The festival has been designed for preschool children and primary school students and will be held not only in Wroclaw, but also in 14 other cities throughout Poland, including Warsaw, Krakow, Poznan, Katowice and Gdansk.
"We are particularly keen to draw children with their parents, grandparents or guardians. On their returning home, children will be able to talk about the films and play with adults to live through the adventures of their favourite heroes. And we will help them do this with our offer of additional workshops and intriguing materials," says Kamila Tomkiel-Skowrońska, the festival's coordinator.
The programme of "Children's Cinema" includes premières: the latest and best productions for children. The screenings will be presenting contemporary cinema suited to the needs and cognitive abilities of the audience aged from 5 to 12. A separate block will be devoted to cinema in Norway, which sets an example for those who wish to produce or distribute films for children.
The festival will be devoted to current productions. There will be one exception, though. As part of "Children's Cinema: Found in the Attic", young viewers will be able to see the 1939 production of "The Wizard of Oz", a gripping story about Dorothy and her adventures on her way back home.
The festival's programme will be divided into several sections. "Children's Cinema: Friendship" is devoted to films that focus on children's relationships with their peers, friendship, shared adventures and facing difficulties together. "Children's Cinema: Challenges" offers films whose heroes have difficult choices to make and face new challenges. This requires courage, the ability to cooperate with their peers and the guts to struggle against difficulties. "Children's Cinema: Adults" will screen films that juxtapose two worlds: that of adults and that of children. These two seemingly different worlds can communicate with each other, and the adventures that children go through with their parents, teachers and guardians will show that both sides need to make an effort to find common ground.
The Nowe Horyzonty Association has been promoting children's films for years now: they run educational series for children from primary schools, middle schools and secondary schools.
"We treat the festival as yet another stage in our work with young viewers," says Maciej Jakubczyk, Head of the Education Department at the Nowe Horyzonty Association. "The festival will also serve as an opportunity to inaugurate the production of Polish animated films for children. We are going to organise conferences and panel discussions with artists creating for children, and the most promising writers and producers will be invited to take part in workshops devoted to script writing.
The festival will inaugurate a series of family breakfasts in Warsaw- and Wroclaw-based cafés. Discussion panels, workshops and debates will be organised to suit the needs of professional educators and children's culture specialists.
A detailed programme will soon be available at www.kinodzieci.pl
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