Photo: Animator Merlin Crossingham
A talk and workshops from the animator responsible for the award-winning Wallace and Gromit films and the movies “Chicken Run” and “Shaun the Sheep” will highlight this year’s Belmont World Film’s 14th Annual Family Festival, “Where Books Come Alive,” Jan. 13-16.
The festival offers nearly four days of some of the world’s best films for children and adults, screened in English, or their native language with subtitles. Many are being shown in the US or on the East Coast for the first time; it might be your only time to see them in New England.
A list of this year’s movies and workshops can be seen here.
“Where Books Come Alive,” features films based mostly on books: from Robert McCloskey’s American favorite Make Way for Ducklings, which is celebrating its 75th anniversary, to a new film version of Heidi starring Bruno Ganz, based on Johanna Spyri’s Swiss classic childen’s book.
There are films about new siblings, friendship in South Korea, Vietnamese immigrants in Germany, Little League Baseball in Uganda, three 12 year-old boys from Brooklyn with a $1.8 million record deal, and so much more!
Thanks to a grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the festival is bringing Aardman Animation’s Creative Director Merlin Crossingham “across the pond” from the UK to talk and sign autographs after a screening of the Oscar-winning “Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit” on opening night and to lead two workshops on model making – with Shaun the Sheep and Gromit – on Saturday, Jan. 14, hosted by the Belmont Media Center.
Donate a new or gently used children’s winter coat to Cradles to Crayons and receive a $1 discount on shorts programs and a $2 discount on feature length films.
Sponsors include:
Continent Sponsors: Jackson Walnut Park Schools, Henry Bear’s Park
Nation Sponsors: German International School of Boston, Dutch Culture USA
Province Sponsor: swissnex Boston
Capital Sponsors: Arlington Center for the Arts, Belmont Media Center, Guard Up
This program has also applied for support from the Arlington, Belmont, and Watertown Cultural Councils and Cambridge Arts.
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