Kid Flicks is presented in partnership with the New York International Children’s Film Festival and made possible by the Farmington Community Library and the Friends of the Library.
Lively collections of short animation, live action, and documentary films reflect NYICFF’s commitment to storytelling and diversity and are sure to spark meaningful conversations. This FREE screening is recommended for kids young and old!
Charlotte is an animated drama that tells the true story of Charlotte Salomon (Keira Knightley), a young German-Jewish painter who comes of age in Berlin on the eve of the Second World War. Fiercely imaginative and deeply gifted, she dreams of becoming an artist. Her first love applauds her talent, which emboldens her resolve. But the world around her is changing quickly and dangerously, limiting her options and derailing her dream.
When anti-Semitic policies inspire violent mobs, she leaves Berlin for the safety of the South of France. There she begins to paint again and finds new love. But her work is interrupted, this time by a family tragedy that reveals an even darker secret. Believing that only the extraordinary will save her, she embarks on the monumental adventure of painting her life story.
FLEE tells the story of Amin Nawabi as he grapples with a painful secret he has kept hidden for twenty years, one that threatens to derail the life he has built for himself and his soon to be husband. Recounted mostly through animation to director Jonas Poher Rasmussen, he tells for the first time the story of his extraordinary journey as a child refugee from Afghanistan.
The Guardian calls FLEE “one of the most uniquely memorable animated films of the last decade”.
FLEE won the Grand Jury Prize winner at the Sundance Festival.
FLEE is the first film to ever be nominated for Best Documentary Feature, Best Animated Feature, and Best International film at the Academy Awards.
The subject of the film, Amin Nawabi, shared “I really wanted my story to be seen by people because the stories that we’ve seen about refugees don’t often open avenues for people to identify with refugees in general.”
Cheat Sheet notes that FLEE “is a masterwork of human storytelling”.
Mama Bears is an exploration of the journeys taken by two “mama bears”—conservative, Christian mothers whose profound love for their LGBTQ+ children has turned them into fierce advocates for the entire queer community—and a young African American lesbian whose struggle for self-acceptance perfectly exemplifies why the mama bears are so vitally important.
Mama Bears is the story of women who have allowed nearly every aspect of their lives to be completely reshaped by love. Although they may have grown up as fundamentalist, evangelical Christians, mama bears are willing to risk losing friends, family, and faith communities to keep their children safe—even if it challenges their belief systems and rips their worlds apart.
Shot in a poetic, deeply intimate style, Mama Bears uses social media posts, home movies, photographs, interviews, and cinema verité footage to explore the complex intersections of politics, religion, faith, and true, unconditional love.
Director Daresha Kyi considers herself to be a “warrior of love” and “believes it is [her] responsibility to do everything within [her] power to shift the balance in our world away from death, destruction, and hatred and toward stronger, deeper love”.
You’ll be inspired by the journeys taken by Sara Cunningham and Kimberly Shappley, two “mama bears” —whose profound love for their LGBTQ children has turned them into fierce advocates for the entire queer community.
The Hollywood Reporter acknowledges that “embedded throughout this redemptive narrative are threads of a sadder, more complex one about the dangers LGBTQ children face in trying to live honestly.”
According to Collider, “if you’re hankering for some hope in humanity, here it is.”
Jeffery Robinson had one of the best educations in America. He went to Marquette University and Harvard Law School and has been a trial lawyer for over 40 years – as a public defender, in private practice, at the ACLU, and now at The Who We Are Project. In 2011, Robinson began raising his then 13-year-old nephew and, as a Black man raising a Black son, struggled with what to tell his son about racism in America. How, he wondered, did we get here? And when he started looking at our Nation’s history, Robinson was shocked by what he had not known. For the past 10 years, in community centers, concert halls, houses of worship, and conference rooms across America, he has been sharing what he learned.
In Who We Are – A Chronicle of Racism in America, Robinson faces his largest audience, asking all of us to examine who we are, where we come from, and who we want to be. Anchored by Robinson’s 2018 performance at NYC’s historic Town Hall Theater, the film interweaves historical and present-day archival footage, Robinson’s personal story, and observational and interview footage capturing Robinson’s meetings with Black change-makers and eyewitnesses to history. From a hanging tree in Charleston, South Carolina, to a walking tour of the origins of slavery in colonial New York, to the site of a 1947 lynching in rural Alabama, the film brings history to life, exploring the enduring legacy of white supremacy and our collective responsibility to overcome it.
Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in Americais a documentary feature film that confronts the history of slavery, racism, and police brutality head on.
You’ll be inspired by our shared responsibility to create a better country in our lifetimes.
Jeffery Robinson states his “hope [is] we get to a point where the narrative in the United States about our past is one that is true, not to tear ourselves down, but to reckon with where we started and how far we need to go to get to the true promises of our country.”
Co-director Emily Kunstler says the film “asks all of us to examine where we come from, who we are, and who we want to be.”
Screen Daily notes that “Jeffery Robinson is precise, empathetic and informed. He is every teacher you might have ever wished for as a student.”
Deeply moving and laugh-out-loud funny, Mission: JOY is a documentary with unprecedented access to the unlikely friendship of two international icons who transcend religion: His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Tutu. In their final joint mission, these self-described mischievous brothers give a master class in how to create joy in a world that was never easy for them. They offer neuroscience-backed wisdom to help each of us live with more joy, despite circumstances.
Consisting largely of never-before-seen footage shot over 5 days at the Dalai Lama’s residence in Dharamsala, the film invites viewers to join these luminaries behind the scenes as they recount stories from their lives, each having lived through periods of incredible difficulty and strife. With genuine affection, mutual respect and a healthy dose of teasing, these unlikely friends impart lessons gleaned from lived experience, ancient traditions, and the latest cutting-edge science regarding how to live with joy in the face of all of life’s challenges from the extraordinary to the mundane.
The film was inspired by the international bestseller, The Book of JOY, co-authored by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Doug Abrams.
The film is directed by Peggy Callahan and Louie Psihoyos, winner of the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for the film The Cove.
Science shows that starting with even just one ACT OF JOY will help you feel better, right now.
Director Peggy Callahan told Deadline, “We’re not preaching in this film but I hope that people see through their stories that joy is an inside job and it then becomes an external job when you interact with other people.”
