Italy’s leading animation event, the VIEW Conference, continues its year-round virtual programming this month with a special presentation of Only a Child, one of the 15 acclaimed films shortlisted for the animated short Oscar this year.
Following the virtual screening, tune into a Q&A moderated by industry veteran Kris Pearn (director, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, The Willoughbys), which will go behind the scenes with director Simone Giampaolo — who supervised the artistic contributions of more than 20 animation directors to the short — and Severn Cullis-Suzuki, whose powerful call for environmental action at the UN’s 1992 Rio Earth Summit as a young girl inspired the film.
The online screening and discussion is scheduled for Friday, January 28 at 11 a.m. PST / 7 p.m. GMT / 8 p.m. CET. Register for the free event here.
This omnibus film, through eloquent images and powerful animated allegories, was a channel for young animators to project their own message: Each artist involved in the Only a Child used their own unique style and technique to bring a segment of Severn’s speech to life, including stop-motion, CGI, traditional 2D, cut-outs, sand animation, paint on glass, and more.
Only a Child has been selected by over 120 festivals worldwide, gaining recognition and winning many prestigious awards including Best in Show at SPARK Animation Festival, Nomination for 2021Swiss Film Prize, Audience Choice Award at SIGGRAPH 2021, Best Youth Film at Festival Regard, Best Film at 3D Wire Fest, Special Achievement Award at VIEW Conference and the Special Mention at the 28th Stuttgart International Festival of Animated Film.
The film was produced by Amka Films, Gabriella de Gara and prominent Swiss producer Tiziana Soudani (1955-2020), in coproduction with RSI Radiotelevisione svizzera SRG SSR, with the support of the Federal Office of Culture (FOC), Republic and Canton Ticino, Fondo Filmplus della Svizzera italiana, Ticino Film Commission, Göhner Stiftung and Swiss Film. You can watch the film until February 8 via KIS KIS – keep it short on YouTube.
Read more about Only a Child in our recent interview with Giampaolo, available here.
