusiastic audience reception, Sundance organizers decided the independent film community possessed a hunger for children’s movies. So they decided to make Sundance Kids an annual part of the festival, expanding the offerings from two to three films this year.

“It’s great for us to be able to showcase great films to film lovers of all ages and have them fall in love with different kinds of storytelling,” says Trevor Groth, Director of Programming for the festival. “I think [kids and families] can expect to find interesting characters and surprising storylines. It’s not just going to be cookie-cutter films – stuff they’ve seen 1,000 times. I think these films will surprise them and delight them.”

The selection team worked hard to ensure the program’s success. For the second year in a row, Sundance asked the Utah Film Center’s artistic director, Patrick Hubley, to help choose the movies since the film center produces the Tumbleweeds Film Festival for children. Sundance received some submissions, but Hubley also reached out to production companies and filmmakers around the world to see what new films they had in play. “We watched 50 films for the category and it was really hard to narrow it down to these three,” he explains. “But we think this gives a nice cross-section and a nice range of films.”

 

The Movies

This year’s lineup includes one animated and two live-action films. The animated movie is “Shaun the Sheep,” from the same studio (Aardman Animations) that created “Wallace and Gromit” and “Chicken Run.” The film is based on a British TV series of the same name and features the madcap adventures of a sheep whose exploits lead to a rescue in the big city. The film is appropriate for all ages. Sundance added extra showings of this film.

The second movie, “The Games Maker,” is for kids ages eight and up. The film hails from Argentina, Canada and Italy, but it plays in English. Children who see this flick will follow the adventures of a young boy pursuing his dream of making games. Along the way he learns a family secret and finds himself in numerous strange situations. The movie’s central theme explores the power of imagination. The film highlights recognizable actors like Joseph Fiennes, Tom Cavanagh and Ed Asner. But the star is David Mazouz, who plays young Bruce Wayne on Fox’s new hit TV series “Gotham.”

Kids can also watch the foreign film “Operation Arctic.” Hubley raves, “It’s a great story that has a really strong girl as a lead character. [The movie follows] her and her siblings surviving on a deserted Arctic island. It’s interesting and it’s a great thriller that’s been made up for a younger audience.” And yes, this is a true foreign film: Kids will hear it in a different language – Norwegian. The movie has English subtitles and is geared to children nine and older. But kids are also offered a headset where they can hear a live person reading the English translation.

 

The Experience

In addition to the movie offerings, Sundance grants youth like Maya Johnson the opportunity to meet the filmmakers. Last year she relished meeting the director of “Ernest & Celestine.”

Maya’s mother, Dolly Rauh, explains, “She asked for his autograph and he signed – but he also drew the two [film] characters.”

“It was really cool,” Maya adds. In fact, she decided to save the autographed tickets as souvenirs.

Just like the rest of the festival, at the first screening of a Sundance Kids film, you can expect the filmmakers to host a question-and-answer session after the movie ends. Last year the filmmakers stayed through the entire first weekend. Groth believes the Q&A’s are part of the essence of the festival. “Movies have such a sort of magical quality to them. But then to be able to peer behind the curtain and to just hear about the process of making them is so fascinating. For someone to hear about that for the first time I think can really stimulate a lot of creative outlets for them.”

 

The Logistics

“Shaun the Sheep” plays five times in Park City and Salt Lake while the other two films have three screenings each. Currently the Salt Lake screenings all show tickets available while the Park City showings are waitlist-only. You can purchase tickets on the Sundance website for $10 or at any of the main box offices starting January 20. But if you want to see a show that’s sold out, you still have options. Each morning at 8:00 a.m., the main box offices sell a limited number of tickets to that day’s screenings. Or you can try waitlisting two hours before the show through the Sundance mobile app/online.

 

The Impact

Sundance organizers and programmers are thrilled to continue expanding the selection of independent and foreign films to their newest viewers. They say kids love these films for the same reasons as adults.

“There are other films out there than what’s being offered at the multiplex,” says Hubley. “There is a different type of storytelling, different type of characters being included. The films are interesting and tell universal stories. We just want families to have an opportunity to experience them and see them.”

Exposing kids to these types of films also gives them an earlier appreciation for film as art. That in turns bolsters the craft. Says Groth, “For us at the [Sundance] Institute, one of our goals is to not just support artists working in independent film, but also build audiences for them. And those audiences can start young. That’s what I think is exciting for us: Showcasing these films stimulates more and more audience for them, which will stimulate more and more people to make them. And hopefully you’ll get higher-quality films coming out for kids of all ages.”

If you ask young Maya Johnson and her mother, that goal is already being met. “I’m thrilled as a parent,” says Rauh. “I think it’s wonderful to have something I can bring her to and feel confident that it will be appropriate for her but also really well done. The quality of the film is going to be excellent.”

 

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