Cinekid, world’s largest children’s film festival, opens on October 7 with the adventurous family film Calamity – A Childhood of Martha Jane Cannary by French director Rémi Chayé. This hand-drawn animation feature tells the story of the legendary, headstrong young woman Martha “Calamity” Jane, who stands her ground in the Wild West.
“Calamity stands out because of Martha’s strong personality; it makes her unafraid to overthrow the traditional hierarchy. The powerful and unique character of this woman in this amazing animation is very inspiring and sowcially relevant. We are very happy with Calamity as the opening film for Cinekid 2020,” said Heleen Rouw, director of the festival.
Cinekid wants to explore borders and remain distinctive in selecting the movies, television series and media installations we present to children and their caretakers.
The festival has been involved with Calamity since the very start of the film project. The producers, Maybe Movies and Nørlum, came together during the Junior Co-Production Market in 2017. Award-winning director Chayé, who wrote the script with Fabrice de Costil and Sandra Tosello, presented his debut film Long Way North in the Best Children’s Film Competition in 2015. Calamity is part of the Best Children’s Film Competition 2020, featuring 14 other international titles. The new film will be distributed in the Netherlands by Cinéart and released in cinemas and arthouses in December.
< This autumn, Cinekid is more accessible than ever to children and professionals, with an online festival and live festival events spread across the Netherlands from October 7-23. The latest films, television productions, media installations, workshops and tutorials taking place in 14 days and 10 festival locations throughout the country at the new Cinekid online platform.
The regular Cinekid on Tour program also brings youth films to more than 20 arthouse cinemas. Cinekid for Professionals will present its program online, including the Junior Co-Production Market and the Industry Forum. More international professionals will now also be able to visit Cinekid digitally, free from the limitations of travelling.
In addition to the opening film Calamity, Dutch documentaries Getekend door het leven (Quinty Misiedjan) and De Schooltuin (Mark Verkerk) will premiere during the autumn holidays at Cinekid. During the first week of the school holidays in October, Cinekid will bring the festival to Amsterdam (at Het Ketelhuis, EYE, Studio K and Meervaart) as well as Filmschuur Haarlem, Forum Groningen and Concordia Enschede; and during the second week to Lux Nijmegen, Chassé Breda and Lantaren Venster Rotterdam.
With more than 50 feature films, 150 short films and 25 series, Cinekid 2020 offers its largest festival program ever, including more than a 100 premieres from 40 countries.
Schools program: Cinekid has also organized an educational program for schools in Amsterdam during the week prior to the school holidays in fall in Amsterdam cinemas EYE, Het Ketelhuis, Meervaart and Rialto. This will include various activities with interactive game elements in the room to introduce pupils to various quality film and media forms. Teachers will receive preparatory interactive teaching materials specially developed for this purpose. Cinekid reaches children and teachers with workshops and media art not only during the festival, but throughout the year.
Professionals program: From October 19-23, Cinekid will be the place where international children’s media experts meet online. Cinekid for Professionals’ mission is to stimulate production of youth films by offering talent development programs. As well as a co-production market where the hottest movies and series in development are presented and introduced to buyers, an extensive conference programme evolving around socially relevant subjects, and a large sales library with the newest productions to promote international distribution. This year more professionals than ever have the opportunity to participate in these online events.
The full Cinekid program will be made available online on September 23.
Visit www.cinekid.nl for more information.
