The New York International Children’s Film Festival has announced its 2014 jury will include such luminaries as John Canemaker, Bill Plympton and Henry Selick, while its slate will offer the premiere of the English-language version of Ernest & Celestine and a preview screening of Blue Sky Studios’ Rio 2.
The 17th annual event will run March 7-30 at New York’s DGA Theater, IFC Center, Scholastic Theater, SVA Theatre and Village East Cinema and will feature 100 new animated, live action, documentary, and experimental shorts and features.
Other festival events will include opening- and closing-night galas, studio showcases, retrospectives, filmmaker Q&As, filmmaking workshops and the NYICFF Awards Ceremony. The complete festival lineup will be announced Feb. 3 and tickets for the festival will go on sale at www.gkids.com.
The festival has announced a preview of the full slate, which will feature:
- Amazonia, Opening Night Film – U.S. premiere, France, live action, directed by Thierry Ragobert;
- Aunt Hilda, North American premiere, France, animation, directed by Jacques-Remy Girerd;
- Boy and the World, U.S. premiere, Brazil, animation, directed by Ale Abreu;
- Ernest & Celestine (English Version), theatrical premiere, France, animation, directed by Benjamin Renner, Vincent Patar and Stephane Aubier;
- Foosball 3D, New York premiere, Argentina, animation, directed by Juan Jose Campanella;
- Muppets Most Wanted, special preview screening, USA, live action, directed by James Bobin;
- Rio 2, special preview screening, USA, animation, directed by Carlos Saldanha.
The full list of jury members for the 2014 fest:
- John Canemaker – Academy Award-winning animator (The Moon and the Son)
- Geena Davis – Academy Award-winning actor and founder of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media
- Lynne McVeigh – Associate Professor of Children’s Media at NYU Tisch School of the Arts
- Matthew Modine – Award-winning actor (Full Metal Jacket, The Dark Knight Rises)
- Richard Pena – Director Emeritus, New York Film Festival, Columbia University Professor of Film Studies
- Bill Plympton – Academy Award-nominated filmmaker (Guard Dog, Idiots and Angels)
- Dana Points – Editor-in-Chief of Parents magazine
- Susan Sarandon – Academy Award-winning actor (Dead Man Walking, Arbitrage)
- James Schamus – Award-winning filmmaker (Brokeback Mountain, The Ice Storm)
- Henry Selick– Academy Award-nominated director (Coraline)
- Evan Shapiro – President, Participant Television
- Uma Thurman – Academy Award-nominated actor (Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2)
- Christine Vachon – Award-winning filmmaker (Boys Don’t Cry, Mildred Pierce)
- Gus Van Sant – Award-winning director (Good Will Hunting, Milk)
- Taika Waititi – Academy Award-nominated writer/director (Two Cars One Night, Boy)
- Jeffrey Wright – Award-winning actor (Basquiat, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire)
As an Oscar-qualifying festival, NYICFF jury winners qualify for consideration for the 2015 Academy Awards in the Live Action and Animated Short Film categories.
