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A meticulous essay on the presence and representation of children in the history of cinema, in which cinematographies from all over the world are analyzed.
‘Children of the Stars’ is the strange but true story of a UFO contactee group who relive their past lives on other planets by making their own science fiction films. In 1973, Ruth Norman, a 73-year-old widow and self described cosmic visionary, purchased 67 acres of land in the mountains east of San Diego, California as a landing site for the Space Brothers (emissaries from the Intergalactic Confederation). Nearly 40 years later, a group of dedicated followers still await their arrival.
Their family name alone evokes horror: Himmler, Frank, Goering, Hoess. This film looks at the descendants of the most powerful figures in the Nazi regime: men and women who were left a legacy that indelibly associates them with one of the greatest abominations in history. What is it like to have grown up with a name that immediately raises images of genocide? How do they live with the weight of their ancestors’ crimes? Is it possible to move on from the crimes of their ancestors?
Rumored to have been lost, Antrum appears as a cursed film from the 1970s. Viewers are warned to proceed with caution. It’s said to be a story about a young boy and girl who enter the forest in an attempt to save the soul of their recently deceased pet. They journey to “The Antrum,” they very spot the devil landed after being cast out of heaven. There, the children begin to dig a hole to hell.
The story of a pair of children born within moments of India gaining independence from England, growing up in the country that is nothing like their parent’s generation. A Canadian-British film adaptation of Salman Rushdie’s novel of the same name.
Realistic story of working class Yorkshire life. Two schoolgirls have a sexual fling with a married man. Serious and light-hearted by turns. Rita, Sue And Bob Too was adapted by Andrea Dunbar from two of her own controversial plays. Rita (Siobhan Finneran) and Sue (Michelle Holmes) are two teenagers living on a run-down council estate in Bradford who both share a job babysitting for Bob (George Costigan) and Michelle’s (Lesley Sharp) children. Whilst giving them a lift home one night, Bob decides to take Rita and Sue up to a deserted, country-side landscape. Clearly knowing what he has in mind, Rita and Sue are only too happy to oblige and both have a sexual encounter with him that becomes a regular occurrence. Despite the blatant politically-incorrect nature of the film, this does emerge as a somewhat controversial, though enduringly amusing film that has a sharp, gritty undertone.
Based on a true story, “Dynamite: A Cautionary Tale” follows family man Max Bornstein who was a full-time dope fiend working within the underground, highly illegal pornography industry in 1968’s New York City. While running books and films to delivery points and mob headquarters around the east coast, Max had the Feds on his tail. But even in the wake of a federal investigation, Max’s truest worry was his wife and two young children, a family kept in the dark about Max’s reality and the walls of it caving in around him. As Max battles his consuming addiction, dissolving family unit and the growing suspicion about his drug use amongst his associates, Max watches helplessly as his well-crafted reality falls to pieces, leaving him searching for the spaces in between.
The story of the sequel takes place 6 years after the action of the first film. After his marriage with Ashwini, Varun decides to stay in India. He starts a Call Centre while Ashwini is contemplating starting her own clinic. Looking at Seema and Sanjeev’s family, and after 6 years of marriage, Ashwini wants to have children, but Varun always avoids the topic saying that the two of them are good for each other, and he doesn’t want anyone else in their lovely relationship. As Ashwini becomes increasingly desperate to have children, one of Varun’s employees, the young and dashing Floor Manager named Menaka, tries to seduce Varun. Without crossing any lines, Varun stops Menaka and also confronts Ashwini. Ashwini doesn’t believe Varun and divorces him, but then realizes her mistake. She apologizes and the couple reunites.
Two children accused parents and teachers of leading a paedophilic satanic cult, supposedly headquartered in secret rooms on the school premises. The story was not true. But once the fire was lit, it was hard to put out. Emily Turner’s film considers the real-world impact of an outrageous online conspiracy theory, exploring the importance of truth and the cost of lies.
Fezeka’s Voice tells the true story of choirmaster Phumi Tsewu and his unwavering dedication to his township, his school and his choir. For 15 years he has been teaching the children at Fezeka High School in Gugulethu, South Africa – not just how to sing but how to live. Chronicling the highs and lows of their first adventure overseas to perform on a world stage, the film exposes Phumi’s commitment and spirit as he teaches his students everything from manners to Mozart, bringing them focus, pride and joy.
‘The Wishing Tree’ is a magical, inspirational and an extremely entertaining story of five children in a hill-station somewhere in India, who come together to save their ‘wishing tree’ from being cut by vested interests. The film is extremely lively, endearing and engrossing so that the underlying message to protect trees and environment is seamlessly driven home.
Captain Sabertooths world sets the stage for stormy and magnificent adventures, in which the children demonstrate courage, shrewdness and vigour in their battle against evil. The audience will enter the pirate vessel The Black Lady and join the youngster Tiny and his girl friend Raven on an adventurous voyage from the pirate alleys in Abra Harbour to the colourful and exotic Lama Rama. Together with Captain Sabertooth and his crew, they brave towering waves and travel through deep jungles in their search for King Rufus fabled treasure. The film is a thrilling story, in which we follow a young boy in tireless search for the truth about his missing father. This voyage evolves into an adventure which will change Tinys life forever. Captain Sabertooth and the Lama Rama Treasure will be a magnificent and humorous live action feature film for the whole family.
This remarkable animated documentary traces the unconventional upbringing of the filmmaker Jung Henin, one of thousands of Korean children adopted by Western families after the end of the Korean War. It is the story of a boy stranded between two cultures. Animated vignettes – some humorous and some poetic – track Jung from the day he first meet his new blond siblings, through elementary school, and into his teenage years, when his emerging sense of identity begins to create fissures at home and ignite the latent biases of his adoptive parents. The filmmaker tells his story using his own animation intercut with snippets of super-8 family footage and archival film. The result is an animated memoir like no other: clear-eyed and unflinching, humorous, and above all, inspiring in the capacity of the human heart.
An ambitious anthology film featuring segments directed by over two dozen of the world’s leading talents in contemporary genre film. Inspired by children’s educational ABC books, the motion picture is comprised of 26 individual chapters, each helmed by a different director assigned a letter of the alphabet. The directors were then given free reign in choosing a word to create a story involving death. Provocative, shocking, funny and ultimately confrontational; THE ABC’s OF DEATH is the definitive snapshot of the diversity of modern horror.
A story set against the Mountain Meadows Massacre, the film is based upon the tragedy which occurred in Utah in 1857. A group of settlers, traveling on wagons, was murdered by the native Mormons. All together, about 140 souls of men, women and children, were taken.
When it was first released in Argentina, Pablo Trapero’s film had the highest opening box-office of all time. The key to that success is simply that The Clan is based on one of the most shocking crimes in the country’s history, the Puccio Clan case. In 1985, the news broke that the Puccios, a well-established Catholic family with five children from San Isidro, an upper-class suburb of Buenos Aires, kidnapped and held people hostage for ransom in their own home. The film is a disturbing, impressive, and beautifully controlled interpretation of those events, with Guillermo Francella’s magnificent depiction of the father, a performance for the ages.
Based on the fifteenth best-selling children’s book of all time, The Littlest Angel tells the story of a young boy who arrives in heaven before his time. Home-sick and lonely, he will travel back to earth, with his friendly pup Halo, to retrieve a most selfless and precious gift for The Baby Jesus. Experience the love, laughter and magic of one of the most popular children’s stories of all time. From the classic book by Charles Tazewell comes the CGI animated film, The Littlest Angel.
Animated film based on the wonderful children’s picture book written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler. The story of a kind witch who invites a surprising collection of animals to join her on her broom, much to the frustration of her cat. The gang ultimately saves the witch from a fearsome dragon, and in gratitude she rewards them with a magnificent new broom which has room for everyone. A magical tale about friendship and family from Magic Light Pictures, the producers of the hugely successful The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo’s Child.
In 1991, the Government of India opened up the economy and unleashed the forces of globalization, forever changing the landscape of the country. A dozen years later, India was celebrating its emergence as a global economic super power. Set in 2004, in the midst of a nationwide ‘India Shining’ campaign, the film Mantra tells the intimate story of a family and its travails, and through it, the story of the New India. The protagonist of the film is Kapil Kapoor, the founder of an iconic Indian snack brand in the ‘License Raj’ old India. But today – in 2004 – he is fighting a losing battle against a multinational that has taken over the market. But it is not just his company that Kapil is desperately trying to save; it is also his own wife and children who are battling their own crises.
This found footage horror film is the aftermath of a paranormal investigation gone wrong. The concept of their new reality TV series “The Ghost Kids”, was to get together a group of teenagers who were more sensitive to paranormal, and then have them investigate the most haunted locations in the country. For the pilot episode they go to Clay County West Virginia, where legend tells that local man Sam Mitchell abducted and killed a suspected 30 children in his house, before being found out and lynched by the townspeople. Gathered around a campfire, “The Ghost Kids” hear the story of Sam Mitchell from their producers for the first time, and are then locked into the house overnight. With paranormal equipment and cameras running, “The Ghost Kids” are ready to find out if the spirit of Sam Mitchell still resides there.
A children’s animated feature film based on an internationally bestselling book series for a main target audience of 3 to 8 year olds telling a universal story about friendship, loyalty and honesty in which Little Raven and his friends have to work up all their courage to save their beloved forest.
With her husband jailed for Wall Street-based fraud, Faith has to leave behind her luxury life in New York to return home to North Carolina and the widower father and dutiful older sister she left behind. Together, they have to deal with the buried emotions of sudden death of Faith’s mother years ago, and learn to be a family again. Like the Prodigal story, Heart of the Country is a tale of a father’s unconditional love. He simply wants a relationship with his children, and once that relationship is restored, he begins to create healing for his broken daughter. Her marriage has to be rebuilt, her belief in herself, and her peace with her mother’s death all come together through the quiet, selfless guidance of her loving father. The novel, written by Rene Gutteridge from the original screenplay by filmmaker John Ward, takes us from the glamour of Manhattan to the open beauty of the fields of rural Columbus County, North Carolina as the timeless tale of the Prodigal Son is reborn!
Pony and Birdboy tells a story of seven-year-old girl Pony, who doesn’t want to go to school, and big-mouthed Birdboy who has solution to all possible problems. Humoristic family-film Pony and Birdboy is partly based on Veera Salmi’s popular children’s book The Book of Pony and Birdboy, which rich humor and anarchist hustle have brought the book as a favorite of children.
In the tradition of Stephen King’s Stand by Me, Chiller’s original film Ghoul – based on the celebrated novel by author Brian Keene — tells the story of three damaged children who set out to find who, or what, is behind a rash of local disapperances. Staring Modern Family‘s Nolan Gould, the film explores the darkness that hides behind small town life. It is the summer of 1984 when a teenage couple goes missing among the gravestones of the local cemetery. Twelve-year-old Timmy and his best friends, Barry and Doug, have grown up hearing stories about a sinister Ghoul that haunts the cemetery. Eventually, they begin to wonder if the horrific legend might actually be real. Timmy and his friends are forced to put their friendship to the ultimate test when they dig up long-buried secrets, facing their personal demons and the one hiding underground.
“Africa United” tells the extraordinary story of three Rwandan children who attempt to realize the dream of their life: to attend the opening ceremony of the FIFA World Cup 2010 at Johannesburg. But the problems begin when Fabrice, Dudu and Béatrice get on the wrong bus and end up in Congo. Without papers, without money, they are brought into a children’s refugee camp. But with incredible ingenuity, a some guts and a poster for the World Cup as a map, our heroes escape from the camp and leave to pursue their dreams, bringing with them a “dream team” of refugee children to help them through a series of exciting adventures. During this journey of 5000 km through seven countries, the film reveals an unseen Africa.
‘HeartChild’ is a documentary film about the 28 year Crys Worley, who is the mother of a nine year old autistic child, Sasha. It is a remarkable story about a mother’s struggles, not only with her own health, but the well being of her son. Committing to Sasha that she will never give up on him and inspired by the challenges parents of autistic children face, she started a non-profit organization, called A.Skate – Autism. Skating with Kids through Acceptance, Therapy, and Education. This film documents her extraordinary story.
Nicky’s Family is a gripping documentary from the International Emmy Award winning producers Patrik Pass and Matej Minac about a rescue operation of the “British Schindler” – Sir Nicholas
Winton who will celebrate this year 103rd birthday. His story has no parallel in modern history. Dramatic reenactments, some of the archive footage never seen before, rescued “children” together with Mr. Winton himself recount this unique story which even after 70 years continues to inspire people, especially children, to make this world a better place. World personalities His Holiness Dalai Lama and Nobel Prize winner Elie Wiesel also took part. ( – from the film’s press kit)
The film tells the story of the Blanche family who run a dark and dismal health resort on a remote island which is only accessible by ferry. The spa program consists of feeding the guests seaweed and eel-based meals, then administering liberal colonic irrigation. The spa is run by the family matriarch Dame Blanche until her death. Things continue on with her children running the resort until Kath, the resort’s former sous chef and love interest of one of the sons, comes back to the island unannounced. Stranded between monthly ferries, she is a catalyst for a series of events that turns life as it is known at Hotel Splendide on its ear.
Deep in the Pennsylvania hills, a cemetery for those who died during exorcism remains a dark secret for the church. In 1671, hundreds of men, women, and children suffered in bloody, torturous rituals at the hands of priests unable to contain the evil of the possessed. Were these possessions real, or is the story a hoax to cover up the sins of the deranged priests thirsty for human blood? Bill and his team of cynical paranormal investigators plan to find out the truth. Armed with the church’s historical record, they set out into the wilderness to uncover this series of forgotten atrocities. Alternately gut-punching hilarious and brutally violent, The Cemetery takes the best elements of the old-school slasher film and pushes them to the edge.
There is a centuries-old seawall in the ancient port of Akka, located on Israel’s northern coast. Today, Akka is a modern city inhabited by Muslims, Christians, Jews, and Baha’i, but its history goes all the way back to rule of the Egyptian Pharaohs. Young people dare to stand atop the 40′ one-meter thick block structure and risk their fate by jumping into the roiling sea. This perilous tradition has continued for many generations, and has become a rite of passage for the children of Akka. “It’s Better to Jump” is about the ancient walled city of Akka as it undergoes harsh economic pressures and vast social change. The film focuses on the aspirations and concerns of the Palestinian inhabitants who call the Old City home.
This animated Japanese film is a dark, adult-oriented thriller. A peace treaty between the Earth and the Black World, a parallel universe of spider-like aliens is coming to an end. Two cops, Taki, a human male, and Maki, a female alien, are assigned to protect a diplomat who will help secure another treaty. A radical group of aliens from the Black World are out to assassinate the diplomat and prevent the treaty; only the bond that forms between the two cops can save the Earth from destruction. Sex is strongly associated with violence in many graphic scenes; although this is intended to play a symbolic role, this theme is used excessively. The story is effective, but the film is definitely not for children or anyone easily offended.
